County Lines
County Lines is the movement of illegal drugs from one location to another, often over county or local authority borders. The ‘County Line’ refers to the phone line used to take orders of drugs. Organised criminal gangs will often groom or coerce children and vulnerable adults into storing or transporting the drugs and money, to distance themselves from criminal activity.
Risks of involvement in county lines include financial and sexual exploitation, criminalisation, physical violence, trafficking, and misuse of alcohol and drugs.
#LikesToLines
County Lines is a growing threat, with gangs using social media to target, groom and exploit vulnerable children as young as 11. Yet research by Unseen shows that 1 in 3 UK adults don’t know what county lines are. Therefore, on Monday 18th March 2024, Child Exploitation Awareness Day, Unseen is launching the #LikesToLines campaign, an initiative designed to equip parents, professionals, and anyone who works with children with the knowledge and tools to identify and protect children at risk.
For more information, visit: www.unseenuk.org
How to report child exploitation
From January 2023 any professional who has a concern that a child or group of children are at risk of exploitation within the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area can refer to the Missing, Exploited and Trafficked (MET) Panel.
The MET panel consists of multi-agency partners which meet fortnightly to consider concerns about all forms of child exploitation, particularly focussing on identifying the links between young people, places they go to and the people who exploit them.
There are two ways that you can refer a child or young person to the MET Panel. You can:
If your referral is accepted you will be invited to attend the next available MET Panel. A MET referral does not replace established processes for all agencies to follow if they have a concern for a child that requires a referral to the Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). Professionals completing a referral to MASH where there are concerns regarding child exploitation should also consider making a referral to the MET Panel.
Parental support for parents with a child who is at risk of or experiencing criminal exploitation
Escapeline is a local charity who offer training, support, and guidance on preventing child exploitation.
Ivision Trust is a national charity who offer telephone support and webinars for parents and carers.
St Giles Trust is a national charity. Their website contains lots of information on the signs of exploitation and on police involvement. The Trust runs several peer hubs, but there are currently none in the BCP area, so they cannot provide face to face support here. However, we can access the hubs for foster carers, or where children are moving to live with a parent living within the catchment area of a hub.
More national and online resources:
Action For Children - Child exploitation: what you need to know
CEOP Education - Online Safety
It's Not Okay - PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation)
The Children's Society - Child Exploitation Programmes
Marie Collins Foundation (technology-assisted sexual abuse)
National Network to End Child Abuse
NSPCC - Social media
Children's Commissioner - Keeping children safe online: why we must tackle misinformation and violence content
Save The Children: 12 tips you can trust: talking to your children about racism
From dealing drugs in school to tackling youth crime - People Are Deep
This video from @peoplearedeep explains perpetrator grooming and what this may look like for a victim. Social media can be a useful resource, but it is important to be aware that some videos may contain misinformation or content that some may find upsetting.