Safeguarding Children & Young People from Harm Outside of the Home

Children & Young People can experience harm and abuse within their families, as well as outside of their homes, within their communities, peer groups and online. This might include exploitation, serious violence and peer to peer abuse. These harms are child abuse. Children are never responsible for their own abuse. Partners in Lambeth are committed to continuously improve our responses to children & young people at risk out of the harm. Information, resources and links on this page will be updated regularly.

How are young people harmed outside the home?

Child Sexual Exploitation

What is Child Sexual Exploitation?

When a child or young person is sexually exploited they’re given things, like gifts, drugs, money, status and affection, in exchange for performing sexual activities. Children & young people may be tricked into believing they’re in a loving and consensual relationship. This is called grooming. They may trust their abuser and not understand that they’re being abused.

Types of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

CSE can happen online and in person. An abuser might gain the child’s trust and use violence, manipulation and threats to control them. Children and young people have reported that they thought their abuser cared about them. They may have shared sexually explicit images or been recorded engaging in sexual activity – only for the abuser to use this material to blackmail and control them.

Child Criminal Exploitation

What is child criminal exploitation?

Image by Sivani Bandaru What is child criminal exploitation? Criminal exploitation is child abuse where children and young people are manipulated and coerced into committing crimes.

Criminal exploitation in Lambeth

In Lambeth, our children are most vulnerable to being exploited to commit crimes that involve carrying, transporting or selling illegal drugs.

This can happen in Lambeth and can also include county lines, when children are used to transport drugs to smaller towns outside of London. Children are expected to fulfil orders for drugs placed through a phone line controlled by those exploiting the young person. In these situations, children are often in danger from violence and may spend days in unsafe locations, including ‘cuckooed’, or home invaded, properties.

Cuckooing is a practice where people take over a person’s home and use the property to facilitate exploitation. It takes the name from cuckoos who take over the nests of other birds.

Serious Violence

How does serious violence affect young people in Lambeth?

Young people in Lambeth suffer violence far more than most boroughs. The burden of this injustice falls unequally on our Black communities and affects far more Black children and young people than other groups. This violence ruins the lives of young people and their families.

This disproportionality can be seen across London too, where in 2020-21:

Young Black Londoners were 3.1 times more likely than young White Londoners to be a victim of knife crime and young Black males 3.4 times more likely than young White males to be a victim of knife crime.
For homicide, young Black Londoners were 5.2 times more likely than young White Londoners to be a victim and young Black males 6.0 times more likely than young White males to be a victim.

How are we working together to tackle serious violence?

Partners in Lambeth have committed to making Lambeth one of the safest places for children and young people to grow up. Launched in 2020, the Lambeth Made Safer for Young People strategy sets out a 10-year plan to achieve this.

Harmful Sexual Behaviour

What is HSB?

Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) is a sexual behaviour expressed by children and young people under the age of 18 years old that is developmentally inappropriate, may be

Possible Indicators of HSB

Sexual Behaviour: Behaviours beyond those expected for age (e.g. vaginal or oral intercourse, simulating intercourse with clothes off, sexually explicit proposals, compulsive

HSB Forum - what is it?

Hosted on the last Tuesday every month between 10am-12:30pm, the HSB Forum is facilitated by a mini multi-agency team of senior practitioners.

HSB Forum - make a referral

Download this referral form and email [email protected]

Peer-on-Peer Abuse

What is peer-on-peer abuse?

Peer-on-peer child abuse can include:

Bullying (including online bullying and bullying because of someone’s race, religion, sexuality, disability or trans status)
Abuse by a child's girlfriend, boyfriend or partner
Physical abuse sexual violence, such as rape and sexual assault sexual harassment
Sharing naked or semi-naked photos or videos without permission
Upskirting
Initiation/hazing type violence and rituals to harass, abuse and humiliate
Emotional abuse
Financial abuse
Coercive control

Spotting the Signs

Going missing from home or care. This might involve returning late or not returning overnight

Avoiding or missing school or college

Unexplained new possessions, money, or access to drugs, alcohol or even fast food

New bank accounts, a frozen bank account or unexplained deposits

Multiple phones, constant calls or messages that the young person is anxious to miss

Sudden change in mood, behaviour, friendship groups & activities

Repeated sexually transmitted infections

Having marks or injuries on their bodies which they try to conceal. These might be physical signs of abuse, like bruises or bleeding in their genital or anal area

Becoming withdrawn, worried & anxious

Uncharacteristic outbursts of anger

Becoming anxious, hyper-vigilant and worried about their safety

Becoming secretive about where they’re going or who they’re spending time with

An intense attachment to a new area or group of peers, this may include online spaces

Coming to Police attention

Responding to Contextual Harm

01. Build an effective relationship with the young person

Make time to really listen to really the young person. They are the expert of their experience
Find a way to connect – from food, to sports or music
Build trust. Be transparent about your concerns and your work. Do what you say you will. Avoid overpromising.

02. Every interaction is an intervention: be trauma-informed

Prioritise physical, psychological and emotional safety. Ask what someone needs to feel safe.
Those who have experienced trauma may feel powerless to control what happens to them. Work to empower them.
Reflect on own experiences & biases & how systems & processes can perpetuate oppression. Recognise & address power dynamics.

03. We do not blame children for their own abuse. Use language that reflects this

When talking about young people & exploitation, language matters. It can be the difference between a child being properly safeguarded or put at further risk of exploitation.
Download the Children’s Society Language Toolkit.

04. Work together to identify & assess risk & strengths

Use the Levels of Need guidance to identify needs
If not open to Social Care, make a referral
Complete an eco-map with the young person to map the contexts they spend time in, as well as their relationships
Use the Exploitation Risk Matrix to analyse risks

05. Work with partners to make locations & peer groups safer

Use the Traffic Light Tool to explore safe & unsafe locations with young people
To safeguard young people outside of the home, we need to create safety in the locations young people spend time in. If you identify a location or group of concern, email [email protected]

06. Create a Safety Plan with the young person, their family, and other professionals

Use the Safety Plan template to support a young person to reflect on situations they may feel unsafe in. How do they know they feel unsafe? What are the physical signs?
There are several practical steps that families, young people, and professionals can take to safety plan. Use this helpful parent/carer leaflet.

07. Ensure there is a plan to disrupt any exploitation

Use the Home Office’s disruption toolkit to explore the tools and tactics you can use with partners to disrupt exploitation.
For specialist advice for a young person, please email Colin Newman, Lambeth’s Exploitation Disruption Manager

08. Find the right service, at the right time

Lambeth is fortunate to have a diverse range of services and interventions to support young people at risk of contextual harm. Check out the service directory below.

09. Explore creative solutions - and get help when needed

Call a Professionals’ meeting for young adults or a Strategy meeting for a child to agree a multiagency plan
Refer to the Contextual Safeguarding Service for support. Use this form to refer to Lambeth’s Multiagency Violence & Exploitation (MAVE) panel to escalate concerns
Refer to the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Forum, or Young People Who Harm Others Forum for clinical input (details coming soon)

10. Never stop learning, & never, ever give up hope

Helpful research: Building Safety for Black Boys & Young Men in Lambeth; more research here
Helpful resources: see resources section below Book multiagency training here