Trafficked children: towards a social work human rights response

Abstract

This article examines the response to the identification and support of unaccompanied children who have been trafficked into the UK. Locating the identification of victims of trafficking with the Home Office is problematic as their primary responsibility is not child protection. This approach is likely to prioritise immigration concerns that potentially exclude some children from the appropriate safeguarding support of local authority social work departments. In addition to the practice implications, the current responses are examined through a lens of neoliberalism, providing a unique critique of the present system. The article concludes by proposing an alternative model of identification and support that completely bypasses the Home Office. It proposes that identification of unaccompanied children who have been trafficked is located within a social work-led child protection framework. This would adhere to international obligations to child victims of human trafficking, and prioritise a human rights-based approach.