Child Criminal Exploitation: Flipping the Script on Victims

'What do you think are the biggest misconceptions adults hold about what a victim of exploitation looks like?'

Professionals can then often misinterpret the survival strategies of exploited children as deliberate criminal choices or as disengagement, as many are judged by their actions and the criminal behaviour, rather than through the lens of being a child who has experienced trauma and grooming. At the very least, this leads to victim-blaming, and in the worst case, this can exacerbate the risk of further exploitation.

When professionals view vulnerable children as 'problems to manage' rather than 'children to protect', the system meant to safeguard them becomes a source of further harm. 

This happens for several reasons: 

'Adultification' 

Adultification occurs when adults perceive a child (disproportionately black and ethnic minority children, young carers or those from working-class backgrounds) as older, more mature, and more capable of making free choices than they actually are. Instead of seeing a terrified child being manipulated, professionals see an aggressive, street-smart 'young adult' who is making bad choices.

 Explore the concept of adultification. A form of bias where adult characteristics are ascribed to children 

Misinterpreting Defiant Behaviour

Traumatised, exploited children rarely act like a 'perfect victim'. To survive in criminal environments, they often adopt a persona. Professionals can often misread these specific behaviours:

• Hostility and Aggression: A child might be rude, defensive, or violent toward authority figures. This is often a defence mechanism driven by trauma, fear of retaliation from exploiters, or a profound lack of trust in adults.

• Having Cash or Luxury Goods: Exploiters intentionally give children expensive clothes, phones, or cash as part of the grooming process. Professionals can see these as evidence of willing participation for material gain, rather than recognising that they are part of the trap.

• Refusing Help: When a child says, "I'm fine, I choose to do, leave me alone," professionals sometimes take it at face value. They fail to see that the child may be under explicit orders or threats to remain silent. Children need to feel physically and emotionally safe with school staff in order to engage with them. 

Discover how unconscious bias directly impacts safeguarding outcomes 

Coercive control

There is a common professional assumption that because a child physically walked away to deliver drugs or carry a weapon, they did so freely. This completely ignores the reality of coercive control. Once a criminal group establishes debt bondage or threatens a child's family, the child no longer has free will. Their compliance is a survival tactic, not complicity. Remember, if a child or children are missing from school, carrying weapons, or found far from home with multiple phones, the starting assumption must be exploitation, not delinquency. Every child deserves the right to be seen as a victim first, regardless of their background.

 Watch for Sosa’s raw account of how his exploitation was completely overlooked 

Areas for consideration:

• What practical steps is your school taking to empower staff to look beyond a child's initial defence mechanisms?

• Is the concept of adultification actively challenged and discussed in your professional development sessions? What other biases or stereotypes exist that may impact how a child is perceived and responded to?

• How deeply embedded is relational practice within your school’s daily culture? Do the daily interactions between staff and students genuinely reflect the values of empathy, curiosity, positive human regard and authenticity?
  

See how culture impacts CCE

To find out more about this topic, listen to our podcast and explore the full offer of CCE resources, training and support from LGfL. Please visit CCE.lgfl.net 

Subscribe to our SafeguardED newsletter for further updates and follow us on LinkedIn.