Building trust with children and young people at risk of child sexual exploitation: the professional challenge

Research with children and young people at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) has highlighted that professionals need to engage children in relationships of trust if they are to be most successful in enabling children to explore and address risky behaviours, situations and relationships. More needs to be understood about professional approaches to building such trusting relationships, particularly when children feel (often with good cause) that professionals are not always able to balance their need for protection and guidance with their right to a voice and to make agentic choices about their own lives. This paper draws on interim findings from a two-year realist evaluation study funded by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in England into the implementation and evaluation of a new child-centred framework for working with CSE , ‘See Me, Hear Me’, within three pilot local authority sites in different regions of England. A survey and qualitative interviews reveal how professionals from a range of disciplines draw on their knowledge, skills, personal qualities and values to develop trust. Key themes for effective practice were relationship-based practice, an ethically grounded approach, child-centred, and being skilled and knowledgeable in relation to working with CSE.