Drug and alcohol misuse Sexual health Sexually risky behaviour Bullying Domestic servitude, neglect and violence Teenage pregnancy Long-term sexual, physical and psychological harm Forced marriage Self-harm and suicide 1.5 What are the issues facing professionals working with suspected/actual victims of CSE? Resistance You should provide prompt, decisive and effective responses when you identify that a child or young person could be at risk of sexual exploitation. However, it is the experience of projects across the country that it can be very difficult to engage children and people in this situation. It can take six months or longer for a child or young person to become engaged. In some case it never happens, but children should not be labelled as hard to reach; efforts must be made to reach out to these children and young people, rather than expecting them to voluntarily come to services. For example, their resistance may arise from thinking that they do not want or need protection from sexual exploitation as perpetrators groom their victims so that they are compliant to being sexually exploited and are frightened to report their abuse. Challenging
Drug and alcohol misuse Sexual health Sexually risky behaviour Bullying Domestic servitude, neglect and violence Teenage pregnancy Long-term sexual, physical and psychological harm Forced marriage Self-harm and suicide 1.5 What are the issues facing professionals working with suspected/actual victims of CSE? Resistance You should provide prompt, decisive and effective responses when you identify that a child or young person could be at risk of sexual exploitation. However, it is the experience of projects across the country that it can be very difficult to engage children and people in this situation. It can take six months or longer for a child or young person to become engaged. In some case it never happens, but children should not be labelled as hard to reach; efforts must be made to reach out to these children and young people, rather than expecting them to voluntarily come to services. For example, their resistance may arise from thinking that they do not want or need protection from sexual exploitation as perpetrators groom their victims so that they are compliant to being sexually exploited and are frightened to report their abuse. Challenging