Children's Society gets £120,000 to help fight county lines exploitation
Fiona Simpson
Monday, January 13, 2020
A charity’s initiative to protect boys and young men from being groomed by county lines drug gangs has been awarded £120,000.
The Children’s Society’s Stride project was granted the funding from City Bridge Trust to aid its work supporting boys who have been targeted, groomed and trafficked for criminal exploitation - including county lines drug dealing.
Stride offers one-to-one support for boys aged 11 to 18 in the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Camden, Lewisham, Islington and Newham through therapy aimed at enhancing their mental health and wellbeing, the Children’s Society said.
The service also offers group sessions to raise awareness of healthy relationships and risks of grooming and criminal exploitation.
The funding will also provide training sessions for carers, police officers and charity volunteers to help spot signs of exploitation and learn how to respond to them.
Helen Leadbitter, Greater London area manager at The Children’s Society, said: “These young people are groomed into exploitation - including trafficking along county lines - with drugs and alcohol or promises of status and wealth and then controlled using terrifying threats, violence and sexual abuse.
“This is a really worrying issue across London and elsewhere, and we know from our frontline work and research that while any child in any community can be affected, including girls, boys are often targeted.
“Sadly, too many children end up being criminalised rather than supported as victims and do not get the help they need to escape this cycle of exploitation and recover from the trauma.”
Recent National Crime Agency (NCA) figures identified nearly 2,000 individual county lines networks across the UK, with the largest number originating from London.
The NCA said that 91 per cent of people associated with such criminal operations were male.
Dhruv Patel, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust committee, said: “The number of boys being groomed and trafficked by criminal gangs across the UK is of huge concern.
“These crimes are often hidden and can easily go under the radar, leaving vulnerable young people with little or no support.
“We must take action – and our work with The Children’s Society will make a real difference to young boys at risk.
“We are proud to partner with them, and we will continue to support charities in making the capital a better place in which to live.”
