Child Exploitation

Child Exploitation comes in many forms. It involves any act whereby another uses a child to gain labour, sexual gratification or some other personal or financial gain. Any child, regardless of age, socio-economic background or location is potentially at risk of child exploitation. Exploiters use coercion, manipulation and/or grooming tactics to target children and force them to engage in exploitative activities.

A number of the signs/indicators for child exploitation are the same, regardless of what type of exploitation is involved, i.e. withdrawal/isolation, going missing, secretive or defensive behaviour. This is often because exploiters will often make threats against the child or the child’s family to coerce them to cooperate with the exploitative behaviour.

Sutton LSCB is committed to raising awareness of and preventing child exploitation. Sutton MACE operational panel comes under the governance of the LSCB and has been developed to gain a clear understanding of the prevalence of child exploitation in Sutton and to signpost support to any children or young people who may be at risk of, or are experiencing, child exploitation. The panel is co-chaired by Sutton's Head of Service for Referral, Assessment, and Intervention and a member of the Met Police.

For information on the following forms of child exploitation and Sutton LSCP's activities for Child Exploitation Awareness Week please visit our dedicated site: sites.google.com/sutton.gov.uk/ceawareness 

• Child sexual abuse;
• Child criminal exploitation;
• County Lines;
• Child sexual exploitation;
• Female genital mutilation;
• Breast flattening/ ironing;
• Radicalisation and extremism;
• Child trafficking;
• Online abuse; and
• Missing