Child sexual exploitation

A form of child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation occurs when an individual or group either attempts or succeeds in coercing, manipulating or deceiving a child into contact or non-contact sexual acts:

• in exchange for something (for example, money, gifts, accommodation or less tangible goods such as affection or status)

or

• for the financial advantage, increased status or other reward for the person exploiting the child.

A child over the legal age of consent may be sexually exploited even if the sexual act appears consensual (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

The ‘exchange’ component may include withholding or preventing a negative consequence. For example, an abuser may agree not to share sexual images the child has sent them in exchange for the child sending more images. 

A variety of strategies can be used to access and entrap a child. These strategies are often sophisticated and deliberately target the child’s inexperience, need for belonging or their desire to be seen as mature and competent. 

As with all manipulative and coercive behaviours, being aware of common strategies and provide education, support to draw the attention to children, families and community members to increase people’s ability to know to report such behaviour. 

Language guide

‘If we do not recognise the constrained circumstances within which victims make ‘choices’, we will see them as being ‘in control’ and not recognise their need for intervention. This can lead to judgements about the victim (‘they could have done otherwise’) and the use of blaming language (such as putting themselves at risk, making lifestyle choices, or promiscuous or sexualised behaviour) that hides the abuse and shifts responsibility for what they have experienced onto the victim.’

(Beckett et al.)

Make intentional choices for the words used to accurately reflect the dynamics of abuse, power and control when documenting child sexual exploitation. 

Do not frame the child as placing themselves at risk or engaging in risk-taking behaviour as these words incorrectly identify the child as responsible for the abuse. Even if done unintentionally, the child will hear ‘this happened because of something you did’, ‘you are somehow responsible for what happened to you’ and therefore you are less deserving of our support (Beckett et al.).

Historically, child sexual exploitation was constructed as ‘child prostitution’ in influential texts. Using this terminology risks incorrectly constructing abuse as a child engaging in legitimate and consensual sex work as it fails to acknowledge a child cannot make an informed choice to engage in sex work. Further, using the term ‘prostitute’ wrongly suggests the child has chosen their situation and downplays the abuse experienced.

Instead, use words to clearly separate the child from the sex work industry and do not position a child as responsible for their own exploitation. The following table provides some examples for this language choice in the context of sexual exploitation.

Stages and indicators of child sexual exploitation

To effectively recognise child sexual exploitation, look for the following common, incremental stages and indicators set out in the table below. 

These four stages show as the abuser’s dominance and control increases, the child’s social relationships and autonomy decreases. The child, however, may perceive this to be the opposite.

Recognise that while a young person makes choices, they are not to be blamed for their abuse from exploitation (Lloyd). 

It is important to look beyond a young person’s actions and consider the limited and challenging circumstances in which their choices are made. This includes recognising their potentially conflicting feelings about the benefits they receive from the exploitation and their relationship with those exploiting them. It is also essential to understand the factors that may contribute to their hesitation or resistance to engage with safe and supportive adults (Beckett et al.). 

This complex work is best approached with pursuing rapport building with the child, to establish a trusting relationship and truly hear their perspective. 

Throughout the stages of sexual exploitation there are often observable signs which may indicate to adults, peers and community members that something isn’t right.

Noticing the warning signs of sexual exploitation will assist an urgent response to increase the safety of a child at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation. The following table highlights common warning signs of sexual exploitation alongside conversation starters to assess the risk. 

Technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation

Online sexual exploitation involves the use of technology or the internet to facilitate the sexual abuse of a child. Behind every image or video, there is a real child victim being sexually exploited.

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study found 7.6% of Australians had experienced non-consensual sharing of a sexual image of themselves and 17.7% had experienced online sexual solicitation by an adult. While most adults who sexually solicited children online were not previously known to the child, more than 13% were adults the child already knew. 

Online child sexual exploitation includes a wide range of behaviours and situations. 

This could include:

• an adult engaging a child in a chat about sexual acts 
• an adult sending nude or pornographic images of themselves to a child or exposing themselves via live streaming
• asking a child to view pornographic images/videos
• asking a child to perform sexual acts, expose themselves or share a sexual image 
• taking or making and sharing or showing indecent images of children.

Technology-facilitated sexual exploitation can present in several different, often overlapping ways. The table below highlights common terminology used in conceptualising the online or technology-based sexual exploitation of children. 

(Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation)

When there are concerns regarding the online sexual exploitation of a child, consider the inherent harms associated with the child’s experience, and the potential risks of the online abuse progressing to in-person or contact sexual abuse. 

Push and pull factors

Any child may be at risk of sexual exploitation regardless of affluence, age or gender. Many children may not recognise they are at risk of or are being exploited. 

Consider the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors present for a child to identify relevant interventions, appropriate supports and strategies to safeguard and mitigate the risk. 

The factors highlighted in the table below may contribute to circumstances in which a child is more vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

Use case management to intentionally implement strategies to address these factors (listed in the table above) to reduce the child’s vulnerability and safeguard children from exploitation. 

Reduce a child’s vulnerability to being sexually exploited by identifying their individual characteristics and experiences which may push them away from safety or pull them towards circumstances of increased risk. 

Once identified, structure intervention to mitigate these ‘push and pull’ factors, use case planning with the child and their network to promote their long-term safety. (Refer to Soft and hard disruption strategies.) 

Protective factors and child resilience

Identify protective factors and signs of resilience that may mitigate or reduce the impact of ‘push and pull’ factors. These factors can become the foundation of strengths for the child, family and care arrangement, and inform interventions and case plan goals to reduce the child’s vulnerability longer term. The following table lists such factors. 

Intersecting complexities in child sexual exploitation

Children in care arrangements, particularly those placed in residential care, who go missing or are absent from their care arrangement are a high-risk group for child sexual exploitation (McKibbon).
The resource, Safe & Sound in Queensland: Enhancing safety for young people who go missing from care, provides valuable guidance to understand and support a child who has gone missing and is at risk of sexual exploitation. 

People who sexually exploit children may coerce or pressure them to do things parents or carers would not allow, such as use alcohol and drugs, engage in criminality, access pornography and child abuse images or stay out late at night. As a result, many children who are sexually exploited are frequently missing or absent from their care arrangement, struggle with drug or alcohol dependence and engage in criminal activity. 

These factors present significant barriers to disrupting the child’s sexual exploitation as they contribute to children feeling complicit in their own victimisation, create an additional layer of dependence on the perpetrator and are leveraged by perpetrators to make children fear consequences if they talk about what is happening. 

Some children who are sexually exploited also experience criminal exploitation. Criminal exploitation is when an individual or group forces or coerces a child to commit crimes for the benefit of the person who is exploiting them. This may include the child being coerced or forced to sexually abuse other children, or ‘recruit’ another child into sexual exploitation.

When a child is experiencing these complex intersecting factors, careful planning and partnerships with relevant agencies are crucial to ensuring they feel safe to engage with support services that can help exit them from exploitation.

Soft and hard disruption strategies

Ceasing or disrupting the access an abuser has to children is an essential part of any strategy to protect children from sexual exploitation. 

Responding to child sexual exploitation involves using a range of multifaceted strategies – these are commonly referred to as hard and soft disruption. The table below provides information about the variable disruptions strategies often used in the sexual exploitation context, including practice considerations for child protection. 

While attempts to criminally charge and prosecute those who sexually assault or exploit children are important, they are often not the most successful method of disrupting sexual exploitation.

The soft disruption strategies rely on patience, dedication and empathy to build positive attachments and caring relationships with the child. While challenging, this approach is often more beneficial and results in sustained success for the child. 

Interagency collaboration

Ceasing or disrupting child sexual exploitation requires a collaborative approach in which information is shared promptly and professionals involved with the child or family share responsibility for addressing safety and risk concerns.

Other professionals also often have information about the methods of exploitation used by perpetrators which can be intentionally leveraged to disrupt their behaviour.

When establishing interagency meetings, clearly define and document the roles and responsibilities of all partners. Key considerations include:

• Set a regular meeting schedule and assign responsibility for organising meetings and preparing agendas, including standing items.
• Identify the most appropriate person to engage with the child and ensure this informs ongoing risk assessments.
• Establish agreements for sharing information about perpetrator behaviours and tactics for agency partners to consider create approaches to disruption.
• Establish clear processes for documenting and sharing risk assessments, protective factors, and signs of resilience across agencies.
• Define how concerns, risk indicators, and information about potential abusers will be shared, documented, and acted upon.
• Determine what information will be shared with the child’s parents, carers, or extended family, who will communicate this, and how it will be recorded.
• Outline circumstances that require urgent reviews and the process for initiating them.
• Agree on how decision-making responsibilities will be shared and how disputes or differing perspectives will be resolved.

By addressing these key areas, interagency meetings can operate effectively and ensure a coordinated response to protect the child.