Trauma-Informed Approaches to County Lines: A Practical Guide for DSLs and Teachers

Why Trauma-Informed Practice Is a Statutory Requirement

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 explicitly references the need for schools to understand the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on behaviour, and to adopt approaches that avoid re-traumatisation when working with children at risk. For children involved in county lines, this is not abstract theory — it is the difference between a child engaging with support and a child going missing permanently.

Research by Barnardo's found that 80% of children exploited through county lines had at least one ACE before the exploitation began — including domestic abuse, parental substance misuse, or family involvement in the criminal justice system.^[1] The gang did not create the vulnerability; it found and weaponised it.

What "Trauma-Informed" Actually Means in a School

Trauma-informed practice is not a therapy programme or a specialist role. It is an organisational approach, embedded in everyday interactions, that:

• Assumes complexity: Behaviour that looks like defiance, aggression, or disengagement may be a trauma response — not a deliberate choice. Asking "what happened to you?" rather than "what's wrong with you?" is the foundation.
• Prioritises safety: Exploited children often do not feel safe disclosing to adults — particularly adults in authority. Building trust through consistent, non-punitive relationships takes time but is the prerequisite for disclosure.
• Avoids re-traumatisation: Repeated questioning about the exploitation, confrontational interviews, or disciplinary approaches to exploitation-related behaviour (e.g. unexplained absences, missing school) can increase the harm to the child.
• Is multi-agency by nature: No single professional can hold the full picture. Trauma-informed schools are those that share information appropriately — including through MASH — rather than managing exploitation concerns internally.

The PACE Model: A Framework for Every Conversation

Dan Hughes' PACE model (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) is widely recommended by NHS CAMHS and adopted across many local authority safeguarding teams for work with exploited young people. In a school context:

When to Refer: NRM and MASH Thresholds

Where county lines exploitation is suspected or confirmed, two parallel referrals are required:

1. National Referral Mechanism (NRM): The NRM is the UK's framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and trafficking, including county lines. Schools can make a referral via the police, social services, or the Modern Slavery Helpline (0800 0121 700). Children under 18 are automatically referred for a "reasonable grounds" decision — the bar is intentionally low.
2. MASH Referral: County lines involvement meets the threshold for a Section 17 referral (child in need) at minimum, and may meet the Section 47 threshold (child at risk of significant harm) where there are threats to the child or their family, evidence of physical harm, or confirmed exploitation incidents. Refer the same day — do not wait for confirmation from police.