Between 2021 and 2022, a twelve-month participatory study sought to identify what positive outcomes might look like for children and young people who have arrived in the UK having experienced human trafficking and/or exploitation.
This study resulted in the creation of a Positive Outcomes Framework with 31 young people across England and Scotland. The Positive Outcomes Framework is a tool which could be used at individual practice and policy levels, including by frontline social workers in individual cases, by children’s services in case audit reviews and at a policy level for determining the impact of specific policy initiatives.
This study was funded by the Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC) supported by the AHRC on behalf of UKRI.
For details of the original study see: Creating Stable Futures: Improving Outcomes for Children affected by Trafficking | Sheffield Hallam University (shu.ac.uk)
A follow-up award has now been granted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice to continue a partnership with ECPAT UK to develop and operationalise the Positive Outcomes Framework across the four nations. The overarching aim of this follow-up work is to ensure this Positive Outcomes Framework is known and utilised within the safeguarding community.
Specific objectives are to:
- Explore and provide user-friendly ways of accessing and using the 25 Outcomes and 86 Indicators detailed in the Positive Outcomes Framework
- Provide eight Regional Learning Events to Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs), Local Safeguarding Partnerships (LSPs) and/or Modern Slavery Partnerships (MSPs) across the four nations. These will be in the form of reflexive trainings on the human trafficking of young people, the development and potential further use of the Positive Outcomes Framework
- Directly engage with eight national policy makers and provide tailored policy briefings on the broader use of the Positive Outcomes Framework
- Hold a Shared Learning Event with children and young people
- Explore opportunities to influence SHU’s policing curriculum and, potentially, other course curriculum
A structured training pack will be devised for the Regional Learning Events which will be subsequently hosted online, with adapted pedagogic techniques for online learning. Should you be interested in these trainings and/or the Positive Outcomes Framework itself, please do get in touch with a member of the project team.
