Hundreds of potentially trafficked children ‘abandoned by Home Office’

Some of 200 candles put on Falmouth Moor to represent missing refugee children. The FoI data shows that only 6% of children who turned 18 in the NRM received state help. Photograph: Alamy

Hundreds of children identified as potential victims of trafficking are being abandoned by the Home Office and left vulnerable to exploitation, new data reveals.

Released following a freedom of information (FoI) request, figures show that in 2022, 1,871 children identified as possible victims of trafficking or modern slavery dropped off the UK government system conceived to support them once they turned 18.