Stage 2 - Secondary Prevention – Supporting Children at Higher Risk of CCE

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Family Support Pathway – early help for emerging concerns

Secondary prevention focuses on children and young people who are at increased risk of CCE due to contextual, familial, peer, or individual factors. These factors may include paramilitary influence, community violence, family breakdown, school exclusion, or housing instability. Children and young people may not recognise they are being targeted, especially when coercion is subtle and embedded in relationships.

The Family Support Pathway can be initiated when early signs of harm emerge. Practitioners play a key role in identifying concerns, applying professional judgement, and completing a UNOCINI assessment to inform appropriate support.

Warning signs can include disengagement from education, unexplained possessions, frequent absences, or contact with the justice system, which may reflect underlying exploitation. Practitioners are encouraged to look beyond presenting behaviours and ask what has happened to this child.

In the context of CCE, secondary prevention involves practitioners:

  • Using UNOCINI assessments to understand the full context of the child or young person’s circumstances and needs and to inform support plans.
  • Assessing vulnerabilities through practitioner-led discovery of CCE, using professional curiosity, careful observation, and the development of trusted relationships.
  • Listening to the voices of children, young people, and families to co-create meaningful, practical solutions
  • Initiating Inter-agency Referral Discussions (IRD) when concerns escalate.
  • Empowering families through collaborative planning and voluntary engagement.
  • Co-ordinating support through the Family Support Pathway and developing Family Support Plans with multi-agency input.
  • Provide trauma-informed, non-stigmatising support.
  • Liaising with youth services, schools, families, and community organisations to share concerns and coordinate support.
  • Providing timely, proportionate interventions that address emerging risks.
  • Aiming to prevent escalation to statutory intervention through multi-agency collaboration and empowerment of families.

Examples of secondary prevention interventions to support children and young people at higher risk of CCE:

  1. Targeted mentoring programmes and peer support groups to respond to contextual risks in high-crime or high-risk areas with a focus on safeguarding, developing safety and contingency planning and building trust.
  2. Family Support Hubs offering practical help, parenting support, and signposting to community resources. Tailored support for families experiencing known risk factors such as parental mental health challenges, or housing instability, to strengthen protective factors and reduce vulnerability.
  3. Provision of universal services - midwives, public health nurses, delivering targeted interventions to children, young people, families and communities.
  4. Specialist education support and programmes for children and young people excluded from mainstream education, offering inclusive, trauma-informed learning environments and pathways to re-engagement.
  5. Proactive outreach and engagement services to children who are homeless, missing from care, or disengaged from services, ensuring they are supported in safe, non-judgemental ways.
  6. Support for young people in conflict with the law. Interventions through Youth Justice Agency (e.g. Children’s Diversion Forums) or youth services that recognise the role of exploitation and trauma in lower-level offending, focusing on personal growth and development to desist from further offending, and resilience-building.
  7. National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals should be completed for all suspected child victims of exploitation. Relevant criteria are outlined in section 2 of the NRM Guidance.
  8. Skills and empowerment interventions including strengths-based programmes for children and young people with learning difficulties or behavioural needs, promoting self-efficacy, emotional regulation, and positive identity development.
  9. Health Services addressing physical and emotional wellbeing, including access to CAMHS, if needed.
  10. Community and Voluntary Sector organisations offering tailored support such as counselling, advocacy, and peer support.