Child trafficking not seen as a child protection issue Why are local authorities refusing to help children being trafficked for sex?

[Darcy Delaproser]

 

Louise Hunt 

http://t.co/LpwBoqu  

 

 

Maria was brought to the UK from Nigeria when she was 12 after her parents were killed in a car crash, and became the victim of abuse. She is now 19 and living in a temporary hostel. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

The hidden world of child sexual exploitation hit the headlines last week, with the announcement by children's minister Tim Loughton of a new .... This was a welcome acknowledgment that child trafficking is a much bigger problem than the government thought.
But there is evidence that current safeguards are failing because local authority children's services see child trafficking as an immigration rather than a child protection issue. Although not all trafficked children are sexually exploited, recent data from the Home Office Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) found that sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labour in cannabis factories were the most common forms of abuse of the 287 child victims identified as being trafficked into the UK.
Maria was brought to the UK from Nigeria when she was 12. Her parents had been killed in a car crash, and a friend of the family said she would take her on holiday. "I didn't know where I was going," she says. Instead of staying with the woman she knew, Maria was taken to the home of another woman, whom she was told to call "aunty".
"I was expected to do domestic work and look after her two children. If I didn't clean well enough I was beaten. I was not allowed out of the flat," she says. Shortly after her arrival, different men came to the flat. "I was raped. If I refused, I was smacked. Aunty told me to 'just relax'."
Vesna Hall, her case worker at the Refugee Council (RC), says Maria's experience fits the profile of many other children who are exploited in non-registered private fostering arrangements.
After one particularly violent assault when Maria refused to comply, she was thrown out of the flat. Now 19 and living in a temporary hostel, RC is supporting her asylum application and the Metropolitan police's human trafficking unit is investigating her case. But, with early opportunities to gather evidence missed by the authorities, the chances of finding her traffickers are slim.
Maria says she made several attempts to make herself known to social services while still a minor, but was repeatedly told she could not be helped because she did not have asylum status. Under the Children Act, local authorities have a statutory duty to protect the welfare of all children under 18 in the UK, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. But the experiences of trafficked children such as Maria tell a different story.
"One of the most common problems is where their age is disputed," explains Clair Cooke, programme manager of New Londoners, a project run by the Children's Society that supports young refugees, many of whom have been trafficked. "They may have false papers and have been told to say they are over 18. It is usually the UK Border Agency that disputes their age. Social services then do an age assessment, and sometimes it will support what the UK Border Agency has concluded."
For Ade, who had been sent from Nigeria aged nine to live with a family she did not know, it took a year before social services accepted her testament of her age and experience of being held captive for eight years as a domestic slave. Now 18, Ade is working with an immigration solicitor on her claim to remain in the UK, but she is still angry at her treatment. "Social workers need to be trained to identify this particular type of trafficking," she says.
Christine Beddoe, director of child exploitation campaign group, Ecpat UK, says lack of training is only part of the problem. Child trafficking is seen as an immigration rather than a child protection issue, says Beddoe, creating a "culture of disbelief that pervades across all the statutory agencies, and challenges the credibility of the victim from day one".
"If you don't identify victims of trafficking early on, you can't put the necessary safeguarding measures in place," she adds.
Children suspected of being trafficked should be referred to child protection services while their case is investigated through the national referral mechanism – a central system for identifying and protecting all victims of trafficking that was introduced in April 2009.
The launch in February of revised national guidance and a toolkit for all agencies in contact with children is beginning to improve awareness, say campaigners. The toolkit has been piloted with 12 local authorities, and is now being rolled out to all safeguarding children boards and directors of children's services in the UK, as well as incorporated into Scottish and Welsh legislation.
Every town
During the pilot, 47 children were referred to the national referral mechanism. This was a third of all referrals in that period – a "significant number", according to Philip Ishola, development lead for the London Safeguarding Children Board, which developed the toolkit. He says: "Trafficking is happening in every town and most local authorities across the UK. If this resource is adopted everywhere it will make a phenomenal difference."
But Ecpat says it is not enough. It is campaigning for the introduction of a guardianship system to provide every trafficked child with an independent advocate to ensure they get access to legal and support services. Earlier this month, it delivered a petition for guardianship with 735,889 signatures to the prime minister, along with campaign partner the Body Shop.
In Scotland, guardians are being piloted by the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) and Aberlour children's charity. Gary Christie, head of policy and communications at SRC, says the system could help to stem the flow of trafficked children going missing from care. In 2008, more than half of the 330 children identified by Ceop as being trafficked in the UK went missing.
"The better professionals understand the safety issues around that young person, the better they can be protected. Guardianship can only aid that by sharing information with the agencies, and providing the space for the child to open up and discuss issues," he says. "Ultimately, we would want to see the UK government buy into this model."
However, immigration minister Damian Green said in a recent parliamentary debate that a system of guardianship "would bring no extra benefit to the child who already has a range of arrangements in place to safeguard them."
Beddoe disagrees and says guardianship is the answer. "It is the only way for children to get access to their entitlements when they are terrified."