Skills for Care and Development are hosting the Training Framework for the Prevention, Identification, Support and Care of Child Victims and Survivors of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and Information and Resources to Support the Training developed by a Steering Group in association with the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse at St Mary’s University.
The number of children identified as victims of modern slavery has increased over the last few years, with 4,946 children referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2020-2021. As a result, more front-line professionals have a role to play in identifying child victims, safeguarding them and in ensuring their needs are met. Some front-line professionals may need to improve their knowledge and skills in order to provide an effective response which is based on trauma informed care and child-centric practice. The Training Framework seeks to help professionals in their varied roles as they encounter and support child victims and survivors from a range of cultural, racial and national heritages. It can be used to help develop training programmes to prevent children becoming victims of modern slavery, and to help design training programmes aimed at improving the identification and support of child survivors. It draws on the expertise of a number of professionals working within the modern slavery sector who additionally have provided resources to support professional development.
The Training Framework has been devised to aid professionals working in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland and refers to the policy landscape in each of these jurisdictions.
Download the framework
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, has endorsed these standards as a national framework and has recommended that professional bodies and organisations adopt them and integrate them into their training materials and learning programmes, and use them when commissioning specialist services for child victims of trafficking.
Skills for Care and Development Training Framework for the Prevention, Identification, Support and Care of Child Victims and Survivors of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and Information and Resources to Support the Training is a companion piece to the 2020 Skills for Care Training Framework: Identification, Care and Support of Victims and Survivors of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking which focuses on adults.