Child Exploitation comes in many forms. It involves any act where someone uses a child for work, sexual gratification or some other personal or financial gain. Any child, regardless of age, socio-economic background or location is potentially at risk of child exploitation. Exploiters use coercion, manipulation and/or grooming tactics to target children and force them to engage in exploitative activities.

A number of the signs/indicators for child exploitation are the same, regardless of what type of exploitation is involved, i.e. withdrawal/isolation, going missing, secretive or defensive behaviour. This is because exploiters will often make threats against the child or the child’s family to coerce them to cooperate with the exploitative behaviour.

In October 2020, Sutton LSCP published its first Multi-Agency Protocol for Safeguarding Adolescents which support professionals and volunteers across agencies in Sutton to effectively safeguard adolescents. This has been revised regularly through consultation with Partners and disseminated with all safeguarding Partners in the borough.

To access this protocol, follow this link, or download from below.