Advanced Child Exploitation Training (ACE)

This course is designed for learners with a basic knowledge of child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation and would like to develop their understanding further. Tony Saggers and Dr Sarah Hall deliver our two-day course. Both are experts in their fields with a wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience. Learners also hear from a parent with lived experience of child exploitation.

Tony Saggers has worked for over 30 years in law enforcement and is a global expert on the drug trade. Tony explains how the global and national drug trade works and the impact of drug use, gangs, and county lines. You will learn about different types of drugs and the ‘business model’ used by criminals to sell their products through the exploitation of young people.

Dr Sarah Hall shares best practice approaches, focusing on Contextual safeguarding with a relational approach and the theories underpinning it. Trauma-informed practice and victim blaming are explored, culminating in the presentation of Sarah’s published research, which discusses the importance of separating agency from blame in the context of exploitation.

The lived experienced trainers share their insights into current responses to child exploitation and how this impacts the whole family.

Learning objectives

Day One

• Recognise the history of child exploitation and the relevant legislation underpinning responses/
• Hear from a lived experience trainer sharing insights on interventions and impact
• Understand trauma, how it manifests and how to respond
• Learn about theories underpinning the Contextual Safeguarding approach and how to apply it to child criminal and sexual exploitation
• Understand victim blaming and the importance of separating agency and blame

Day Two

• Understand the global picture regarding drug markets / commodities and Understand the upstream impact of the drug situation upon the UK
• Achieve enhanced awareness of drug commodities likely to impact upon children
• Be able to describe the relationship between drugs and County Lines. Achieve a detailed appreciation of the CL business model key components
• Better understand how and why children are groomed and lured into County Lines. Understand the ‘Impact and consequences of CL and Gang criminality on children
• Be better placed to consider the risks of young people within CL and Gangs. Understand the potential consequences of exploitation and youth violence
• Be better placed to be proactive in the prevention of threats and risks

Who is the course for?

All practitioners with experience of working with people affected by child exploitation or who are looking to move into this area from a single specialism. This includes but is not limited to:

• Staff working within or alongside child exploitation multi-agency hubs
• Social workers
• Family intervention officer, family support worker, troubled family worker
• Independent and voluntary sector CSE workers
• Missing from home specialist
• Police community support officer (PSCOs) and police constables (PCs) with a CSE specialism
• Care home workers
• Foster carers

What our learners say

“Powerful session within the training. My role involves working directly with children who are identified as victims of CSE/CCE but also working with their family/carer. This has highlighted just how much support parents require, how honesty and being upfront is important and recognising there are wider implications around the exploited child. The parent speaker was the reality in the information we have learned about over the last 2 days.”

“The parent speaker was most informative regarding what all of her family experienced during the gang violence. I didn’t realised the rolling affect this had on her family, it was like a domino effect. I honestly cannot thank her enough for being so brave and sharing this lived experience of hers and her sons. He sounds like an amazing young man. She must be so proud of him.”

Course delivery

Our ACE course will be accessed by learners online, streamed live via Teams, with the ability to watch and interact with our live trainers and other course participants. It will be a blended style of learning, with the same content and structure as our traditional face to face course. Our guest speakers will also be on hand in each module for live Q and As. We are dedicated to ensuring the experience for our learners continues to be of the highest standard.

Course timings

Day 1, 9.30am – 2.30pm

Day 2, 9.30am – 2.30pm

Our speakers

• 

  Dr Sarah Hall

  Dr Sarah Hall has extensive experience as an academic researcher in child exploitation, influenced by her early career in youth work and parent support. Sarah is passionate about the importance of family-centered, holistic support for families affected by child exploitation. Some of Sarah’s recent publications are below:

  • Women Making Changes Project: Final Evaluation
  • Parent’s Experience of Children’s Social Care
    She Doesn’t have to get in the car
    South Yorkshire Empower and Protect CSE Innovation Project Evaluation Report
• 

  Tony Saggers

  Tony has over 30 years experience in law enforcement, his most recent role was Head of Drugs, Threat and Intelligence for the National Crime Agency. He now advises a range of organisations about county lines, gangs and drug threats. He brings with him a wealth of experience about how county lines are operated and how children are groomed and criminally exploited.

• Affected Parent

  A parent whose child was exploited will talk to you about the impact this had on his families life.

   

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