2.3 Programa de Inversiones y el funcionamiento del SNIP
2.3.6 Sistema Operativo de Seguimiento y Monitoreo
authorities to voice my concerns that the person being age assessed
may have been trafficked. We are now becoming more aware of the
different trends and indicators to look out for.’
Anonymous social worker, in evidence to the CSJ
‘Before it was just a straight age assessment, but now when you look
at it you have to consider both sides – could this child have been
trafficked?’
Social worker, in evidence to the CSJ
Recommendation:
Social workers conducting age assessments should be trained to identify indicators of modern slavery, and should know what the NRM is and how to make a referral.
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Child victims may present in a variety of situations and circumstances, and there is significant need for a universal basic understanding of the indicators. Most police areas do not have a dedicated child trafficking unit or a specific officer responsible for cases of child trafficking. This may be due to the fact that child trafficking represents a variety of crime types, including sexual exploitation, neglect and forced labour, and therefore is not viewed as the remit of one specific unit, but it is also down to the absence of direct tasking in addressing this crime: ‘Child trafficking offences are committed at varying levels of organisations, from informal familial offending to highly sophisticated organised crime’.53
The subtle indicators of modern slavery, and the many conflicting appearances of criminality that may be present, cause significant challenges to the police. In cases where the child is identified as conducting illegal activity, it is essential that the police understand the possible risk factors associated with modern slavery and do not prosecute children who are committing crimes only as a result of being trafficked. In evidence to the CSJ, police have registered views that they are not always equipped to identify the hidden vulnerabilities of children.
This underlines the essential role of multi-agency work; police, social services and the voluntary sector must work together to ensure that potentially trafficked and exploited vulnerable children are safeguarded and protected. An example of this multi-agency approach can be seen in Bristol, where local anti-trafficking charity Unseen has supported Avon and Somerset police to enhance their recent push on disrupting the illegal cultivation of cannabis in the area. Details of this arrangement can be found in section 4.3.1.
Children trafficked into modern slavery within the UK may present to police in different ways, including through anti-social behaviour such as under-age drinking, drug use or shoplifting. Evidence to the CSJ has suggested that in these cases, it is difficult for police to see past the ‘nuisance’ and understand what may be going on. Past research has highlighted the dangers of repeated episodes of petty criminality being ignored by police.54 As any parent will know,
disruptive behaviour is often a symptom not a cause, and whilst it may be unrealistic to expect every police officer to bring that perspective fully into every case, a basic awareness of indicators that may flag up a more serious concern should be embedded in the training of every officer.
53 Association of Chief Police Officers/National Policing Improvement Agency, Guidance on Investigating Child Abuse and Safeguarding Children, Second Edition, London: ACPO, 2009, p32
54 Pearce J, Hynes P and Bovarnick S, Breaking the wall of silence: Practitioners’ responses to trafficked children and young people, London: NSPCC, June 2009
‘We’re experts at enforcement; we’re not experts in identifying
people who’ve been trafficked. Once they get into custody those
opportunities are limited because we’re working against the clock.’
4.4.3.1 Children’s mistrust of authority
In many cases, children who have been trafficked into modern slavery may have a damaging mistrust of authorities, including the police. For children trafficked to the UK from abroad, this may be due in part to experiences in their countries of origin where police and other authorities might be corrupt. In one case relayed to the CSJ by an investigating police officer, a victim told of a police officer in her home country who sold her home address to her trafficker after she had escaped. The trafficker visited her house, beat her and left her for dead.55 This is just one example of the justified mistrust of authority that is so prevalent
among victims of modern slavery.
This distrust may also develop as a result of the work of traffickers, who will convince their victims that if they go to the police, they will be arrested and deported or imprisoned. The disincentives for a child to speak out against their trafficker and alert someone to their situation are immense, and any strategy to counteract child trafficking and better support the victims must take this into account.
55 Investigating Officer, The Metropolitan Police, in evidence to the CSJ
56 Child trafficked into modern slavery from abroad, in a speech to practitioners, July 2012
‘Many of these children are perceived as a nuisance rather than a
risk.’
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Jeffries, Avon and Somerset Police, in evidence to the CSJ
‘Police, as investigators, are looking for consistencies in stories of the
children. But you will find more inconsistencies than consistencies in
the stories of these young people – so it’s a different mind-set for
the police.’
Anonymous child safeguarding professional, in evidence to the CSJ
Recommendations:
Child Abuse Investigation Teams (CAITs) should be trained in investigations into modern slavery and human trafficking and should recognise child trafficking as part of their remit;
Police should be tasked to proactively investigate the links between missing children and child trafficking, given the risk factors involved. For example, the Metropolitan Police Sapphire unit or equivalent units, which investigate rape and other serious sexual violence cases, should be sensitised to modern slavery in order to increase detection.
‘You cannot rely on the police in my home country.’
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Language restrictions may also prevent a child speaking out about their experience. The extreme vulnerability and isolation caused by the inability to speak the local language, coupled with an entrenched fear of the police can often seem insurmountable, and children in particular are at risk of remaining hidden simply because they are unable to communicate. A voluntary sector worker told our review about a Vietnamese child who, when recovered from a cannabis farm where he was being exploited, did not even know which country he was in.58 With this level of
confusion and isolation, children in modern slavery, unsurprisingly, remain hidden.
4.4.4 Identification by children’s services
Children’s services have a significant role to play in identifying children in modern slavery, yet awareness of child trafficking and the risk indicators it may present is worryingly varied across the country. Local authorities are a designated First Responder for the NRM; they should have awareness of the problem of modern slavery and be able to spot the signs. However social workers often do not understand the problem of child trafficking in the context of child abuse, meaning that in some cases ‘social workers are fearful and may shy away from it’.59 Police have highlighted the crucial role of social workers, explaining that: ‘rarely will a
child or young person approach the authorities and state they have been trafficked. We are, therefore, reliant on professionals involved with the child or young person to carry out effective assessments, to understand how children may be exploited and to understand that child trafficking…is child abuse’.60
57 Case study submitted by Sheila Taylor, Chief Executive of the National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Children, in evidence to the CSJ, March 2012
58 Voluntary sector worker, in evidence to the CSJ, September 2012 59 Anonymous child trafficking NGO, in evidence to the CSJ, September 2011
60 Wood S, ‘Child trafficking investigations and prosecutions’, in P Chandran (ed), The Human Trafficking Handbook: Recognising human trafficking and modern slavery in the UK, Edinburgh: LexisNexis, 2011, p394
Sarah was brought to the UK from Eastern Europe by a criminal network of traffickers who sold her into the sex industry. In order to exert total control over her, two of Sarah’s traffickers dressed as policemen, and raped her. This instilled from the first instance an appalling and misplaced fear of the British police and ensured that Sarah submitted to the abuse that she was forced into.57
Sarah
‘He was so petrified; he was not going to say anything.’
Social worker, in evidence to the CSJ
‘We’re not finding them, we’re not identifying them, we’re not
referring them; that’s the problem.’
A significant factor in this lack of awareness is the shocking fact that modern slavery and human trafficking does not feature on the curriculum for social worker training. This is ‘like training doctors without teaching them about broken bones’.61 One social worker told the CSJ that
‘we’ve never been told about trafficking – I only looked into it as a personal interest’.62 With
this damaging low awareness from the very outset, local authorities are forced to rely upon the unrealistic assumption that a social worker will simply be able to pick up the signs and indicators of modern slavery and understand the nuanced issues surrounding it ‘on the job’. Ad hoc, infrequent and unmonitored training is sporadically delivered in some areas, reflecting a complete lack of coordination. It is therefore essential that trainee social workers are taught about the risks of child trafficking in the UK as part of their qualification, and that existing social workers are trained effectively through an agreed programme. This training should form part of social workers’ continued professional development. The newly established College of Social Work should be aware of the gap in training on trafficking for social workers, and should recommend that it be added to the curriculum for student social workers.
A first step to counter this unawareness would be the addition of child modern slavery to the child protection training for social workers at university level. To expect social workers to spot the signs of trafficking without any teaching on the subject is unrealistic, particularly in light of the pressures already exerted upon them through their existing heavy caseload, and the time constraints this creates.63 In a previous CSJ report on the UK care system, it was highlighted
that ‘there is a large and unacceptable gap between the service which social workers want to be able to deliver and the reality on the ground’.64 Not only does this remain the case, but
in regard to the issue of trafficking about which so little is known, many social workers have neither the time nor the capacity to engage with it. Given that ‘the decisions of social workers are crucial to the fortunes of children in care. They have a major impact on…who looks after
61 Andy Elvin, CEO of Children and Families Across Borders, in evidence to the CSJ, September 2011 62 Anonymous social worker, in evidence to the CSJ
63 See, for example, The Guardian, Are social workers buckling under unmanageable caseloads?, 25 January 2012 [accessed via: http://www. guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2012/jan/25/social-workers-unmanageable-caseloads (07/02/13)]
64 The Centre for Social Justice, Couldn’t Care Less: A policy report from the Children in Care Working Group, London: Centre for Social Justice, 2008, p88