Joanna Phoenix finds that support for young people at risk of prostitution is let down by patchy provision.
Despite a decade of innovative practice and policy, and recent government guidance, services for children and young people at risk of sexual exploitation or involved in prostitution remain patchy. What service a young person receives depends largely on where in the country she or he lives.
Recent research sought to analyse provision for young people in prostitution within England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Services for young people who are at risk of sexual exploitation can be divided into either specialist initiatives, whose main brief is to work with this particular client group, or generic initiatives that have workers with expertise in the field.
In the UK, there are only 42 specialist projects (or projects with specialist workers) and these are concentrated in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Middlesbrough, Doncaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Norwich, London, Bournemouth, Southampton, Bristol and Birmingham.
Such concentration in urban areas is related to two factors: the tendency for prostitution to be a largely urban phenomenon; and that urban centres are better resourced than rural areas, especially in relation to non-statutory provision. The result of this uneven geographical provision is that across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, only seven cities have either a project or an individual with expertise in working with this client group.
Also, services are provided by different types of organisation. So in north east England, services are dominated by drugs projects. In south east and central England, services are provided mainly by sexual health outreach projects.
However, most services for young people in prostitution are provided by voluntary agencies whose main role is to offer support to young people or adults working in prostitution, to support those experiencing housing difficulties or difficulties with drugs and alcohol, or by agencies offering support with other more generic social and personal welfare problems.
The unique needs of this client group can be lost within these agencies, with young people in prostitution being treated the same as other vulnerable young people. Many of the young people that come into contact with voluntary agencies have mental health, housing and economic needs that outstrip the resources of agencies on the ground.
In councils where there is a good spread of services, practitioners reported serious differences between the policies and protocols adopted and the services on offer. So, while the policies and protocols give the appearance of multi-agency practice working well, project workers on the front line talked about problems in agreeing definitions of risk and confidentiality.
Voluntary agencies also discussed their difficulties when working with police and social workers. For example, unless a young person is "at risk" of immediate danger and under the age of 16, social services and police either did not see the relevance of their involvement or did not respond.
Yet despite the uneven evolution of these services in the past three years, the dynamism and dedication of a very few individuals has driven creative and innovative work. For example, the efforts of only three individuals in the south west of England have ensured that child and youth prostitution is taken seriously by councils and police, which now work with a specialist organisation in providing a broad range of services.
But when a nation’s services rely on only a handful of people and projects, it inevitably raises questions about sustainability and worker burn-out.
- For information about services visit www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/
Joanna Phoenix is lecturer, department of social and policy sciences, University of Bath. Further information about the study contact her at J.B.M.Phoenix@bath.ac.uk
The survey
The research took the form of a survey combined with qualitative interviews. Contact questionnaires were sent to all councils and local government bodies within England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as the key children's charities and police forces. Key individuals with responsibility for developing practice and policy for child protection, community safety or sexual health were identified for interview.