Date published: 18 March 2025
Children and young people are being preyed on by gangs to traffic drugs around the UK. We find out about the role school nurses play in a new campaign to combat this exploitation and warning signs we all need to look out for.
A parent’s worst nightmare – criminals preying on your child to sell drugs. Less likely to attract attention and easy to control, young people across the country are being groomed by drug gangs. According to The Children’s Society, at least 46,000 children throughout England are thought to be involved in ‘county lines’ – portrayed powerfully in the recent ITV drama Out There.
Eyes Open is a new campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to report any suspicions.
Offering designer clothes, bikes and even takeaways as gifts, gang members manipulate children to gain their trust. Once the youngster starts delivering drugs or moving cash, they become trapped – forced to continue by intimidation and physical or sexual abuse by gang members. Children are exploited locally but hundreds more go missing every year, trafficked away from their family and friends, becoming isolated and controlled.
Mersey Care’s School Health Team is on the frontline in this battle to keep children safe. Working with social workers, police, youth and education services, they identify and help young people at risk from criminal exploitation. Sue Barratt, Specialist Nurse for Child Exploitation at Mersey Care, explains how sharing information is crucial. “Children often don’t see themselves as victims or realise they have been groomed. The School Health Team is trained to recognise signs that a child could be being exploited and we’re in a unique position to build trusting relationships with them to find out what support they need. Concerns may be about a child missing from lessons or behaving differently and we’ll work closely with the child, school and organisations that can help.”
Jimmy Belmar is the Senior Investigating Officer for Project Medusa, Merseyside Police’s response to tackling county lines drug dealing and child criminal exploitation. He said, “Keeping young people safe from these predatory gangs is our priority and we treat any young person involved in county lines as a potential victim. We’re actively pursuing those responsible for these heinous crimes, but we need the public’s help too. Trust your instincts and speak up if you think something is wrong – it could save a child’s life.”
- Frequently absent from school
- Going missing from home, staying out late and travelling for unexplained reasons
- In a relationship or hanging out with someone older than them or with a new group of friends
- Having unexplained money and buying new things
- Having a new or second phone
- Unexplained injuries and refusing to seek medical help
If you are concerned about a child’s welfare contact:
- Crime Stoppers 0800 555 111 anonymously or via their Anonymous Online Form Independent UK charity taking crime information anonymously | Crimestoppers
- NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or help
@NSPCC.org.uk www.nspcc.org.uk - 999 if you’re worried a child is in immediate danger.
Get help
- Contact your local school health service or local children’s social care team.
- Ivison Trust Ivison Trust - we support families affected by child exploitation.
- Catch22
Jenny, a school nurse in the Liverpool area, describes how her team helped a young person caught up in a county lines gang. A school nurse’s experience
“Olivia* was 15 when I first started working with her. She had started missing school –and teachers were concerned. She was spending hours online with friends she had met on Snapchat. When she began to travel out of the area to meet up with them, I knew there was a risk that these new ‘friends’ had targeted and exploited her. I met her regularly to try to support her - she’d confided that she was sexually active and had been around alcohol and drugs. I think I was a trusted, familiar face and she felt able to open up to me. But although she would listen, she was finding it difficult to take advice on board. My job is to help protect children’s health and wellbeing and it was difficult to see her struggling yet refusing help. Despite interventions from social workers and school as well as our support, there were more and more concerns for her safety. Something drastic had to happen to protect her – moving away from her hometown was the only way to break the ties with the people putting her at risk. Together we found a therapeutic residential home in another part of the country where she is thriving.”
*Names have been changed
