Aims and objectives

The National Working Group’s principal objective is to offer support and advice to those working with children and young people at risk of or affected by sexual exploitation and contribute to developing excellent policy and practice in this area. To achieve this we:

• Facilitate the development of a UK wide support network for practitioners working with young people at risk of, or experiencing sexual exploitation. This is achieved through our email mailing list and regular practitioner led seminars which offer opportunities for examples of good, challenging and developing practice to be shared and discussed.

• Contribute to the development of UK wide policy and practice relating to child sexual exploitation. Through the network we enable members to be heard as a collective voice of those working in the field and facilitate links between practitioners and those undertaking research and policy developments in this area.

• Support the dissemination of resources and learning relating to child sexual exploitation

• Encourage child centred practice that recognises and respects diversity and facilitates the active participation of children and young people in policy and practice relating to child sexual exploitation. This is supported by the work of the participation group which is developing creative work with children and young people affected by sexual exploitation.