STEPS (Support Through Exploitation and Prevention Service).
Support within West Mercia for children aged 8-18 and young people up to the age of 24 with additional needs, who are impacted by Child Criminal Exploitation or Child Sexual Exploitation.
This strategically important provision is an integrated model providing trauma-informed prevention and intervention support for children and young people with additional needs who are at risk of, involved in, or vulnerable to Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) or Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).
The service provides 1:1 specialist support, as well as diversionary activities and group training programmes.
Support for Child Criminal Exploitation focuses on prevention and early intervention involving 1:1 support for children presenting with vulnerability factors synonymous with exploitation, but who are not yet known to social care teams
STEPS is an independent service, the Catch22 team are not part of social care or the police. Children deemed to be at risk of Child Exploitation (CE) are referred into Catch22 via the local authority MACE (Multi Agency Child Exploitation Meeting).
West Mercia's business suppliers and contract social value to collaborate with Catch22...
Through the creation of the DICM (West Mercia) social value marketplace the region's business suppliers to emergency services, councils, NHS and criminal justice services are able to forge impact collaborations with Catch22, to build-out this important STEPS services across the region.