Social services to get more help in identifying child trafficking

Social workers will receive more information on child
trafficking included in a booklet to help them if they are worried
that a child is being abused, writes Amy
Taylor.

The measure is the result of a meeting between a child protection
group and children’s minister Margaret Hodge this week.

At the meeting, Carron Somerset, acting campaigns coordinator at
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes UK, said that the new version of the
booklet will be made available to all social workers.

A recent report on how social services in London deal with child
trafficking, written by Somerset, found social workers often felt
they needed more information on the issue. It called on the
government to issue guidance and a practice manual to social
workers on dealing with child trafficking.

Somerset said that although she was “pleased” with the
decision the government had not had gone far enough.

“There was some reluctance [from Hodge] about the scale of
child trafficking in the UK and therefore the need for dedicated
support for social workers,” said Somerset.

No date has yet been set for the publication of the new version of
What to do if you are worried that a child is being abused.

Cause for Concern? London Social Services and Child Trafficking
from www.ecpat.org.uk