Could you spot child exploitation?

Hanging out with older people, skipping school, being secretive? These are just some of the signs of child exploitation, and we all have a responsibility to spot them.  

Hundreds of children and young people in Warwickshire are exploited every year, so alongside our partners we are joining the national fight against child exploitation for Child Exploitation Awareness Day which takes place today, 18 March.  

Child exploitation can manifest itself in different ways, including child abuse, sexual exploitation, county lines drug dealing, coerced criminal activity, human trafficking and online grooming. It is a crime that can affect any child; anywhere, anytime and regardless of their social or ethnic background or gender. 

Child Exploitation Awareness Day encourages everyone to think about it so they can understand, spot and speak out against exploitation and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children.  

Earlier this week at Full Council on Tuesday 15 March, Warwickshire councillors and employees supported the powerful campaign, holding up pledges to learn how to recognise the signs of exploitation and report it if they see something that’s not right.  

Support for the awareness day amplifies our Something’s Not Right campaign, a partnership between WCC, Warwickshire Police, Barnardo’s and the Police and Crime Commissioner. Over the last year the campaign has raised awareness amongst Warwickshire residents of all forms of child exploitation to encourage all of us, not just parents, carers and professionals working with children, to tackle the issues of the exploitation of our children. 

The aim of the widely publicised campaign is to encourage residents to learn how to spot the signs of exploitation and throughout 2021 the advertising achieved 3.6 million impressions (the number of times one of the adverts was seen by residents in Warwickshire) and over 22,000 website visits from parents and carers, young people, professionals and members of the community across the county.  

We need to continue with this terrific momentum to ensure that Warwickshire is a safe place for our young people to live, learn and grow.  

We all have a responsibility to protect children and young people, and there are things we can all do to help tackle exploitation: 

• Learn what the signs of child exploitation are so it is easier to recognise 
• Know where to go to report anything that’s not right 
• Build trusting relationships with young people 
• Support the Helping Hands campaign and write a message of support for victims of exploitation and share it on social media using the hashtags #CEADay22 #HelpingHands #WarwickshireCE 
• Share social media messages from WCC and partners across social media to spread awareness 

• Wear something red today on Child Exploitation Awareness Day (18 March) to show support 

Supporting Child Exploitation Awareness Day today is another step in the process of spreading the word and reducing the abuse of our children. However, we all have a responsibility to spot the signs of child exploitation and report it every day.   

If you would like to raise awareness of child exploitation in Warwickshire on social media, make sure to use #WarwickshireCE and #CEADay22. 

To learn more about child exploitation, how to spot the signs, and the support available, visit www.somethingsnotright.co.uk.