“I would like to thank Catch22 for always supporting my son. He never usually engages with professionals, but he has built up a good relationship with Catch22. They have lots of time for him and always maintain the contact to ensure he is okay.”
– Parent of a service user
Catch22 has been working with children for over 200 years and, today, we focus on designing and delivering services that build resilience and aspiration.
Catch22 has vast experience of delivering effective child exploitation and missing services throughout the UK, in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Derby City, Derbyshire, Kent, West Midlands, and Merton.
Catch22 are currently commissioned to work in the following Local Authority areas across Merseyside:
- Knowsley,
- St Helens, and
- Wirral.
The ‘3Ps’ are part our organisational DNA. We believe that improving the lives of the young people and everyone we support is only possible when these basics are in place: to have good people around them, a purpose, and a good place to live.
We apply this thinking when creating action plans with young people alongside our outcome star data, local authority action plans and the young person’s MACE plan.
This annual report focuses on missing performance data across the whole Pan Merseyside Child Exploitation and Missing from Home service delivery area, making comparisons with the previous year and the impact of the return interviews – including how we have performed.
The report also looks at the work we have completed with young people who are victims of child exploitation and how we have reduced risk and ensured positive outcomes.
Throughout the report, there is feedback from young people, stakeholders, and case studies.
Our team is made up of a number of professionals, working across the three different regions.
Missing from home
Referral data
There have been a total of 2,114 missing incidents received into the service across the three Local Authority areas this year.
This is an overall decrease of 26% against last year’s data which also included data from Sefton. To be able to compare the data, we have excluded Sefton’s data from this report.
Knowsley have seen a decrease of 38% in missing incidents and St Helens a 3% decrease against last year, whereas Wirral has seen a 5% increase.
A total of 2,098 (99%) incidents were offered a return home interview (RHI), with 1,426 (67%) return home interviews being completed in total. 933 (65%) of these return home interviews were completed within 72 hours. Based on the three Local Authority areas, there is a slight increase (1%) in the number of return home interviews being completed within 72 hours compared to last year’s data.
With Knowsley having a big decrease in numbers, there has been a lot of work carried out with Catch22, the Local Authority and Police to ensure figures were correct. The decrease in numbers has been put down to having two caseworkers within the team, the persistence of calling young people and completing the return home interviews at a time best for them, as well as offering further follow-up after the young person has had a first missing incident. Caseworkers also complete a lot of direct work with young people which isn’t copied in other areas due to the volume coming through and having only one caseworker.
First time missing incidents
During the reporting year, a total of 291 incidents were received for young people who had been reported missing for the first time. This is a significant decrease of 99 (34%) from the previous year, where we saw a total of 390 incidents reported across Pan Merseyside. All of these young people were offered a return home interview.
247 (85%) of these young people engaged in a return home interview with Catch22 and, following this, were contacted a further 72 hours later to see how things were and whether there was anything we could do to support them to prevent further missing episodes. 177 (72%) of these young people did not go on to run again throughout the rest of the year.
44 young people either declined the return home interview (personally or via their parent / carer), or there has been no contact.
These young people and families were subsequently referred on, or signposted, to early help services, social care, local services such as counselling, drug and alcohol services, and / or positive activities as appropriate.
“ I can’t thank you enough for all the support you have shown not only my daughter, but us as a family. We also appreciated the follow-up call too.”
– Parent
Declined incidents
All missing incidents that are received into the service are offered a return interview. Young people have the option as to whether they would like to meet with a caseworker to talk about their missing episode and to allow us to help should they need it.
Out of the 2,114 missing incidents that were offered a return home interview, a total of 614 incidents were declined either by the young person themselves, by their parent/carer or social worker, or there was no contact at all. This is a decrease in total of 209 (34%).
Out of the 614 missing incidents that were declined, 443 (72%) incidents were created by children looked after (CLA).
Looked after children often have numerous missing incidents so account for a lot of the declines. There has been a decline in incidents in Knowsley and St Helens. Unfortunately, Wirral have seen an increase in declined incidents by 62.
All caseworkers remain persistent with young people and their families in terms of accepting return home interviews. Some of the reasons given for why the return home interview has been declined can be seen in the chart to the left.
In addition to the declines, there were a further 74 incidents where caseworkers were unable to offer a return home interview, because there was no contact possible at the time despite numerous attempts, or because it was not appropriate for us to visit the young person due to mental health, custody, or policy investigations that were ongoing.
Demographics
There is a fairly equal split between males and females who have been reported as missing over the year. There has been a slight increase on transgender young people being reported as missing.
We received the largest number of referrals this year for young people aged 11-15. This is the same as we saw last year.
We also received referrals for 15 young people under the age of 10 over the last year.
“I would tell someone to work with Catch22. I’d tell them to give it a go and they will actually like it. The work wasn’t like doing schoolwork – it was just me and my worker, and we did stuff just for me. I liked that, even when I was suspended from school, they’d still pick me up and we’d talk about what had happened. They’d tell me off if I’ve been stupid but in a good way and then we would go for a drive and do some work. Since working with Catch22, we’ve done loads of work. I even completed a book!”
– Young person
Summary of impact
Over the last year, some of the key highlights include:
- 99% of missing incidents were offered a return home interview. This remains the same as last year.
- 1,426 return home interviews were completed in total.
- 65% of return home interviews were completed within 72 hours, an increase of 1% against last year.
- 72% of young people who went missing for the first time did not go on to run again following a return home interview.
- 54% of referrals, advice and guidance were made to other services for young people reported missing for the first time.
- 5 social work students were able to complete their first placement, providing added value to the service.
- 9 young people received short term interventions following their missing episodes.
- 60 safeguarding referrals were made into multi-agency safeguarding hubs (MASHs) across Merseyside following missing incidents.
- Over 75 child exploitation checklists were completed following concerns over child exploitation during missing incidents.
Recommendations
Based on this data, we would recommend for Catch22, going forward, to:
- work with Local Authorities in reducing the number of decline incidents,
- continue triangulating data with Police and Local Authorities,
- remain offering support for young people who go missing for the first time, with a view to preventing further missing episodes,
- try and reduce the number of missing incidents for repeat runners in conjunction with Local Authorities and Police, and
- continue auditing return home interviews to provide learning to caseworkers, Local Authorities and Police.
“Well done on getting this disclosure. You have done amazingly to gain this much information from a young person who does not always share information. She clearly trusted you.”
– Police
Daisy’s story
Daisy became known to Catch22 after only one missing from home episode. Concerns were raised following this around online exploitation. Daisy was 16 at the time of her missing episode and was vulnerable due to Adverse Childhood Experiences and as the victim of bullying.
Catch22 completed a return home interview with Daisy and had an in-depth discussion with her Mum. Daisy had very limited understanding around the dangers of online exploitation.
Direct work commenced and further concerns were raised. Daisy struggled to engage fully in sessions. She found conversations difficult at times. We were concerned that Daisy had some undiagnosed learning and communication needs. Through discussions with Mum, we learned that Daisy’s behavior at home was escalating, but Mum felt unable to put any boundaries in place around keeping her safe as these triggered extreme behaviors, particularly around phone and social media use.
Catch22 recognised the need for Daisy to be able to access regular sessions with them, using a therapeutic, nurturing approach. Sessions were adjusted accordingly. Sessions were covered outside of the family home, allowing Daisy the space to feel comfortable, and appropriate resources were used for the work. Daisy started to engage well with tailored sessions and built a relationship with her worker.
Extensive work with Daisy was completed around using the internet safely, safety plans for when she is in the community and online, healthy and unhealthy friendships and relationships, and detailed work around online, criminal, and sexual exploitation and grooming. Daisy engaged and contributed well in these sessions.
There were no further missing episodes and Daisy was at home more. Catch22 worked with Mum to introduce Daisy’s phone back to her as this was her focus point, but the phone does not have internet access. This was a stepping stone for Daisy to show she would be able to use the phone in a safe manner and build up that trust with Mum. Catch22 has directed Daisy to a variety of youth clubs to diversify her friendships and find ways to enjoyably spend her free time.
“It was nice to have someone impartial to speak to. Working with Sara raised my awareness of child exploitation and helped me safety plan for when I get my phone back and am in the community. It was positive to have someone to talk to who I could trust”.
– Daisy
Child exploitation
Catch22’s aim is to provide support to high-risk, vulnerable young people that are at risk, or victims, of exploitation whether that be criminal or sexual.
The bespoke support that we provide to young people is delivered using a solution-focused and trauma-informed approach, whilst considering adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
This year we engaged:
- 95 new referrals into the service; this is a decrease against last quarter, but the cases we have received have been more complex and open for longer, and cases have been allocated to NCLS.
- 377 professionals from various agencies, who have attended child exploitation awareness training either virtually or face-to-face; this is an increase of 220 since last year.
- 1,417 young people through group work or awareness-raising sessions across Merseyside.
Outcomes
On commencing direct work interventions with Catch22, each young person is encouraged to complete an Outcome Star assessment collaboratively with their worker. The Outcome Star focuses on eight outcome areas (physical health, where you live, being safe, relationships, feelings and behaviour, friends, confidence and self-esteem, and education and learning).
The worker and young person assess each of these areas on a scale of 1 to 5: with 1 being low, with the young person feeling like they are stuck or have big concerns in this area, and 5 being high, with the young person feeling resilient and that things are good. This exercise highlights which areas need the strongest focus, so that an action plan can be put together to address the relevant outcome area(s).
The Outcome Star is reviewed at the end of the young person’s engagement with the service, or at a mutually agreed point, depending on the length of intervention. This allows us to demonstrate an accurate reading of impact following completion of our support.
“Excellent … The stories of the people you work with make it real. Thanks so much for your time and expertise.”
– Wirral Professional
Each programme of direct work is tailored to meet the individual needs of the young person, as our caseworkers recognise that one size doesn’t fit all. Instead, we are led by the young person themselves.
The graph above shows, on average, how much progress young people made in each outcome area.
From this, we can see the greatest impact has been made around “feelings and behaviour” with 54% of young people making progress in this area. This indicates that the interventions they have been engaging in have had an impact and that they are able to recognise their own feelings and emotions, reducing the push and pull factors in exploitation.
Young people are also telling us that big improvements that have been made are around “being safe” meaning that young people are feeling safer in communities.
“Education and learning” has also shown an improvement of 50%. This indicates that, through the direct work that has been completed, young people are now able to see how important attending their education provision is.
“I’m glad that you came out to see me. It’s been the highlight of my day. I wouldn’t have spoken to a police officer for as long as I have spoken to you – you’re easy to talk to.”
– Young person
Demographics
This year, we completed direct work with 44 young people impacted by child criminal exploitation, and 54 young people impacted by child sexual exploitation. There were a further two referrals for a dual-risk of both child criminal and sexual exploitation.
You can further see the distribution of these referrals based on the Local Authority and the type of referral that was received.
The highest number of referrals for child sexual exploitation came from St Helens (32), and the highest for child criminal exploitation from Wirral (16).
“He has been coming home telling his Mum that he has seen you, which she said is something her rarely does as he barely speaks about his day. He has spoken really positively about the sessions he has had with you, and has said about really liking you and thinks he is going to enjoy continuing the work!”
– Social worker
Recommendations
Based on this data, we would recommend for Catch22, going forward, to:
- ensure that caseworker caseloads do not exceed 12 young people at any given time,
- work closely with service providers to support diversionary activities in all localities, such as gyms, charities, Operation Stonehaven, and alternative sports provisions, and
- continue to encourage parents to attend the online Parents’ Forum.
Parent feedback
When asked about their experience working with our service, one parent shared their story with us:
“J has a lot of trust in Linzi. Not only has she done good for J, she’s done things to help me too. She goes out of her way to help, and actually cares about the youths she works with – it’s not just a job to her. I big her up to to every professional.
“Firstly, her safety has improved as now she lets me on her socials which would have never happened before Catch22.
“I’ve had times where J had kicked off and Linzi came and calmed her down.
“Also, she doesn’t wander the streets or places she isn’t familiar with anymore. She understands that it’s safe at home, and she spends time with me cooking and shopping, where before she was in her room 24/7.
“She also now doesn’t break things or kick off because she’s been shown ways to calm down and writes down her feelings or talks to me instead of shouting at me.
“Education wise she’d not been to school for nearly two years now. She’s attending an Engagement Centre with a plan around school.
“Linzi has always had faith in J. Everything good that’s happened for J is down to Linzi pushing for her.
“My biggest thanks to Linzi is that, before my ex got arrested, she went out of her way to have a proper chat with me about a safety plan and other stuff. It gave me the confidence to phone the police on the next incident and know my family’s life is improving every day.
“I appreciate her for everything she has done.”
Jay’s story
Jay is 16 years old and has just moved to live with his Dad due to a relationship breakdown with his Mum. He’s a keen gamer but loves being outdoors with his mates too.
In April 2023, Jay is referred to the Pan Merseyside service following a disclosure that, in the summer of 2022, he had accrued a debt of £3,000 to a dealer for cannabis and that he worked to pay this debt off by being a lookout for drug deals and the supply of drugs at warehouses for a week. He had not worked for the gang again after this, but at the time of referral he was still using cannabis regularly.
“I think they knew what they were doing, letting me get into debt.”
Work with Jay started in May. He shared that he no longer had any contact with the gang that got him into debt, though he did see them in the community. Jay did not really want to engage with long-term support, so we agreed a short-term plan of work that he felt he could engage with.
Jay seemed settled living with his Dad, though there were some issues with housing. Jay reported that he felt calmer and he stopped using cannabis. Dad was a positive role model for Jay: he had previously misused substances but had worked hard to move on from this and now supported others to stop using. Jay was spending time with friends in the community, going on walks and building dens.
“When I think about it, I need to go for a walk or clear my head playing video games.”
We continued with our work on criminal exploitation and county lines awareness, focusing on recognising risks and warning signs. Jay showed that he had a good insight into exploitation and related a lot of the films we watched to his own experiences. Jay was starting to attend college more regularly and had started a relationship with a girl he met at college.
“This is something you have to be able to do, as it’s really common for young people to get offers of work that involves drugs, and young people get messages all the time to do this with the promise of earning good money.”
Jay completed the agreed sessions with Catch22 in June 2023. There had been no more concerns of criminal exploitation. Jay had acted appropriately, seeking emergency help when a friend he was with took substances and was unwell. He then distanced himself from his friend due to the ongoing substance misuse to keep himself safe. At the point of closure, Jay was attending college, had plans to attend their summer programme and remained settled living with his Dad. Children’s services had stepped their involvement down and an Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT) was to be managed by college.
Jay was a victim of criminal exploitation in 2022, but it took him almost 12 months to disclose what had happened to him which demonstrates the level fear and intimidation young people face from gangs who prey on their vulnerabilities.
Jay was vulnerable due to his adverse childhood experiences and his use of cannabis. Findings tell us that 14-to-17 year olds are the most likely age group to be exploited by criminal gangs and Jay, at the age of 16, fell into this group of young people.
Although our engagement with Jay was short, at only four direct work sessions, it showed the impact that concise work with young people at the right time can have. Jay was ready to share his experiences which gave further depth and impact to our sessions. We accessed a window of opportunity to develop his knowledge and reflect on difficult memories.
At the end of our work Jay was ready to move forward with his friends and girlfriend and spoke of his ambitions to go into mechanics as he has a love for cars.
Both Mum and Dad also received support from Catch22. Mum accessed a one-to-one session to explore the indicators of exploitation, and both parents were given the Catch On parents’ handbook, which looks at all aspects of exploitation, the warning signs and how to seek support if needed.
“If anything like this happened again, I would talk to my Dad. But I’m not using any cannabis now and I don’t lend money off people.”
Parenting worker
Catch22 currently work with children and young people across Merseyside who have been reported as missing to Police, and work intensively with young people who are victims of exploitation.
We are co-located within multi-agency child exploitation teams. However, there was a gap in provision for parents and carers, and siblings of those being exploited.
We sought funding from Merseyside Police and Operation Stonehaven which was successful. Following this, a Parenting Worker was recruited to the team.
Since their recruitment, we have seen 17 referrals to the Parenting Worker this year.
“She is more settled at the moment. She is taking part in wider family activities and talking to me much more often. She is talking about delaying moving out to see how things are, which is a more balanced and mature approach to previously.
“Thanks for all of your input with her, as you seem to have been the only person involved that she has engaged with and trusted!”
– Parent
Research and development
Bulletin
Over the last twelve months, Catch22 has produced 11 ‘Research and Development bulletins’ covering topics including:
- the MacAlister Review of Children’s Social Care,
- online safety,
- the cost-of-living crisis,
- the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,
- safeguarding,
- LGBTQ+, and
- child criminal exploitation.
Campaigns, media and consultations
Catch22 has covered a number of national awareness days and campaigns relating to our service areas including:
- County Lines Weeks of Action,
- International Missing Children’s Day,
- Child Exploitation Awareness Day,
- Children’s Mental Health Week,
- Safer Internet Day.
We have also participated in national campaigns and consultation responses relating to:
- unaccompanied children statement of concern with other children’s charities,
- the Police productivity review,
- a national consultation on safeguarding,
- a campaign (led by the NSPCC and other children’s groups) to express concern about the safeguarding implications due to the rollout of end-to-end encryption, and
- The Met Police children and young people strategy consultation.
Catch22 continues to campaign for a statutory definition of Child Criminal Exploitation and a national strategy to address it. This is reflected in the Catch22 Manifesto, which asked all political parties, in the run up to the 2024 general election and beyond, to place renewed focus on adolescents and commit to policies that ensure everyone in society has good people around them, a safe place to live, and a purpose in life.
Evidence given to the Education Select Committee by Catch22’s County Lines Senior Service Manager, Johnny Bolderson, generated significant media coverage in most national newspapers including the Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, and The Telegraph, as well as a number of broadcast media interviews.
Service user forums
Our Young People’s Forum has been involved in events and consultations for the creation of the Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) programme ‘Practice Principles’. Some young people were involved in making recordings of content so their voices can quite literally be heard.
We are also piloting an online forum for parents, which met for the first time in March and will complement other local face-to-face parents’ forums.
National forums
In addition to the above, this year, our teams attended a number of national forums, including:
- NWG Policy Forum (chair) – a policy forum for representatives from the main children’s charities working in the child exploitation arena.
- The English Coalition for Runaway Children (ECRC) meetings (co-chair) – a network of providers of missing services for children in England; representatives of statutory services are welcome but only third sector organisations have voting rights.
- National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Missing Expert Reference Group – hosted by the NPCC Missing Person’s Lead, the group has representatives from government departments, as well as national statutory and voluntary organisations working with missing people.
- NPCC Vulnerability Knowledge & Practice Programme (VKPP) Stakeholder Insight Group – a group with representatives from third sector organisations, Police, and government departments looking at emerging child abuse threats, convened by the NPCC Lead for Child Protection.
- National Cross-Border Safeguarding Task and Finish Group – looking at issues arising from children from one local authority or police force going missing or being trafficked to another local authority or police force, to ensure clear, consistent and comprehensive safeguarding responses.
- Metropolitan Police Social Media Partnership and Engagement Board – convened by the Met Police with representatives from youth services and organisations relating to social media, exploitation and youth violence.
- IICSA Changemakers Steering Group – representatives from key NGOs and children’s charities aim to take forward the recommendations of Baroness Jay’s Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
We have also attended a number of round tables on topics including county lines exploitation, child sexual abuse, and children missing from care.
Research
Catch22 has focused on research into the experiences and voice of children and young people affected by missing and exploitation this year:
- We are on the advisory group of a research project with Missing People and Listen Up CIC looking at the experiences of Black children and young people who have been reported missing.
- In partnership with Keele, Manchester, and Manchester Metropolitan Universities, we have been successful in securing ESRC funding for a PhD studentship exploring the perceptions and experiences of children who have been criminally exploited.
- We have participated in two research workshops with the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab looking at Modern Slavery: one on the ‘Prevention and identification of children and young adults experiencing, or at risk of, modern slavery in the UK’ and one on ‘Social Media Facilitated Trafficking of Children and Young People.
Teaching resources
For Child Exploitation Awareness Day 2023, held annually on 18th March, Catch22 created ‘Catch On’: a free educational resource about child exploitation aimed at young people in Year 7 and 8 (ages 11-13). The resource was downloaded over 1,300 times in its first year.
For Child Exploitation Awareness Day 2024, Catch22 released a new, expanded version of ‘Catch On’ which includes additional activities for children who are neurodivergent or have special educational needs.
“The resources were pitched at just the right level for our students. Our students were really engaged with the subject matter.”
– Teacher
The new activities were developed with an expert interdisciplinary team across Catch22 that involved child exploitation specialists, teachers from our alternative provision schools, and communications and design specialists. It was piloted in a Special School in Merseyside with a group of Year 9 students by one of our Pan Merseyside Child Exploitation and Missing service caseworkers.
The new Catch On resource includes the following features:
- reduced and simplified text,
- a pale background with a simple black font,
- lower reading age,
- uncluttered slides,
- pictures, symbols and colour coding to support understanding,
- scaffolding activities,
- supporting key messages with repetition and reiteration,
- making some story elements more explicit,
- avoiding abstract concepts and the passive voice wherever possible, and
- a ‘Thinking about me’ activity for each story to encourage pupils to relate the key messages to their own life.
We received lots of feedback from the launch, with children saying they learnt “lots of advice and information”, “the meaning of ‘nude’ and that it’s bad to send naked pictures”, “how to block people online,” and “lots about exploitation”.
We didn’t want cost to be a barrier to schools in safeguarding these children and young people, so the full suite of resources is available free of charge to anyone.
When asked about the resource, Gemma Wall, Head of Quality and Impact for Alternative Provision Schools at Catch22, said:
“At Catch22, we support children and young people who display a wide range of complex barriers to education, including those who are excluded or at risk of exclusion and those with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs or Special Educational Needs (SEN).
“We know that the children and young people we work with are targeted by groomers and exploiters. This resource provides vital support to our teachers who need to give our students the awareness and information to reduce their risk of exploitation.”