Children’s Rights in Practice young people’s perspectives of working with professionals in the context of child sexual exploitation Emma Stephens ‘everyone was failing me’: young people's perspectives of working with professionals in the context of child sexual exploitation. 

1: Dominant discourses from the Victorian era continue to be drawn on by practitioners. ‘The only thing that kept coming up is my behaviour…they didn't see why I was acting the way I did, they made me feel like there was something wrong with me.’  

2: Practitioners need to develop a hypersensitivity to their positions of power, given how central abuses of power are within child sexual exploitation. ‘…I felt, I felt like it was happening again, I felt literally I wouldn’t say it was as bad as rape but it felt like I was put in a situation where I couldn’t say no…’

3: Existing safeguarding policies and procedures struggle to address situations of CSE. ‘And then I think I were about 17, they said basically you’re out now…you're independent, you've got to go and live on your own…it were meant to be supported flats, it weren't supported flats at all, it was more like a security guard just sat there not doing anything.’ 

4: The bureaucratic nature of some corporate parent arrangements can result in a more dehumanised relationship between the professional and the child or young person. ‘…I think some people they read too much into their books and like read procedure too much and they follow procedure like rather than actually following humans, what humans do... you treat the kid like you would treat your kid.’

5: Neoliberalism and managerialism have hindered the professional’s ability to respond effectively to child sexual exploitation. ‘I don’t understand how a social worker is meant to build a relationship, three meetings and then they are gone. Once that one’s gone, the next one is going to have to build up that relationship, find out everything that is going wrong in someone’s life and by the time they have learnt that, it’s a new one.’

6: Research accounts suggested the rights of children and young people subject to CSE were frequently undermined. ‘They didn’t tell me anything, I were confused what were going on…I've known something’s not right, whatever’s going on is not right, they were watching me get in these cars and they were not doing nothing about it.’

Professionals characteristics Non-judgemental Active listener Respectful Empowering Warmth & empathic Honest

What young people want professionals to do Give me time Build a reciprocal relationship Teach me about coping strategies Advocate Teach me about CSE Use professional curiosity Involve me in decision making Provide information Believe Involve me in training and research

What young people want professionals to know about Trauma Mental health Child sexual exploitation