Trafficked Roma children coming to the UK from Romania are being brutally exploited by criminals. Julie Griffiths finds out what social workers and police need to know and ask before they can help these children.
Although the most recent estimate of the number of trafficked children in the UK is put at 325, a recent raid on just one village in Romania has cast doubt on that figure. The raid, in April, saw the arrest of 26 people responsible for the trafficking of 272 Roma, or Gypsy, children.
Christine Beddoe, director of children's rights organisation Ecpat UK, says this is "the tip of the iceberg". She says the true scale of trafficking in the UK is unknown, but it is certainly more than a few hundred. "Many will be here living with extended families, hidden from the authorities because most don't attend school or access health care," she says.
At any sniff of interest from police or social services, the gang moves from an address. Superintendent Bernie Gravett (pictured right), head of Operation Golf at the Metropolitan Police, says entire houses can be packed up within three hours. The speed at which the gangs work makes it vital for all professionals to identify trafficked children quickly, he says. Often, they have found social workers or local police have handed children back to their traffickers because the right questions were simply not asked.
Operation Golf, a joint operation between Romanian police and the Met, has spent two years trying to end child trafficking by a specific organised criminal gang. Gravett says they would have greater success if social workers could better identify trafficking which means understanding the cultural factors that enable it (see graphic).
Harrow Council's unaccompanied asylum seeker service manager, Philip Ishola agrees social worker awareness is low. However, he points out that taking these children into care does not guarantee them protection. "The fear of harm to their family is a powerful weapon. Even if the children are put in care they may try to return to the traffickers at the first opportunity. Making the child safe is a specialist process."