The Boys’ Brigade has partnered with The Children’s Society to produce a Child Criminal Exploitation Themed Programme, an informative and interactive resource aimed at the Company age group (11-14 years).

This partnership is the first of its kind for a uniformed youth organisation, with similar resources only having previously been provided in educational settings.

Child criminal exploitation is prevalent across the UK, with the most well-known example being county lines. It impacts thousands of children and young people every day, putting them at risk of gaining criminal records, prison time, violence and more, whilst the exploiters get the rewards. Our programme resources are designed to enable young people to explore the signs and consequences of exploitation, as well as what can be done to help disrupt this criminal activity.

Last week The Children’s Society hosted a webinar for BB leaders, providing more context to the issue as well as giving tips for how leaders can use the resources confidently and safely in their groups.

One leader who attended the webinar commented:

“Thank you for an excellent webinar, which I found really interesting and informative. It opened my eyes to an area that I wasn’t aware of.”

Leaders can access the programme resources and a recording of the webinar here.

Frederick Fowler and Julie Goreham from The Children’s Society commented:

“The Children’s Society is delighted to be working together with The Boys’ Brigade through our Disrupting Exploitation programme. BB leaders across the country build important relationships with the children and young people getting to know them, their families, and circumstances. This means that BB leaders are in a strong position to be able to identify and disrupt exploitation.”

Leaders are encouraged to complete a short feedback survey to help The Children’s Society know more about their knowledge and confidence on child criminal exploitation up to now, and the impact of these resources in building this up. Feedback can also be shared with the Programme Team at BB Headquarters by emailing programme@boys-brigade.org.uk. All feedback received will assist The Children’s Society’s ongoing work in this area.

If you are a BB leader with any concerns about children and young people linked to child criminal exploitation and you are not sure what to do, please contact the Safeguarding Manager at BB Headquarters by emailing safeguarding@boys-brigade.org.uk

You can find out more about The Children’s Society and the BB’s partnership with them here.