Child exploitation: Child trafficking - How to spot it & what to do

Beaten. Raped. Threatened. Isolated. This is just a normal day for the vulnerable children and young people who are tricked into coming to the UK by traffickers. But would you know what to do if you believed a child was a victim?

Nushra Mansuri, professional officer at the British Association of Social Workers, says professionals can be fearful of things they don't know about. "We need to break child trafficking down within the context of safeguarding children," she says. Here CYP Now asks the experts for their tips on spotting if a child has been trafficked.

- What is child trafficking?

Lisa Nandy, chair of the Refugee Children's Consortium, defines child trafficking as the movement of children for the purposes of exploitation. "It is the exploitation that makes trafficking different to smuggling or migration," she explains.

Exploitation can include prostitution and other forms of sexual abuse, forced labour and slavery. But this is not an exhaustive list. Nandy says trafficked children have been known to work in cannabis factories or nail salons and have also been used for benefit fraud.

The "child" is anyone under 18 and they may even have agreed to being moved. "The key thing is it's not always organised trafficking rings doing this," says Nandy. "Sometimes children are brought to the UK because their parents think they will have a better life."

Children can be smuggled in on lorries or arrive with real or fake documents, either alone or accompanied by adults claiming to be relatives. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre's 2007 report, A Scoping Project on Child Trafficking in the UK, identified 330 children as potential trafficking cases between March 2005 and December 2006.

However, Christine Beddoe, director of anti-trafficking charity Ecpat UK, believes the real figure is much higher. "That's the tip of the iceberg," she says. "Across the UK there's no mandatory recording of child trafficking - we don't have a central data collection method."

- Is there internal trafficking in the UK?

There is increasing evidence that children are being trafficked internally, with known cases of teenage girls born in the UK being targeted for internal trafficking between towns and cities for sexual exploitation. "It's not a new phenomenon," says Mandy John Baptiste, manager of the NSPCC's Child Trafficking Information and Advice Line. "But people are now paying more attention."

The UK Human Trafficking Centre (see box) is currently compiling evidence of these cases.

- Which young people are particularly at risk?

Aravinda Kosaraju, policy, research and development worker at the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping, says trafficking can affect any family. "It doesn't just affect dysfunctional families. Families get looked at through a spyglass when officials think something may be wrong. But the third parties trafficking children are sophisticated. They will have done it many times and possibly have gained the child's trust."

However, John Baptiste says vulnerable young people, such as those who are orphaned or have been abused, are most susceptible. "You have vulnerable young people who have had terrible experiences and think if they've been raped once does it matter if it happens again?" she says. "Poverty is also a factor - not just financial poverty but a lack of opportunities along with gender and equality issues."

- What is the impact of child trafficking?

Mansuri says the isolation children experience is difficult to comprehend. "An advocacy worker told me that child trafficking completely stripped the child of their identity, family and roots," she says. "Sadly, when children turn 18 and are no longer of any use to traffickers, they have absolutely no rights to services as they have no legal status in this country. This is extremely disturbing considering what they have been through."

John Baptiste says it is hard to know the exact impact because everyone deals with the experience differently. "There are a lot of physical, sexual health and emotional problems, " she says. "These are marginalised young people. They develop a range of survival strategies that may not be recognisable to us as we haven't been through half of what they have."

- What signs should I look out for?

"Some people expect trafficked children to be crying their eyes out but that's often not the case. We've had young people becoming traumatised much later on," reveals John Baptiste.

She says that if professionals have suspicions they should examine the relationship between the child and carer. "Children can say 'it's my aunt', but if you break it down she may not be," she says.

John Baptiste also recommends checking how fluent young people's English is. "If they're not new in the country but their language isn't good it may be that they've been kept somewhere and not had the chance to learn English," she explains. Signs of abuse, sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies can also be clues that a child has been trafficked, along with inappropriate phone calls and an excessive fear of being deported.

- What action should I take if I think a young person has been trafficked?

Nandy says it is vital to establish a good relationship with the child and use a reputable translator. "There was a case of a 15-year-old boy working in his 'uncle's' garage," she says. "We were concerned about the hours he was working and were pretty sure the man wasn't his uncle. When children's services carried out an assessment they used the 'uncle' as an interpreter and, unsurprisingly, he said everything was fine and the case was closed. The child went missing not long after."

Keeping a log of the child's behaviour and the adults they associate with is also useful. "We've found intervening is easier if professionals keep a record from the time they first become suspicious," says Kosaraju. "This comes in handy for taking action later on."

However, the first port of call if a professional is concerned should be children's services. John Baptiste says a proper assessment is essential. "Voluntary groups should use the Common Assessment Framework because, quite often, they do find people who have been trafficked," she says.

Mansuri says it is important social care staff treat the child exactly as they would any vulnerable young person. "Concerns need to be addressed rather than dismissed," she says.

- The NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line on 0800 107 7057 provides advice for anyone who believes a child has been trafficked. CASE STUDY

UK Human Trafficking Centre

A teenage girl is handed a gift by her boyfriend - is it an innocent display of affection or cause for concern?

"We have reports from partner agencies on children being groomed for trafficking," says Nick Kinsella, head of the UK Human Trafficking Centre. "Many include a boyfriend figure who meets girls at a shopping complex and gives them gifts of drugs and alcohol. In payment the girls have sex with other men and are moved around the country. Recently, a man involved in such a case was given a 10-year jail sentence for the multiple rape of a child."

These are the kind of cases the police-led centre deals with daily. It opened at a secret Sheffield location in October 2006, in response to the recovery of 84 potential victims during the police anti-trafficking project Operation Pentameter. It is now the UK hub for co-ordinating work on trafficking, with a team of 13.

It comprises staff from the police, Crown Prosecution Service, Borders and Immigration Agency and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. There is also a full-time social worker and the centre hopes to take on a second one this year. The centre has five main strands of work: victim care; operational intelligence; prevention; learning and development; and research. The centre works with adults as well as children, but is eager to talk to those working with young people.

To contact the centre call 0114 252 3891.