Can you spot the signs? Child Exploitation

Spotting child exploitation in plain sight

A short video from Surrey Police shows scenes that feel familiar and ordinary. People gather for a hen party and film a TikTok in a hotel lobby. Two friends record a clip at a chicken shop. A student dances outside school gates. These moments look harmless, even joyful.

Then the camera catches what most people miss. In the hotel lobby, a young girl checks in at reception with a much older man. In the chicken shop, a younger boy stands behind two older teenagers, visibly intimidated and possibly being groomed for drug running. At the school gates, a child slips out of view, running toward a waiting car.

The power of the video lies in the question it asks. Can you spot the signs?

This video is an edited excerpt of a Surrey Police video about Child Exploitation. It has been shortened for viewer accessibility
and is shared with permission from Surrey Police. All rights remain with Surrey Police. Source: Surrey Police 2021.

Child exploitation rarely looks like a crisis

Child Exploitation does not always appear as a dramatic incident. It often sits quietly in the background of everyday life. It can happen in public spaces, in peer groups, online, on transport routes, in fast food shops, at community venues, and sometimes right outside school.

Because it blends into normality, it is easy to miss. Adults may see young people laughing with friends, filming content, or behaving “normally,” while harmful relationships and coercive dynamics unfold just a few feet away.

This is why contextual safeguarding matters. It reminds safeguarding professionals and communities that risk is shaped by places, spaces, routines, and peer influence. It is not only about what happens at home. Child Exploitation is often extra-familial, meaning the coercion and control come from outside the family, and the harm is linked to context as much as to individuals.

The invisible pressure young people carry

Even when young people recognise that something is wrong, disclosure is rarely simple. Child Exploitation is built on fear, stigma, loyalty, and manipulation. A young person may worry about retaliation from an older peer or exploiter, fear being judged, or assume that they will not be believed. Some feel shame, believing the exploitation was their fault. Others may not label their experience as harm at all, because the relationship is presented as friendship, protection, or status.

This creates a safeguarding gap. Adults can only act on what they know, but many children experiencing exploitation will not approach a trusted adult in a direct way.

That is not a failure of the child. It is a reflection of the power imbalance Child Exploitation creates.

What helps young people disclose?

Safeguarding professionals frequently ask how to encourage disclosure, but a better question is how to remove the barriers that stop it.

Young people are more likely to seek help when they have:

• Multiple safe routes to speak up, not just one trusted adult
• Control over how and when they share, so disclosure does not feel like a single high risk moment
• Confidence that they will be believed and supported, rather than blamed or punished
• Clear understanding of what exploitation is, including the subtle signs that do not look like stereotypes

In practice, this means building cultures where children can communicate concerns in ways that feel safe to them. Traditional face to face conversations remain vital, but they are not sufficient on their own.

The role of digital and indirect reporting

For some young people, especially those experiencing Child Exploitation, speaking out loud feels impossible. The fear of being overheard, identified, or exposed can be overwhelming. Others may want to test the waters first, sharing something small before fully disclosing.

Digital reporting tools, anonymous concern boxes, wellbeing surveys, and indirect disclosure methods can help bridge this gap. They give young people an option to speak up without the immediate intensity of a face to face disclosure. They can be especially effective when linked to real safeguarding response, so children know that using them leads to support, not silence.

The key point is not the specific tool. It is the principle that young people need safe ways to communicate that match their reality, not ours. When schools and communities provide varied, accessible pathways to share concerns, the likelihood of uncovering Child Exploitation earlier increases significantly.

Why everyone needs to notice context

The Surrey Police video reinforces another crucial truth. Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility.

Staff in hotels, shops, parks, transport hubs, youth clubs, sports venues, and online spaces are often first witnesses to context based risk. They may not know the child, but they may be the only adults who see what is unfolding.

Community awareness of Child Exploitation matters because early warning signs are often contextual:

• a child consistently in the company of older individuals
• intimidation or control occurring in public spaces
• unexplained movements, pickups, or check ins
• withdrawal, fearfulness, or compliance that seems out of place
• peer dynamics that suggest coercion or grooming

When these signs are recognised and reported, protective capacity grows. It spreads beyond one school or agency and becomes a shared network of support.

Preventing Child Exploitation means changing conditions

A contextual approach also pushes safeguarding professionals to ask wider questions.

• If exploitation is repeatedly occurring in a particular area, what is it about that place that makes it unsafe?
• If grooming is happening through a peer group, what social rules are shaping that group’s behaviour?
• If online spaces are driving harm, how can schools and communities influence digital safety and education?

Supporting the child is essential, but preventing Child Exploitation also requires changing the environments that allow it to thrive.

A final reflection

The scenes in the video feel uncomfortable because they reveal a truth. Child Exploitation can be happening beside ordinary life, and children may not tell adults directly when it is happening to them.

So the responsibility lies with everyone to notice context, to create safe and stigma free cultures, and to offer many pathways for children to seek help, including discreet or digital ones.

Child Exploitation is not only a safeguarding issue. It is a community issue. The more ways children have to disclose, and the more adults are trained to sense the signs, the greater the chance of preventing harm before it escalates.