Violent extremism
11.74 Exposure to, or involvement with, groups or individuals who condone violence as a
means to a political end is a particular risk for some children. Children and young
people can be drawn into violence themselves or they can be exposed to messages
if a family member is involved in an extremist group.
11.75 Experience suggests that young people from their teenage years onwards can be
particularly vulnerable to getting involved with radical groups through direct
contact with members or, increasingly, through the internet. This can put a young
person at risk of being drawn in to criminal activity and has the potential to cause
significant harm.
11.76 The cross-Government strategy to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting
violent extremism is known as ‘Prevent’254. One of Prevent’s primary objectives is to
support individuals who are vulnerable to recruitment or have already been
recruited by violent extremists. There are a number of local projects across the
country that contribute to this aim. All local authority areas should have an agreed
process in place for safeguarding vulnerable children and young people susceptible
to violent extremism. All staff should understand the nature of the risk and how to
respond.
11.77 Levels of risk vary across different areas so LSCBs, safeguarding adults boards and
children’s services practitioners should ensure they are informed of the particular
risks in their area. Most local authority areas have a Prevent partnership group that
is responsible for co‑ordinating work on this agenda across all agencies. Children’s
services departments should be involved in this partnership group to ensure
services that support children and young people are contributing to Prevent.
254 For more information on the Prevent Strategy, visit www.dcsf.gov.uk/violentextremism
310 Working Together to Safeguard Children
11.78 All children and young people’s partnerships should have an agreed process in
place for safeguarding vulnerable individuals, including children’s, transition and
vulnerable adult services. In some areas there is a bespoke multi-agency process
known as ‘Channel’, which is an agreed mechanism for referring those at risk and
providing support. Channel guidance states that if a referred individual is under the
age of 18255 the Channel co‑ordinator must liaise with the common assessment
framework (CAF) co‑ordinator/manager or social care office in children and young
people’s services (who should be represented on the Prevent partnership and
multi-agency Channel panel) to agree how best to handle the case. Following initial
discussion a decision needs to be made on how to progress the case (for example,
as a safeguarding issue, under Channel, CAF, or another support process) and
establish how this will be reviewed. This decision can be taken on a case by case
basis or a decision can be made by all local partners to use one particular system for
the referral of all under 18s. If an area does not have Channel, local areas should
incorporate referrals of under 18s within safeguarding procedures.
