St Giles is at the forefront of child criminal exploitation through prevention, intervention, and long-term support for young people at risk.
As a charity who have an established track record helping young people exploited through county lines, we welcome the news from the Home Office on the progress which has been made to close lines and bring the people exploiting vulnerable children to justice.
At St Giles, we provide life-changing support to help young people find a positive path away from violence. Through education, mentoring, and frontline interventions, we work directly with those affected to create safer communities for all.
The gangs that operate county lines are finding new ways every day to develop and grow. St Giles is on the ground working with young and vulnerable people, discovering the ways the gangs are working so we can provide tailored and effective to support for all victims.
This growing form of child criminal exploitation often sees children as young as 11 coerced into dangerous and illegal activity, using manipulation, threats, debt bondage, and violence to trap them in a cycle that is extremely difficult to escape alone.
Young people are at the heart of this crisis. Many are targeted because they are vulnerable: they may be in care, struggling at school, or living in poverty. Gangs offer them money, status, and a sense of belonging—then trap them in a world of fear and danger.
St Giles Trust employs a multi-faceted approach to combat county lines exploitation:
- One-to-One Support – Through trusted adult mentoring in schools and communities, we work one-to-one with young people at risk and raise awareness about the dangers of county lines, helping young people recognise and avoid exploitation. county lines, assisting them in breaking free from exploitation and rebuilding their lives.
- Community Engagement – We work closely with local communities to identify at-risk individuals and provide the necessary resources and support to prevent exploitation.
County lines exploitation is a signal of something deeper going on in a child’s life. Alongside cracking down on the gangs, we must provide prevention and early interventions to children and young people who are vulnerable.
Further reading:
https://www.stgilestrust.org.uk/what-we-do/violence-exploitation/