What are the service outcomes for criminally exploited children?

We have launched a new research project to examine the referral routes, service approaches, interventions and education, health, social care and offending outcomes for criminally exploited children in two local authorities. The project aims to create detailed case studies of criminally exploited young people’s lived experiences of service pathways, provision and outcomes five years prior to referral acceptance and up to 2 years after. The project is informed by previous work on Child Criminal Exploitation.

This project will make a significant contribution to what is known about how criminally exploited children become known to services, and what service pathways are most effective in relation to their circumstances. This supports the Social Services Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014 which states that the right help should be offered at the right time to meet young people’s needs. The mixed-methods case study design will enable the identification of referral and service pathways and outcomes both at the individual and group levels. In addition, the project will provide a critical assessment of service data and the extent to which it can be used to identify criminally exploited children.