It’s Not ‘County Lines’. It’s Organised Child Abuse.
Posted on:
Why Youth Matters 2026 must start with prevention, not punishment
At Genuine Futures, we work with young people who have been written off long before anyone stopped to ask why.
We hear the same stories again and again. Boys excluded from school. Boys labelled as “high risk”. Boys who become known to services only once something has already gone wrong.
We call it county lines.
But what many of these boys experience is organised child abuse.
Language matters, because language shapes response. When exploitation is framed as crime rather than abuse, children are treated as participants rather than victims. Enforcement comes first. Safeguarding comes later—if it comes at all.
This is one of the central failures Youth Matters 2026 must confront.
County Lines Works Because Boys Are Treated as Disposable
Criminal networks recruit boys young because they are easy to replace. When one is arrested, another is sent. When one is hurt, another is waiting.
This is not accidental. It is how the model survives.
The risk sits with the child, not the organiser. Arrests do not disrupt exploitation; they often reinforce it. The boy absorbs the consequence while the system records another “successful intervention”.
But success for who?
Offenders First. Children Second.
We often say we recognise exploitation, yet our responses tell a different story.
For many boys, the first serious intervention is arrest. From that point on, labels follow them: known to police, persistent, high risk. Once a boy is criminalised, it becomes harder—not easier—to see him as a child in need of protection.
Safeguarding frequently arrives late. After exclusion. After criminalisation. After trust has already been lost.
By the time help shows up, the boy has learned a dangerous lesson:
that being honest leads to punishment, not protection.
If this were any other form of child abuse, that response would be unacceptable.
What Happens Before the Arrest Is What Matters Most
What is often missed is what happens before police involvement.
The grooming.
The coercion.
The fear.
The control disguised as loyalty, belonging, and protection.
Exploitation rarely begins with violence. It begins with attention—someone noticing a boy who feels invisible elsewhere. It escalates gradually, until leaving no longer feels possible.
Many boys do not identify as victims. They see themselves as responsible, trapped, or indebted. That is not choice. It is coercion.
Yet our systems often require visible harm before acting. By then, exploitation is already embedded.
A System Designed to React, Not Prevent
This is not about blaming individual professionals. It is about how the system is built.
High thresholds.
Fragmented services.
Funding tied to crisis rather than prevention.
Schools exclude. Services monitor. Police enforce. Safeguarding responds once damage is done.
County lines thrives in the gaps between systems—gaps created by exclusion, unmet needs, and the absence of trusted adults. Where prevention should sit, exploitation steps in.
Youth Matters 2026 cannot be another strategy that responds after harm. It must be about intervening before young people disappear from view.
Why Boys Are Especially Vulnerable
Boys—particularly those from marginalised backgrounds—are more likely to be criminalised and less likely to be protected.
Many have already experienced care involvement, poverty, trauma, or unmet additional needs. By the time exploitation is visible, they are often described as “too complex” or “too risky”.
Disposable.
At Genuine Futures, we reject that narrative. No young person is expendable. No child should be written off because the system failed them early.
Naming the Problem Changes the Solution
Calling this organised child abuse is not about semantics. It is about accountability.
It forces us to ask better questions:
- Where were the protective relationships before the arrest?
- What early warning signs were missed?
- Why did the young person feel safer with exploiters than with services?
- What would real prevention have looked like?
When we name exploitation accurately, responsibility shifts—from the child to the systems meant to protect them.
What Prevention Looks Like in Practice
Prevention starts with trust, not punishment.
It means early, non-judgemental support. Trusted adults. Safe spaces to talk without fear of consequences. Practical pathways that restore purpose, confidence, and belonging.
At Genuine Futures, we see what happens when young people are engaged before crisis point—when they are listened to, believed, and supported rather than labelled.
Youth Matters 2026 must prioritise this approach. Because reacting to harm is costly. Preventing it is transformational.
A Choice We Cannot Avoid
County lines will not be solved through enforcement alone. As long as boys are replaceable, the exploitation will continue.
The real question is this:
Are we prepared to redesign systems to protect boys before they are harmed—or will we continue to accept their disposability as collateral damage?
Until we stop calling this county lines and start calling it what it is—organised child abuse—we will keep arriving too late.
And young people will keep paying the price.