Prevention of child trafficking and exploitation:A synthesis of Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre funded research on child trafficking and child exploitation (2020-24): Report 2: BETR Prevention Continuum

This report is the second of a set of three reports which, combined, along with a Research Summary, provide an evidence synthesis of the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre’s (PEC) funded research portfolio on child modern slavery from Phase 1 (2020-24). This portfolio consists of seven research projects including: (1) a desk-based review of child exploitation prevention measures (Celiksoy et al, 2024) (2) children’s experiences of the Scottish Guardianship Service (Grant et al, 2024) (3) an evaluation of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service in England and Wales (Skeels et al, 2024) (4) creating a positive outcomes framework for children (Hynes et al, 2022) (5) a trial of open conversations as a prevention measure for children with SEND in education (Franklin et al, 2024) (6) intersections between safeguarding policies and modern slavery for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) (Franklin et al, 2024) and (7) an exploration of risks for children in Home Office operated hotels (Ayeb-Karlsson et al, 2024). This report (Report 2: BETR Prevention Continuum) focuses on the extent to which this Modern Slavery and Human Rights PEC funded research on child exploitation maps onto the BETR prevention continuum (Such and Aminu et al., 2022), its stages and prevention pathways. We explore what this tells us about the prevention of child exploitation and the BETR continuum and what promising practice can be identified