Stable Futures: Improving Participation, Life Chances and Outcomes for Children and Young People following Human Trafficking and/or Modern Slavery

The trafficking of children and young people is a worldwide phenomenon. Human trafficking has been defined within international law under the Palermo Protocol 2000 and, within the UK, 'modern slavery' is defined within the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In the UK, legal, policy and practice frameworks around child trafficking have been built up around multiple, and at times, competing discourses which are not always neutral or apolitical (O'Connell-Davidson, 2006). Therefore, trafficked and exploited children's experiences of care, support and protection are often shaped by political discourses rather than by their actual needs or experiences. Research highlights how human trafficking or 'modern slavery' can be embedded in multiple forms of exploitation beyond the historic focus on sexual exploitation. However, the views of 'survivors' are often left out of the formulation of policies and in the UK children's insights have been missing from anti-trafficking work. In this context, bringing young people's views, knowledges and experiences into the centre of policy and law is vital for ensuring their experiences of protection and care are not lived out in the gaps between discourses, laws and policies.

This proposal by the Institute of Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire (UoB) and Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT UK) seeks to identify which outcomes of care and protection are most important from the perspectives of young people themselves, and what the pathways towards these outcomes might look like. It aims to work with different groups of young people who have experienced trafficking and/or exploitation and bring more visibility to different experiences, needs and outcomes. The overarching aim of this proposal is to extend and enhance understandings of survivor-led research with young people which focusses on their care and protection needs, short-, medium- and long-term outcomes, hopes and aspirations.

Key objectives include the use of participatory principles and tools for the co-creation of an arts- and multi-media-based research project young people (n=40), based on priorities identified by young people themselves. This will capture different trafficking experiences and explore themes of protection, recovery, inclusion and empowerment through 'themed' research projects and outputs, framed by a participatory and trauma-informed methodology and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). An outcomes framework for what short-, medium- or long-term positive outcomes might look like in a UK context will be devised with young people. We will carry out an international scoping review of academic literature around processes and outcomes of protection, recovery, and empowerment, and 'what works' across other complex social problems, such as violence against children, and will involve young people in relating the findings to their own knowledge and perspectives of care and support. A global call for grey-literature on best practice and participation with trafficked children and the meaning of empowerment in practice, will be distributed through ECPAT's global network and other relevant child-centred organisations.

The literature review, global call and peer-research with young people will be used in multiple ways, including informing policy and practice. We also plan to influence professional university curricula and will pilot in the University of Bedfordshire's social work, policing and social care courses prior to extending to other HE institutions. We will develop a 'Stable Futures: Good Outcomes' website designed by young people to inform key stakeholders of the findings and give them access to project outputs. Other outputs from young people may include podcasts arts-based outputs. Anticipated stakeholders are legislators, policy-makers, operational and strategic stakeholders, statutory services, civil society, international organizations, academics and media.