8 October, 2026
IN-PERSON EVENT, WOODHILL HOUSE
This session introduces Scotland’s Criminal Exploitation of Children Framework for Practice, a trauma-informed and child-centred approach to recognising and responding to criminal exploitation as a safeguarding issue. We will explore how the Framework supports earlier identification of exploitation and encourages curious and proportionate multi-agency responses. The session is a space to reflect on how language, relationships and wider contexts shape children’s experiences, helping to build a shared understanding and collective response to protect children at risk.
his Framework is designed for multi-agency professionals across Scotland involved in identifying, supporting, and protecting children at risk of or experiencing criminal exploitation, including:
The Framework provides a practical, protective and trauma-informed model for recognising and responding to the criminal exploitation of children (CEC) as a child protection issue, and a form of child abuse.
It supports practitioners to:
– Identify early signs and patterns of criminal exploitation, that does not depend on the child viewing themselves as exploited or disclosing such abuse.
– Analyse risks using structured tools like the Screening Tool, considering the push and pull factors and contextual weighting
– Respond using a multi-agency, rights-based and developmentally appropriate approach
– Embed protective language, engagement strategies, and intervention planning
– Consider children’s needs holistically across the various contexts and relationships within these spaces such as home, peer, community and school environments.
The Framework is designed to complement existing child protection practice, supporting proportionate responses grounded in GIRFEC and The Promise.
