Exploitation, gangs and violence
Exploitation
Child Exploitation is the act of taking advantage of children for personal gain or benefit, often through abuse, manipulation or forced labour. It can involve various forms of harm including.
- Child Criminal Exploitation - this can include carrying and selling illegal substances, carrying and moving weapons, committing robberies and shoplifting.
- Child Sexual Exploitation - this can include the manipulation, coercion and grooming of children for sexual purposes. This can happen online or in person and can include coercing them to create explicit images of themselves or others.
- County Lines - this can include children or young people being moved between areas near their home or further away and across the country to sell illegal substances.
- Trafficking - this can include the transport of a child or young person around the country wither for CCE, CSE or forced labour.
- Financial Exploitation - this can include children having illegal money moved through their bank accounts to launder it.
If you are worried about your immediate safety, contact the Police on 999.
Support for exploitation
If you are concerned about exploitation and want confidential advice and support, you can contact the following services.
County Lines Support and Rescue
Providing specialist support and rescue service for young people and their families who are criminally exploited through county lines. Caseworkers provide one-to-one support to young people and their families, working closely with other agencies and professionals and tailoring the support to each young person’s individual needs and circumstances. They deliver a rescue service, with out-of-hours capacity, to secure the safe return home, at a critical teachable moment, of young people from London, the West Midlands, Merseyside and Greater Manchester who are identified outside of their home police force area as a result of their involvement in county lines activity.
Website: https://www.catch-22.org.uk/find-services/county-lines-support-and-rescue/
Email: countylinessupportandrescue@catch-22.org.uk
Empower
Empower work with young Londoners, providing dedicated support to those who are at risk of, or who have experienced sexual abuse including exploitation, or criminal exploitation. They champion their voices to ensure they receive the best possible support. They provide support to parents and carers whose loved ones have experienced child exploitation or been impacted by violence.
Website: www.saferlondon.org.uk
Phone: 020 7021 0301
Email: referralandassessmentteam@saferlondon.org.uk
FazAmnesty
FazAmnesty is a grassroots community group focused on supporting and protecting young people who may have encountered child exploitation. They run mentoring programs, do street patrols, and collect weapons to help reduce crime and make neighbourhoods safer.
FazAmnesty facilitates the safe, responsible and anonymous collection of weapons from individuals and communities.
Website: FazAmnesty
Email: info@fazamnesty.com
London Gang Exit (LGE)
The LGE service is for anyone aged 16-24yrs who are affected by violence, criminally or sexually exploited. The service recognises the complexities of violence and exploitation involvement and the blurring of lines between victim and perpetrator as well as traditional boundaries of young person and adult. It additionally provides one-to-one caseworker sup- port from a trauma-based approach, as well as mental health support, employment support, family support, housing advocacy and specialist support for girls and women.
Phone: 020 3745 8374
Email: info@saferlondon.org.uk
Referral: LGEreferral@saferlondon.org.uk
SafeCall
SafeCall is a free, confidential and anonymous helpline and support service for young people and family members that are affected by missing, county lines and criminal exploitation. They can help you if you find yourself in a place with people that you do not want to be with, but you cannot leave safely.
The service also provides confidential support and advice for professionals in relation to their work with an exploited young person or family.
The service is open 9am to 11pm; 7 days a week.
Phone / Text: 116 000