Crossing Boundaries: Creating a Shared Model to Support Vulnerable Young People

The Commission on Young Lives (2022) and the Independent Review into Children’s Social Care (May 2022) identified serious failings in our social care, public health and educational systems that resulted in some communities and children being exposed to exploitation. The Independent Inquiry into CSE in Telford and Wrekin in July 2022 (IITCSE) identified the impact of exploitation and highlighted how mothers and daughters had been victimised. Further the inquiry stressed the need for effective lines of communication between individuals, communities, and public organisations, the importance of mutual sharing of critical information and community members belief that lived experiences should be understood. The IITCSE (July 2022) identified that certain public organisations, professional groups, and individuals were overlooked in professional consultations and community conversations, for example youth workers and young people. Furthermore, IITCSE (2022) identified a sense of defeatism and lack of agency to address known, social, criminal, and public health problems associated with exploitation, violence, and organised crime. The research will engage directly with this sense of defeatism and lack of agency by supporting professionals and community members to identify what they can do in policy, practice and community terms to effect change. It will galvanise the commitment to change we identified in other co-produced research projects in Telford and this project thereby has potential for significant policy and practice impact locally, and beyond.