Synopsis

Traffic in Children reveals the harrowing plight of foreign students who come to the UK to learn English. Most of the students who come here have a perfectly happy time. But as Detective Chief Inspector Chris Gould of the Avon and Somerset Police discovered, others have a very different experience.

Chris's suspicions were aroused when he discovered that a twelve-year old Spanish boy on an exchange visit to this country had been placed with a family where the father was a schedule one sex offender. As he says, "there is no specific child protection legislation or regulation for this industry. There are no rules covering the recruitment of host families and no vetting of criminal records." As he points out, "in most cases, when parents let their youngsters go on a foreign trip to stay with a host family, they have no idea of the environment they are entering."

With the aid of a £20,000 home office grant, Chris Gould gathered evidence. His research, though centred in Avon and Somerset area, took him to Spain, Canada, and all over the UK. He discovered families charging £150.00 a week to house several children from different countries, some were sleeping under beds, in baths, and half-starved. There were cases such as a seven year old Russian boy all but abandoned in London, and the eight year old boy who was lost for 24 hours after being given a bus pass and told to find his own way to a language school in Norwich.

This film follows Chris and his team as they investigate and reveals the true extent of the horrors that some children went through.

Traffic in Children - 1 x 30 mins for BBC2 1998

Producer Chris Corden
Director Kate Jones-Davies