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Essex Safeguarding Children Board

Professionals/volunteers

Professionals and volunteers

Are you concerned about a particular child/group?

Is something happening in an area that makes it unsafe for young people?

Young people often gravitate towards stations because they are anonymous places that also provide some form of shelter and access to food and drink. A young person may use a station or form of public transport in an attempt to disappear. Bus and rail networks can also be used by offenders to traffic young people for the purpose of sexual and criminal exploitation.

This is why people who work within and around stations, from ticket collectors to engineers, coffee shop workers to cleaners, all play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable young people.

Report concerns and access support

Support services that you can signpost parents/carers to can be found on the parent/carer page.

Spot the signs of exploitation

  • Online commodities – receiving game currency and other gifts within games
  • Children who are alone and look frightened and maybe have no tickets or money to pay the fare
  • Children/adults who look frightened in the company of other children or adults
  • Children travelling alone at night
  • Those who do not look comfortable with adults they are travelling with
  • Allows others to speak for them when addressed directly
  • Those under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • Children in school uniform during the school day
  • Their physical appearance may show signs of injury, malnourishment and maybe unkempt
  • They might seem unfamiliar with the local area, or not have a local accent
  • They could be travelling during school hours or unusual hours (early in the morning, late at night)
  • Are they travelling the same route on a regular basis (once or twice a week)?
  • They could be receiving excessive texts or phone calls
  • Are they deliberately avoiding authority figures such as police officers or railway staff?
  • Some may be with older individuals who are purchasing tickets for them or giving them money for tickets

Training opportunities

Every Contact Counts

Every Contact Counts training - for anyone in a public facing role, who may encounter victims of exploitation.

Bitesize training from The Railway Children

Bitesize training session - looking at Child Exploitation from The Railway Children.

Criminal Exploitation Training

Criminal Exploitation training - looking at the signs of Criminal Exploitation in children & young people and how it progresses.

Child Exploitation Training

Child Exploitation training - including CE Pathway and NWG Gold Membership.

Training from The Children's Society

Act on Exploitation | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

Other opportunities

All ESCB Learning and Development

Resources

Bitesize training video - CE support for professionals supporting parents and carers

Downloadable Operation Henderson resources - available here for partners to print.

Look Closer Campaign - a joint initiative with The Children’s Society and British Transport Police encouraging members of the public to learn the signs of child exploitation and understand how to report it if worried. There are also downloadable resources.

Spot It, Stop It scheme encourages businesses to sign up, where they will receive awareness training to increase their knowledge of CSE including the signs to look out for and how to report concerns.

Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit Knife Harm Campaign - Local campaign to increase knowledge and understanding, including where to turn to for help.