Enabling the voice of the child in child sexual exploitation contexts

Context
Child sexual exploitation (CSE) has become an area of growing interest in recent years. There have been multiple inquiries and a significant interest in how we can best respond to the challenges that CSE brings with it as a form of abuse perpetrated against children and young people.
It is my belief that a research study exploring how we empower young people and provide a space for their authentic voices within the safeguarding policies and procedures that they are at the centre of is imperative. In order to respond in meaningful, empowering and relational ways to CSE we must begin to occupy the often 'difficult' spaces which show us the understandings and realities that young people experience in relation to CSE are very different to those of the adults around them. It is often their vulnerability and the grooming process that makes them see things very differently to us however this does not mean that their experiences should not form part of the decision making processes around them and their safety.
However, this disconnect between 'realities' can often leave practitioners feeling disempowered which in turn can, often unconsciously, disempower young people and families. This will then go on to have a direct consequence on how safeguarding processes are utilised and experienced. Berelowitz argues that "attending to conscious and unconscious group and institutional dynamics is essential because the emotional turbulence of working with such behaviour can be corrosive and disturbing to staff and service managers. Preventing them from seeing, hearing and being able to bear the unbearable" (2013:60)
It is my hope that this study will help in redressing the power imbalances experienced by young people and help to show ways in which we can develop processes and systems which meet the requirements of statutory safeguarding legislation but which only disempower as far as is necessary.

Methods
The study will aim to answer the research questions by:
- Undertaking a systematic review of the literature especially in relation to service user involvement in relation to young people, narratives of power, control and agency in relation to young people, vulnerability, grooming and child sexual exploitation
- A qualitative study exploring the experiences of sexually exploited children and young people in relation to their perceptions and lived experiences of the safeguarding procedures they experience(d)
- Dissemination of research findings in order to influence policy and practice and embed findings into professional organisational contexts and the everyday practice of practitioners working in safeguarding

Impact
I strongly believe that the impact of this study will be able to inform policies, procedures, practice and most importantly the experiences of children and young people. It is my hope that this study will help redress and balance the power imbalances experienced by young people and help to show ways in which we can develop processes and systems which meet the requirements of statutory safeguarding legislation in relation to CSE but which do not as a consequence marginalise the voice of the child; that as safeguarding professionals, systems and institutions, we hear and act on the voice of the child in a meaningful way and only disempower only as far as is absolutely necessary. Our current statutory systems are not set up to be strengths-based, relational, empowering models of intervention especially in relation to young people who do not see themselves as needing safeguarding intervention and this study ultimately aims to find ways of closing that gap using the thoughts, feelings and voices of the children and young people themselves.