Child protection committee launched
The first multi-agency guidance for government and voluntary sector agencies to combat child trafficking in London was launched on June 26 by Maria Tuttle, the wife of the US Ambassador Robert Tuttle.
The first multi-agency guidance for government and voluntary sector agencies to combat child trafficking in London was launched on June 26 by Maria Tuttle, the wife of the US Ambassador Robert Tuttle.
The London Child Protection Committee (LCPC) Procedure for Safeguarding Trafficked and Exploited Children signals the acceptance that the problem of child trafficking exists across London, as well as a willingness to combat it through multi-agency partnerships between police, social services, health, immigration and childrens organisations.
The LCPC announced: We are pleased to be publishing this procedure as part of the Committees support for a multi-agency response to safeguarding vulnerable children. The Committee has been encouraged by the good reception from London services for this initiative to improve our response to the complexities of identifying and protecting children abused through trafficking.
The launch of the procedure has been welcomed by End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking UK (ECPAT UK), which described it as a first step on the road to providing trafficked children with the best possible care and support for now and the future.
Christine Beddoe, Director of ECPAT UK told Police Professional: We have worked closely with the LCPC over the past two years in the development of this procedure. It acknowledges the campaigning we have done and the procedure represents our challenge to set up a framework document that agencies will buy into.
Working to this agreed framework will guard against vulnerable children falling through the gap. ECPAT will sit outside of the main implementation but our commitment to the procedure means we will be overseeing the process of its roll out.
Importantly, the procedure is the acknowledgement of the risk faced by exploited and vulnerable children. Social services have up until now failed to grasp the issues and the procedure will change this. We hope this London initiative will become a possible model to duplicate on a more national scale.