Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation: A Cautionary Tale

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a problem growing exponentially, especially for children living in residential out-of-home care, a disproportionate number who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Practitioners supporting sexually exploited children are ideally placed to provide insight into promising ways to exit the abuse. This study aimed to develop a model for exiting children living in residential care from CSE, guided by the research question: How does practice experience inform the development of a model to exit children from CSE? Individual interviews with 24 workers from five community service organizations, and five child protection workers, along with two additional focus groups with residential care staff were undertaken in 2024. The inductive analysis revealed a ‘constructed composite’: a CSE Exit model. There are five components: (1) child at the centre, (2) therapeutic work with the child, (3) soft disruption, (4) hard disruption and (5) exit from sexual exploitation. The model is framed by four enablers: authorizing environment, information sharing and multiagency work, coordination by expert CSE practitioners and knowledgeable workforce. A ‘cautionary tale’ emerged about the importance of doing therapeutic, culturally responsive work with a child before attempting hard disruption, otherwise further distress and trauma may result.