Home Contents Resources

7. Safeguarding trafficked and exploited children

Text Size:

Contents

1.	Introduction
2.	Policy and Legislation
3.	Definitions
4.	How Does Trafficking Happen
5.	Why Do People Traffick Children
6.	Why is Trafficking Possible
7.	How Children are brought to the UK
8.	What Happens to Children before they Arrive
9.	The Impact of Trafficking on Children
10.	Identifying Trafficked and Exploited Children
11.	Children at Port of Entry
12.	Children Already in the Country
13.	Referrals Regarding Possible Trafficking & Exploitation of a Child
14.	S.47 Enquiry
15.	Looked After Children
16.	Support for Trafficked and Exploited Children
	Appendix 1: Practitioners and volunteers in different agencies' actions up to and including referral to Children's Social Services
	Appendix 2: List of addresses and contact details for embassies and consulates for various parts of the world

Acknowledgement The LCPC thanks ECPAT, UNICEF and NSPCC for allowing the use of their information; and LB Enfield for supporting the development of this procedure.

This Procedure provides guidance to professionals and volunteers from all agencies in safeguarding children who are abused and neglected by adults who traffick them into and out of the UK in order to exploit them.

The majority of migrating accompanied and unaccompanied children seek asylum at their port of entry or when they arrive in London. However, children who are migrated for exploitative reasons (trafficked) do not come to the attention of the authorities or disappear from contact with statutory services soon after arrival.

All children are rendered more vulnerable as a result of accompanied or unaccompanied migration; trafficked children are at increased risk of Significant Harm.

The Procedure also touches on issues for children who have migrated to the UK and present as unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

This Procedure should be read in conjunction with the London Child Protection Procedures.

2.1 International

International legislation relevant to trafficked and exploited children includes:

• The First World Congress on the Commercial Exploitation of Children (Stockholm,1996)
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989)
• The Second World Congress on the Sexual Exploitation of Children (Yokohama, 2001)

In 2000 Trafficking became enshrined in international law for the first time through the Palermo Protocol within the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. The Protocol defines trafficking as:

'The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered 'trafficking in persons' even if this does not involve any of the means set forth [elsewhere in the Palermo Protocol]'

2.2 UK

UK legislation and guidance relevant to trafficked and exploited children includes:

• The Children Act (1989)
• Working Together to Safeguard Children and its supplement Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution (1999)
• The National Plan for Safeguarding Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation (2001-5)
• The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002
• The Sexual Offences Act 2003

3.1 Trafficking and Exploitation

The two most common terms for the illegal movement of people - 'trafficking' and 'smuggling', are very different. In human smuggling immigrants and asylum seekers pay people to help them enter the country illegally; after which there is no longer a relationship. Trafficked victims are coerced or deceived by the person arranging their relocation. On arrival in the country of destination the trafficked child or person is denied their human rights and is forced into exploitation by the trafficker or person into whose control they are delivered.

The Palermo Protocol establishes children as a special case - any child transported for exploitative reasons is considered to be a trafficking victim - whether or not they have been deceived. This is partly because it is not considered possible for children to give informed consent.

Even when a child understands what has happened they may still appear to submit willingly, to what they believe to be the will of their parents.

Traffickers are known to recruit their victims using a variety of methods. Some children are subject to coercion, which could take the form of abduction or kidnapping. However, the majority of children are trapped by in subversive ways:

• Children are promised education or respectable work - as in restaurants, domestic servants etc.
• Parents are persuaded that their children will have a better life elsewhere

Many children travel on false documents and for those who do not, the traffickers usually throw away their identification papers.

Most children are trafficked and exploited for financial gain. This can take the form of payment from the child's parents, and in most cases the trafficker also receives payment from those wanting to exploit the child once in the UK. Some trafficking is by organised gangs, in other cases individual adults traffick children to the UK for their own personal gain. Exploitation includes children being used for:

• Sex work
• Domestic servitude
• Sweatshop and restaurant work, drug dealing and credit card fraud
• Begging or pickpocketing
• Benefit fraud
• Drug mules or decoys for adult drug traffickers
• Forced marriage (there were 240 reported cases in the UK 2000-2, in 15% of cases the unwilling partner was male)
• Trade in human organs; and in some cases
• Ritual killings

Younger children are often trafficked to become beggars and thieves or for benefit fraud. Teenagers are often trafficked for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and forced marriage.

Factors in their own country which make children vulnerable to trafficking include:

• Poverty: this is the root cause of vulnerability to exploitation in general. The recruiter's promises of work/income is seen by families as a possible escape route from impoverished circumstances; or at the very least one less mouth to feed.
• Lack of education: attendance at school has proven to be a key means of protecting children from all forms of exploitation, including trafficking. Traffickers promise education for children whose parents cannot afford to pay school fees or where schools are difficult to access or of poor quality.
• Discrimination: this can be based both on gender and ethnicity. In some cultures girls are expected to make sacrifices in terms of education and security for the benefit of the family, they represent less of an investment for the family because their contribution to the family will end when they leave to marry (and marriage itself may be too expensive for the family).
  
  Many trafficking victims are from minority communities who are socially discriminated against and disadvantaged in their own country.
• Cultural attitudes: traditional cultural attitudes can mean that some children are more vulnerable to trafficking than others e.g. the caste system and a tradition of bonded labour in India puts tribal and low caste children at risk.
• Dysfunctional families: children may choose to leave home as a result of domestic abuse and neglect.
• Political conflict and economic transition: conflict almost inevitably leads to large scale people movements and the erosion of economic and social protection mechanisms, leaving children vulnerable.
• Inadequate local laws and regulations: trafficking involves many different events and processes and legislation has been slow to keep pace. Most countries have legislation against exploitative child labour, but not all have laws specifically against trafficking. Even where there is appropriate legislation, enforcement is often hampered by lack of prioritisation and ignorance of the law.

Children enter the UK in two key ways, accompanied adult/s or as unaccompanied minors.

Accompanied children:

 Very little is known about accompanied children, many of whom are brought in by adults either purporting to be their parents or stating that they have the parent's permission to bring the child. There are many legitimate reasons for children being brought to the UK, such as, education, re-unification with family or fleeing a war-torn country.

Unaccompanied children:

More is known about these children because they come to the notice of the authorities when they claim asylum.  Although there appear to be some groups of children who do not seek help from the authorities, notably Chinese children who 'disappear' into the Chinese communities in the UK.

Many African children are referred to Children's Social Services after applying for asylum, and even register at school for up to a term, before disappearing again. It is thought that they are trafficked out of the UK to Europe. Children also come to London via Gatwick and Dover. However, recent experience is that as checks have improved at the larger ports of entry, traffickers are starting to use the smaller, less well known ports, such as Luton and Stansted airports. 

7.1  Trafficking Schemes

There are three phases in the trafficking process; the recruitment phase, the transit phase and the destination phase. The traffickers might be part of a well organised criminal network, or they might be individuals helping out in only one of the various stages of the operation, such as the provision of false documentation, transport, or a 'safe house'.

The London 'ports where children first present after entering the UK are the Waterloo Eurostar station, Heathrow airport and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) at Lunar House in Croydon.

Even before they travel children can be subjected to various forms of abuse and exploitation to ensure that the trafficker's control over the child continues after the child is transferred to someone else's care:

• Voodoo is used to frighten children (usually girls) into thinking that if they tell anyone about the traffickers, they and their families will die
• Confiscation of the child's identity documents
• Threats of reporting the child to the authorities
• Violence, or threats of violence towards the child
• Threats of violence towards members of the young person's family
• Keeping the child socially isolated
• Keeping the young person locked up
• Some children are told that they owe large sums of money for their air fares, accommodation and food, and that they must work to pay this off - however they never earn enough to do this
• Depriving the child of money

Trafficked and exploited children are not only deprived of their rights to health and freedom from exploitation and abuse - they are usually also deprived of their right to an education and the life opportunities this brings.

Once children have been trafficked and exploited, they are vulnerable to:

9.1  Physical Abuse and Neglect

• This can range from inappropriate chastisement, not receiving routine and emergency medical attention (partly through a lack of care about their welfare and partly because of the need for secrecy surrounding their circumstances)
• Children in the sex industry are open to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; and for girls there is the risk of early pregnancy and possible damage to their reproductive health (See also the London Procedure for Safeguarding Children abused through Sexual Exploitation, LCPC, 2006)
• Children frequently suffer physical beatings and rape
• Children also frequently suffer physical deprivations, including beatings, sensory deprivations and food deprivation
• Some trafficked children are subdued with drugs, which they then become dependent on. They are then effectively trapped within the cycle of exploitation, continuing to work in return for a supply of drugs
• Children often develop alcohol addictions
• Victims can suffer physical disorders such as skin diseases, migraine, backache etc.

9.2  Psychological Harm

• Children become disorientated after leaving their family environment, however impoverished and difficult, and arriving in the Western world. This disorientation can be compounded for some children who have to assume a new identity or have no identity at all
• Children can be isolated from the local community in the UK by being kept away from school and because they cannot speak English
• Trafficked and exploited children are living in fear both of the adults who have control of them and of the discovery of their illegal immigration status
• Victims lose their trust in all adults
• Trafficked and exploited children will all suffer from a form of post traumatic stress relating to their sense of powerlessness and the degree of violence they experienced at the hands of their traffickers, which can be extreme
• Many trafficked and exploited children develop dependant relationships with their abusers
• They suffer flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety attacks, irritability and other symptoms of stress, such as, nervous breakdowns;
• Trafficked and exploited children experience a loss of ability to concentrate
• They can become anti-social, aggressive and angry, and/or fearful and nervous - finding it difficult to relate to others, including in the family and at work
• Victims have very low self-esteem and believe that the experience has 'ruined' them for life psychologically and socially. They become depressed, and often suicidal
• The children worry about people in their families and communities knowing what has happened to them, and become afraid to go home
• All children who have been exploited will suffer some form of physical or mental harm, usually, the longer the exploitation, the more health problems that will be experienced. Although in some cases, such as contracting AIDS or the extreme abuse suffered by Victoria Climbie, fatal damage happens very quickly.

Children are being trafficked to and exploited in counties and cities all over the UK. All entry and exit points in the UK are potential channels for trafficking children. Children who arrive in the UK are protected under the Children Act 1989.

It is incumbent on all agencies to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children trafficked into and out of the UK, providing the same standard of care as that available to any other child in the UK.

All practitioners who come into contact with children and young people in their everyday work need to be able to recognise when children have been trafficked and exploited, to understand the areas of vulnerability that this can generate for a child or young person and should be competent to act to support and protect these children.

This may be the crucial intervention which breaks the cycle of the child being vulnerable to continuing or further exploitation.

10.1  Risk Indicators

There are a number of circumstances which could indicate that a child may have been trafficked to the UK, and may still be being controlled by the traffickers or receiving adults. These include situations in which the child:

• Does not appear to have money but does have a mobile phone
• Is driven around by an older male or 'boyfriend'
• Is withdrawn and refuses to talk
• Shows signs of sexual behaviour or language
• Shows signs of physical or sexual abuse, and/or has contracted a sexually transmitted disease
• Has a history with missing links and unexplained moves
• Is required to earn a minimum amount of money every day
• Works in various locations
• as limited freedom of movement
• Appears to be missing for periods
• Is known to beg for money
• Is being cared for by adult/s who are not their parents. Children in these circumstances are being privately fostered - see section 5.37, Private Fostering. The quality of the relationship between the child and their adult carers is not good
• Has not been registered with or attended a GP practice
• Has not been enrolled in school
• Is required to earn a minimum amount of money every day
• Has to pay off an exorbitant debt, perhaps for the travel costs, before being able to have control over his/her own earnings
• Hands over a large part of their earnings to another person
• Is excessively afraid of being deported
• Has had their journey or visa arranged by someone other than themselves or their family
• Does not have possession of their own travel documents
• Has false papers, and these have been provided by another person
• Is unable to confirm which adult is going to accept responsibility for her/him
• Fits current profiles for those at risk of exploitation
• Has entered the country illegally
  
  or, the person:
• In control of the child has applied for visas on behalf of many others, or acts as guarantor for other visa applications
• Who guarantees the visa application has acted for other visitors who have not returned to their countries of origin on the expiry of the visa

11.1  Immigration Nationality Directorate

The structure of the Immigration Nationality Directorate (IND) includes the United Kingdom Immigration Service Border Control Directorate , under which command are the Intelligence Units at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and the Asylum Screening Units (ASUs) in Croydon and Liverpool.

The Immigration Officers' role is, in the first instance, to decide the immigration status of the child, in accordance with the United Kingdom Immigration Act 1971 (as amended). Additional to formal document control, Immigration Officers have to be satisfied with a passenger's reason for coming to the UK before allowing entrance. Children who meet immigration rules and are believed to be safe for the duration of their stay in the UK are allowed entry. For these children only limited information or in some cases, for EU children, none is kept.

However, a large number of children arrive accompanied by adults not related to them and without knowing details of their life in this country, completely relying on the adult accompanying or waiting for, them. Immigration Officers need to manage situations where the immigration criteria are fulfilled, however, the child presents in such a way as to raise concerns about their vulnerability e.g. they cannot give details of who they are meeting at the airport or where they will be staying.

The identification of children at risk of harm, as they arrive at a port of entry is not an easy task. The ports Intelligence Units have developed a profile of trafficked children to assist Immigration Officers identify children from abroad who may be at risk. Children who do not meet the immigration criteria for entry and children who, irrespective of their immigration status are believed to be at risk of harm if they are allowed entry, are referred by Immigration Officers to agencies with social care duties, primarily the local Social Services department and/or the local police Child Protection Officer. Records for these children exist both within IND and with the receiving agency.

The National Register for Unaccompanied Children (NRUC) aims to gather information on all unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the UK. There are plans to extend it to cover all unaccompanied children from abroad, not just asylum seeking children. It is the first database developed for the purpose of sharing information between Social Services Departments (practitioners) and government departments.

12.1 Community Groups, Neighbours and the Public

As most children who are victims of trafficking who arrive in the UK are not aware of their rights or that they can claim asylum, once they have gained entry to the country they are unlikely to come to the notice of asylum or immigration services.

Trafficked and exploited children often come to the notice of any agency only when it is too late. Some are enrolled at school and concerns are only raised when they leave unexpectedly, and there is no trace of them or their 'family' at their home address. Others are never registered at school or with a GP. These children do not come into contact with the statutory services who could raise concerns about their welfare. Younger children may be known to local Housing or benefits services. However, most trafficked children are invisible. Protecting them and promoting their welfare depends on the awareness and co-operation of community groups, neighbours and the public. This has implications for awareness raising campaigns. (See section 12.9, Local Safeguarding Children Boards below).

12.2 Private Fostering

Private fostering is defined in the Children Act 1989 as occurring when a child under 16 years (or under 18 if disabled) is placed for more than 28 days in the care of someone who is not a close relative, guardian or someone with Parental Responsibility (close relatives are defined by the Act as parents, step-parents, siblings, siblings of a parent and grandparents).

As the current systems relies on the parents and the foster carers to notify the local authority of a private fostering arrangement (preferably before, but certainly within 48 hours, of the child arriving to stay), only a very small proportion of placements are notified, and private fostering remains an underground activity, ideal for people who traffick children.

Staff or volunteers in an agency who have concerns that a child may be trafficked and privately fostered should contact Children's Social Services, who can investigate under their regulatory duties in relation to private fostering (Children Acts 1989 & 2004). These duties are: to identify private fostering arrangements, inspect the home and assess the suitability of the arrangement in terms of the child's welfare, visit the child regularly, and monitor and keep records of the placement.

There is also a new requirement on local authorities to raise awareness of the notification requirements within local communities (section 7a of the Children Act 2004) and to ensure that staff or volunteers in all agencies encourage notification.

12.3 All Agencies

Wherever staff or volunteers in an agency come into contact with a child who has arrived unaccompanied in the country and is not in contact with Children's Social Services or a child who is accompanied, but for whom they have concerns regarding their welfare or safety, they should consult and follow one of the following:

• The actions indicated in this Procedure, including in Appendix 1;
• Their own agency's Safeguarding Children procedures (approved by the LSCB);
• The London Child Protection Procedures, section 5, Children in Specific Circumstances,section 6, Referral and Assessment, section 9, Implementation of Child Protection Plans and section 10, Working with Unco-operative Families.
• The Government Guidance 'What To Do If You're Worried a Child is Being Abused' (DfES, 2003).

All these procedures will ultimately guide practitioners and volunteers to contact their local Children's Social Services if they are concerned that a child has been, is being or could be abused through trafficking.

12.4  Children's Social Services

Children's Social Services have responsibility for assisting all unaccompanied children and children who have come to the UK with their parents for whom there are concerns regarding their welfare and safety.

See section 13, Referrals Regarding Possible Trafficking and Exploitation of a Child and section 14, S.47 Enquiry below for Children's Social Services duties to undertake initial assessment and, where appropriate, a S.47 investigation. This is in line with the London Child Protection Procedures, section 5, Children in Specific Circumstances and section 6, Referral and Assessment.

12.5 Health Services

Trafficked children who need healthcare are more likely to be seen at Accident & Emergency services, Walk-in Centres, minor injury units or gum clinics, than by primary care services.  Reception staff need to be alert to inconsistencies in addresses, deliberate vagueness and children or carers being unable to give details of next of kin, names telephone numbers etc.

When children or their carers give addresses in other countries, with the information that the child is resident outside of the UK, reception staff should always record the current holiday address as well as the home address in the other country. Staff need to be alert to 'local holiday' addresses in case patterns emerge that would suggest large numbers of children moving in and out of one address. Home visitors such as Health Visitors and Senior Nurses who may follow up visits to Accident & Emergency and Walk-in Centres, should also be alert to the moving in and out and rapid turnover of different children to any one address.

12.6 Education Services

Children trafficked into the country may be registered at a school for a term or so, before being moved to another part of the UK or abroad again. Schools therefore need to be alert to this pattern of registration and de-registration. This pattern has been identified in schools near ports, however it could happen anywhere in the UK.

There is general agreement that children who have experienced certain life events are more at risk of going missing from education. Trafficked children are particularly vulnerable: see section 9, The Impact of Trafficking on Children above. Schools need therefore to be alert to the possibility that a child who goes missing from school, may be, or have been, a trafficked child, who is living with or is running away from an exploitative situation.

The London Guidance Safeguarding Children Missing from School should assist schools in identifying situations where children have been or are being trafficked.

12.7  Local Authority Asylum Team

Many local authorities have asylum teams who have responsibility for families, single adults and unaccompanied young people for whom there are no concerns additional to their migrant status. Where this is the case, there should be a locally agreed protocol to assist other teams and agencies in working jointly with the asylum team.

12.8  Police

London's Child Abuse Investigation Teams and Borough officers are supported by a Metropolitan Police Paladin Team. This is an integrated team of Police and Immigration Officers who specialise in safeguarding children issues. The team is based at Heathrow Airport and provides a limited service to the Immigration & Nationality Directorate's Asylum Screening Unit at Lunar House in Croydon and the International Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo Station. The Paladin Team undertakes proactive and preventative initiatives against the trafficking of children throughout London. The team has some capacity to investigate specific trafficking and migration offences, as well as providing an advisory service to Child Abuse Investigation teams on child trafficking issues.

12.9  Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) should have an interagency strategy and protocols in place for the early identification and notification to the relevant agencies of potential victims as they arrive in the country.

LSCBs should offer training to improve:

• Practitioners and volunteers ability to recognise a trafficked and exploited child; and
• Multi-agency working to protect and promote the welfare of such children.

LSCBs should maintain close links with community groups and have a strategy in place for raising awareness within the local community of the possibility that children are trafficked and exploited, and how to raise a concern.

LSCBs with a detention/deportation centre in their area should develop a close working relationship with the centre in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of both the accompanied and unaccompanied children who reside at the centre.

12.10  Refugee Council Children's Panel

The Refugee Council Children's Panel of Advisers comprises about 30 advisers who travel all over the country to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The Panel offers support to children who:

• Have applied for asylum on entering the UK
• Have lived in the UK for some time before applying for asylum
• Are abandoned by relatives, agents or friends
• Have been picked up by the police
• Are in detention centres or prisons
• Are living on the streets or are already in the care of Children's Social Services, carers or community groups

The support includes:

• Assisting children in accessing quality legal representation
• Guiding children through the complexities of the asylum procedure
• If necessary, accompanying children to asylum interviews, tribunal and appeal hearings, magistrates and crown court appointments
• Building up a support network for children involving a range of statutory and non-statutory service providers
• Accompanying children to appointments with GPs, hospitals, Children's Social Services or other agencies

The Panel also offers this support to children at a drop-in advice service in Brixton; where they can also get hot lunches, showers, second hand clothes and help with tracing missing relatives.

The nature of the Children's Panel Advisers' work is such that they may well gather information which enables them to identify and refer children who are trafficked.

An agency or individual practitioner or volunteer who has a concern regarding possible trafficking and exploitation of a child to Children's Social Services, should contact the Children's Social Services for the borough in which the child currently resides. For immigration officers at ports of entry, this will be the address which the child is planning to reside at when s/he is allowed to enter the UK.

13.1  Referral and Initial Information Gathering

Appendix 1 of this Procedure sets out what practitioners and volunteers in the different agencies should do when they suspect that a child may have been or is being trafficked and exploited. This section describes in more detail the response from Children's Social Services to a referral from one of the agencies:

• The social worker should obtain as much information as possible from the referrer, including the child's name, dob, address, name of carer/guardian, address if different, phone number, country of origin, home language and whether s/he speaks English, names of any siblings or other children
• The social worker should verify that the child is living at the address as soon as possible
• In the case of a referral from a school or education department the list of documentation provided at admission should also be obtained
• A Home Office check should be completed to clarify status of the child/ren and the adult/s caring for them

13.2  Action after the Initial Information Gathering

On completion of the initial information gathering the social worker discusses the referral with their supervising manager to agree and plan one of four ways forward:

a)	An initial assessment to decide whether - appropriate arrangements for the child have been made by her/his parents there are grounds to accommodate the child the child is in need of immediate protection a s.47 enquiry should be initiated  (See section 14. S47 Inquiry below)
b)	Accommodation of the child under s.20 Children Act 1989 - there may be enough information at this stage to support a decision to accommodate the child. A child should be accommodated under s.20 Children Act 1989 if: The child is lost or abandoned There is no person with Parental Responsibility for the child The person who has been accommodating the child is prevented, for whatever reason, from providing suitable accommodation or care. If there is reasonable cause to believe that the child is suffering or likely to suffer Significant Harm, an Emergency Protection Order may be sought. Consideration should be given to Police Powers of Protection in an emergency.
c)	Instigation of a Child Protection Enquiry and a Core Assessment of need under s.47 Children Act 1989 (See section 14, S.47 Enquiry below) or:
d)	No further action - if no concerns are identified.
	the social worker should advise the referrer of which plan is in place. The discussion between the social worker and their supervising manager after completion of the initial information gathering, should be recorded, tasks outlined and signed off by the manager If further action is needed, consideration should be given to involvement of the police, education, health services, the referring agency and other relevant bodies e.g. housing, the benefits agency and immigration service. Careful consideration should be given to the effect of any action on the outcome of any investigation In undertaking any assessment and all subsequent work with the child, the social worker must ensure that they use a suitable interpreter The social worker must meet with the referrer The social worker must check all documentation held by the referrer and other relevant agencies. Documentation should include, passport, Home Office papers, birth certificate, proof of guardianship. The list is not exhaustive and all avenues should be looked into When assessing paperwork/documentation attention should be given to the detail.  If a passport, when was it issued, how long is the visa for, does the picture resemble the child, is the name in the passport the same as the alleged mother/father, if not, why not. When assessing documentation, does it appear original, take copies to ensure further checks can be made. Once all papers have been checked, the social worker should clarify with the referrer what his/her concerns are again. Why did they make the referral, what led them to believe the child may be trafficked or here illegally etc; and request that they put their concerns in writing to ensure accuracy of recording

13.3  Decision to Interview

Once all possible information has been gathered, the social worker and their supervising manager, together with the police should decide whether to conduct joint interviews with the police, either the Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) or the Immigration Service and the Borough Police.

• Where it is decided that the family should be visited and interviewed, standard social work practice should be followed. The child should be seen alone, preferably in a safe environment. Ensure that the carers are not in the proximity. Children and young people will usually stick to their account and not speak until they feel comfortable.
• Where it is decided that the family should be visited and interviewed, standard social work practice should be followed. The child should be seen alone, preferably in a safe environment. Ensure that the carers are not in the proximity. Children and young people will usually stick to their account and not speak until they feel comfortable.
• Professional interpreters, who have been CRB checked, should be used, it is not acceptable to use a family member. 
• Questions should focus on the following:
  • Family composition, brothers, sisters, ages
  • Parents' employment
  • Task they do around the house
  • Length of time in this country
  • Where they lived in their country of origin
  • Where they went to school in their country of origin
  • Who cared for them in their country of origin

The adults in the family should be interviewed (separately if possible) on the same basis, using the same questions, a comparison can then be made between the answers to ensure they match.

• All documentation should be seen and checked. This includes Home Office documentation, passports, visas, utility bills, tenancy agreements, birth certificates.  Particular attention should be given to the documentation presented to the school at point of admission.  It is not acceptable to be told 'the passport is missing' or 'I can't find the paperwork right now'. It is extremely unlikely that a person does not know where their paperwork/official documentation is kept.
• This interview should be conducted as fully and complete as possible to ensure accuracy and to avoid intrusion on the family over a longer period than is absolutely necessary.
• On completion of the assessment a meeting should be held with the social worker, their supervising manager, the referring agency as appropriate, the police and any other professionals involved to decide on future action. Further action should not be taken until this meeting has been held and multi agency agreement obtained.
• Where it is found that the child is not a family member and is not related to any other person in this country, consideration should be given to establishing status and assisting the child as an Unaccompanied Minor.
• Any action regarding fraud, trafficking, deception and illegal entry to this country is the remit of the police and the Home Office. The local authority should assist in any way possible, however, the responsibility for legal action usually remains with the other agencies (exceptions include benefit fraud, the responsibility of the Department of Work and Pensions, and Education offences, pursued by the LEA).

See also the London Guidance for Safeguarding Children Missing from School.

Whenever a practitioner or volunteer becomes concerned that a child is at risk of significant harm, a referral must be made to Children's Social Services, (verbal referral, followed by a written referral within 48 hours) in accordance with section 4, Recognition and Response), Chapter 6, Referral and Assessment.

If the concern is raised at a port of entry, then immigration service should without delay, contact the Children's Social Services for the local area serving the port of entry. If the child is already in the country, the referral must be made to the Children's Social Services for the area in which the child resides.

LA children's social cervices must convene a Strategy Meeting within two working days of:

• The child becoming looked after; or
• Arrival in the borough where they are intending to reside, if a s.47 enquiry is appropriate.

The Strategy Meeting must:

• Share information - this will involve Immigration, the Police, Children's Social Services and any other relevant professionals;
• Develop a strategy for making enquiries into the child's circumstances, including consideration of a video interview;
• Develop a plan for the child's immediate protection, including the supervision and monitoring of arrangements (for Looked After children this will form part of the care plan);
• Agree what information can be given about the child to any enquirers; and
• Agree what support the child requires

A Core Assessment of the child's needs must be undertaken immediately by the social worker and residential worker/carer to include:

• Establishing relevant information about the child's background;
• Understanding the reasons the child has come to the UK; and
• Assessing the child's vulnerability to the continuing influence/control of the traffickers.

Planning and actions to support the child must minimise the risk of the traffickers being able to re-involve a child exploitative activities. Thus:

• The location of the child must not be divulged to any enquirers until they have been interviewed by a social worker and their identity and relationship/connection with the child established, with the help of police and immigration services, if required.
• Foster carers/residential workers must be vigilant about anything unusual e.g. waiting cars outside the premises and telephone enquiries.
• The social worker must immediately pass to the police any information on the child (concerning risks to her/his safety or any other aspect of the law pertaining either to child protection or immigration or other matters), which emerges during the placement.

The child's social worker must try to make contact with the child's parents in the country of origin (immigration services may be able to help), to find out the plans they have made for their child and to seek their views. The social worker must to steps to verify the relationship between the child and those thought to be her/his parent/s.

See Appendix 2 for a list of addresses and contact details for embassies and consulates for various parts of the world.

Anyone approaching the local authority and claiming to be a potential carer, friend, member of the family etc, of one of the child, should be investigated by the social worker, the police and immigration service. If the supervising manager is satisfied that all agencies have completed satisfactory identification checks and risk assessments the child may transfer to their care.

Children who have been trafficked and exploited are likely to need some of the following services:

• Appropriately trained interpreting
• Counselling
• Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHs)
• Independent legal advice
• Medical services (including, for victims of torture)
• Education
• Repatriation

16.1  Issues for Professionals to consider when working with Trafficked and Exploited Children

Children who have been trafficked and exploited need:

• Practitioners to be informed and competent in matters relating to trafficking and exploitation
• Someone to spend time with them to build up a level of trust
• A 'safe house' if they are victims of an organised trafficking operation
• Legal advice about their rights and immigration status
• Their whereabouts to be kept confidential
• Discretion and caution to be used in tracing their families
• A risk assessment to be made into the danger they face if they are repatriated
• Accommodating - for those who meet the criteria
• To be interviewed separately. Children and young people will usually stick to their account and not speak until they feel comfortable
• Consider talking to children and young people using the phone, e mail, text
• Consider interviewing children in school as they may feel more able to talk
• Ensure that carers are not in the proximity
• Ensure that interpreters are CRB checked
• Contact with further education establishments

16.2  Missing Children

London practitioners responding to the disappearance of vulnerable children from abroad, following their arrival in this country, can access additional guidance in the London procedures for Safeguarding Children Missing from Care and Home, LCPC 2006 and the Safeguarding Children Missing from School, LCPC 2006.

16.3  Issues for the Prosecution of Traffickers

Attempting to persuade a child victim to testify against a trafficker is complicated. The child usually fears reprisal from the traffickers and/or the adults whom the child was living with in the UK if they co-operate with the police. This includes reprisals against their family in their home country. Children who might agree to testify, fear that they will be discredited because they were coerced into lying on their visa applications/ immigration papers.

16.4  Repatriation and Deportation

Trafficked and exploited children who eventually return home can suffer discrimination from the community - particularly girls who have been sexually exploited. A risk assessment needs to be into the danger a child may face if they are repatriated.

Christine Christie, LCPC Manager