Working with girls aged 19 and under

The numbers of new people identified has significantly fallen during the past two years. This past year we have not met any young people under the age of 16 who are being sexually exploited through street prostitution. We have had reports from residents and community wardens that they have seen “very young girls” but we believe that these girls are probably older than they look. However, we continue to be vigilant through outreach sessions and information received from older girls/women involved in prostitution.

Early identification is essential as it is difficult to intervene once young people become entrapped in abusive situations and relationships. They develop extended ‘surrogate’ families and are reluctant to return to families where they may be a lack of emotional warmth and stability.

Other young people we have made contact with are presenting with more diverse issues and needing a wide range of support. They are being targeted by predatory males and adults who provide open houses for vulnerable young people seeking shelter. Many have multiple vulnerability factors that seriously jeopardise their life chances. They are vulnerable to substance misuse as drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis are viewed as the norm. They all believe that cannabis and alcohol would not lead them on to other illegal substances.

STREETREACH continues to encourage girls to give information about the men who sexually exploit them. This has been difficult to put into practice this year despite past success in using Abduction Orders. There appears to be a complex web of abusing adults and Streetreach, in partnership with other agencies, are attempting to unravel and eliminate this. We intend to use the new Sexual Offences Act, to target these adults through the criminal justice system.

Multi-Agency Forum on Sexual Explotation

Support offered to young people through the Multi-Agency Forum includes:

• Distance Learning Package delivered through Beckett Road Pupil Referral Unit for those who have been out of mainstream education.
• Sexual Health Services
• Streetreach - One-to-one sessions, Counselling, Group Activities, Extra-curricular activities
• Drug treatment - Better Deal (Young People Drug Service)

There is an open membership to all agencies/organisations who feel they have a role to play on the Forum (long or short term). We believe this is vital in accessing and improving service for young people who are being sexually exploited.

Members of the Forum include representatives from:

School Prevention Programme

This programme is in its third year and has been accessed by around 300 Year 10 pupils in a number of schools throughout Doncaster, as well as to other young people in behavioural units, youth Clubs, the Foyer (housing for young people) and non-school based education provision.

National Networking

Streetreach continues to be part of local and national project meetings with the aim of keeping up to date with current trends across the country. We believe that it is important to be an 'open' agency and to share and learn from other people who work in a similar field.

Further information about the work we do with the under 19's can be found in the Annual Report