In 2021, we have been working with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC), Dame Sara Thornton, to commission independent research and convene a multi-agency conference on practitioner responses to child trafficking in the UK, to coincide with the United Nations International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
Human trafficking and safeguarding practitioners are meeting at Cumberland Lodge in October 2021, with academics, civil society and survivor organisations and policymakers, for candid conversations about the role of practitioner evidence in responding to child exploitation in the UK. We seek to examine how such evidence is shared, and how it can contribute to informing future research and policy needs, to improve survivor outcomes.
This conference also incorporates the views and expertise of survivors, and explores how decisions to safeguard children from exploitation can be made in the best interests of the child, and facilitate the voice of the child. The ideas and practical recommendations that emerge will directly inform policy and practice across the UK.
You can follow updates on this work on Twitter using #clGoodPractice and #ProtectingChildren. The conference briefing is available to read or download below and digital resources and our final joint report will also be shared on this page.