ExChange Wales’ recent conference series ‘Safeguarding Approaches for Criminally Exploited Children’ was referenced in the Welsh Government’s ministerial statement on the criminal exploitation of children.
The written statement by Jane Hutt MS, Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, and Dawn Bowden MS, Minister for Children and Social Care, sets out Welsh Government’s commitment to take urgent action to address the profound and lasting harm caused by criminal exploitation of children. The ministers stated their response would be “child-centred, trauma-informed and evidence-based approach, while drawing on lived experience and ensuring alignment with wider responses to other forms of harm”.
Both ExChange Wales and CASCADE have been cited in the statement as part of ongoing action to promote working together across agencies and partnerships to address criminal exploitation.
We look forward to continuing to support these partnerships by embedding timely and relevant research into practice and improving social care provision for criminally exploited children.
As noted in the statement, Dawn Bowden MS provided the opening address for our Safeguarding Approaches for Criminally Exploited Children conference series in Autumn 2025. The conference, which consisted of four webinars, a podcast and a video interview, is cited as an example of promoting “taking action across agencies to address criminal exploitation”. You can access all of the webinar recordings and resources from this conference on the webpage below.
Safeguarding Approaches for Criminally Exploited Children
October – November 2025
