A UK charity is set to expand its services tackling the criminal exploitation of children after securing almost £5 million from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Action for Children will receive the funding over three years, enabling it to support children and young people works aged 11 to 18 and at high risk of exploitation and their families, across England, Scotland and Wales.
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Peer mentors, who have themselves experienced exploitation, will play a central role in the service offering intensive support and helping to shape the programme.
It is run via the charity’s Criminal Exploitation Support Service, which has supported more than 650 children and families since 2020 through one-to-one support, mentoring and help with education, employment and training.
In the next year, five new exploitation intervention services will be launched, alongside new work in Edinburgh, with existing services in Newcastle and Flintshire to continue.
The initiative will focus on vulnerable groups including criminally exploited girls, looked-after children and those at risk of family breakdown.
It will also examine the impact of county lines drug dealing and other forms of harm occurring outside the family home, including sexual abuse.
One young person supported in Wales said they believed the initiative had saved their life after suffering the repercussions of trying to break free from drug dealing.
“The person I was working for wasn’t happy that I wanted to stop selling for him and gave me a broken jaw,” they said, adding: “I wanted to take my own life. I didn’t want to be here.
“Without the help from Action for Children, I would be in jail or I would be dead.”
Lesley Gordon, the charity’s director for Criminally Exploited Children, said: “We see the harsh reality of criminal exploitation in our intervention services every day.
“The harm done to children and young people at the hands of exploiters is harrowing and has devastating consequences for them, their families and communities.
“This funding is a beacon of hope and means we will be able to reach many more children and young people at risk of exploitation in different parts of the country, building on the fantastic work already happening in our existing services.
“We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund and National Lottery players for this opportunity which will have a huge impact on the lives of young people.”
The money comes from The UK Fund, part of the National Lottery Community Fund’s “It starts with community” strategy for 2023–2030, which aims to help children and young people thrive.
Source: CYPNow
