Exploitation of children will continue however hard we work to stop it experts say

A meeting of Shropshire Council's overview committee heard from members of the Safeguarding partnership multi-disciplinary team that tackles child exploitation, including sexual exploitation in the county and the County Lines drugs network.

Sonya Miller, assistant director for children outlined the work of the team including raising awareness so members of the community could report concerns and raise worries.

"While the number of county lines have been reduced the number of children as risk of exploitation is rising," she said.

"Our communities and parents must realise that criminal child exploitation is always a risk no matter how small their village or hamlet is."

She said Shifnal, Oswestry and more recently, Ellesmere had seen problems emerge and that the team was working to warn local professionals and the general public.

Councillor Claire Wild said despite the good work going on within the county the criminal exploitation of children would never go away.

"People who do these horrendous things are getting smarter and they will find a way to get round us," she said.

When Councillor Kevin Pardy asked how many children at risk from exploitation were those not in school Service manager for Children's social care, Jeanette hill, said the main risk factor for children was not being in education whether through fixed term or permanent exclusions or missing school.

"Not being in school is the greatest risk but it is also our greatest success, in getting children back into school. When they are not at school they have time on their own and will be spotted by the exploiters. It is everybody's benefit to keep the kids at school.

"We appreciate that they can be difficult to manage at school but work hard to provide multi-agency wraparound support for them and the schools."

Councillors also asked about pathways for children, parents and other concerned individuals to go for help.

They were told that there were ways that people could report worries from a school reporting a car often seen at the bottom of their drive to something happening out in the community.

"Any practitioner working with young people in Shropshire do not have to name a child, they can talk through their worries too see if any red flags should be raised. Things can also be reported through areas such as crimestoppers or our police Safer Neighbourhood Teams."

"It is everybody's responsibility to provide safe spaces for children."

The committee also heard how work was taking place in schools including drama groups and also in the community, such as the Bright Star Boxing Club to steer those at risk away from exploitation.

The team is also working to put more psychological support in place for children who are being exploited.

"Children's trust in human beings is being systematically deconstructed by their exploiters before being rebuilt with the people who exploit them," Sonya said.

"We know that those who are exploited at the age of 16, 17, 18 can have serious mental health issues in their early 20s," Sonya said.