County Lines

[KobaniDaughters]

Moving from abroad to potentially Hampshire in the summer and a friend has just told me about County Lines and sent me loads of newspaper links which is freaking me out (I have 10&13yr olds)

Can anyone assuage my panic?! First I’ve heard of them….

County lines fucking terrifies me to be blunt. I see rife it is and the fall out thanks to work. Primarily it is vulnerable children who are targeted (kids in care/with difficult home lives) but not exclusively. I’ve got 3 boys, all young at the moment but it actually scares me that they could get caught up in it.

However, it’s not a Hampshire thing. It’s a UK problem as a whole. I wouldn’t rule out Hampshire over it, as kids can be targeted anywhere.

Open communication with your kids is so so important, no matter where you live in the country.

It's a problem throughout the UK

It's good to be well informed about it so I would say read what you can about it and how it works

DS1 played rugby with a lad who was from a very upper middle class family. Dad a barrister. Beautiful home, privately educated. Got involved with gang kids ( selling weed to friends, also affluent). Became heavily involved in drugs himself. Last we heard gang members had broken into his family home and held his younger sister at knife point to retrieve drug debt.
Normal nice kid from a normal nice family

its a huge problem op

be wary

I think you need to be educated and aware. I'm in Herts, we get regular warnings from school, it's an issue here. I have an adult child but also a vulnerable nearly 11 yo with SN. He starts secondary in September and I will be taking him to school and picking him up. While we live in a "naice" area, he would be the perfect target.

My advice is don't delude yourself that this is some mythical thing, it isn't. It's really important that you educate your kids. It happens everywhere, you are not immune

@Divebar2021

Why has your friend done that? Are you living in a country with no crime? I doubt Hampshire is going to be a hot bed of criminality in comparison to other certain parts of the country or world for that matter

With respect that's a really naive viewpoint. County Lines has exactly zero to do with living in a well to do area. It's everywhere.

How are you defining huge?

This says around 50000 children involved, even if that's only 50% of the total there are millions of secondary school age children

It's worrying but it's not huge

I don't want to be blasé but of all the things I worry about regarding my teenagers, county lines is not high up the list! I guess because they rarely go anywhere that I'm not giving them a lift and they struggle to remember their own fecking water bottles let alone parcels of drugs. I have parented them so badly they would really be shit at it.

When I said reassuring I mean in the way that it’s like everything, your kids are at risk and you do why you can to inform and protect them. We do not live in some safe utopia right now but the risks are different, I am grateful to my friend for bringing it to my attention because I hadn’t heard of it at all but also grateful to hear that schools are on it as regards to intervention and help, and that it doesn’t preclude an area we will likely be looking to move to

I live in hampshire never heard of it !!!

It is everywhere.
There has been someone killed due to it where I live and a member of my family has recently finished a prison sentence after getting mixed up in at at the other end of the country.

However, it’s a problem that is easy to avoid if you don’t get mixed up in it.

The headteacher of my dd's very rural, very leafy, ofsted-outstanding etc school has brought sniffer dogs in for random checks in response to county lines.

The dogs went into lessons yesterday, a few kids were found to be in possession of drugs and were investigated.

I won't say I don't have concerns for dd (16) - all parents have concerns for their dc - but it's quite a long way from my number one worry. (At the moment that's her going for rides in cars with her new driver mates.)

@KobaniDaughters

When I said reassuring I mean in the way that it’s like everything, your kids are at risk and you do why you can to inform and protect them. We do not live in some safe utopia right now but the risks are different, I am grateful to my friend for bringing it to my attention because I hadn’t heard of it at all but also grateful to hear that schools are on it as regards to intervention and help, and that it doesn’t preclude an area we will likely be looking to move to

There's lots of information on line. It won't hurt to speak to your children's new school. My son's primary school have hosted lectures for parents to ensure they are informed and what to look out for. I worry for my son as he's SN and struggles with friends so would be the perfect target. He also lacks the ability to read the room so wouldn't necessarily think he was in danger. I didn't have this fear with my now 23 year old daughter! I think you have to educate yourself. There is so much info out there. I am sure your kids will be fine but it hurts nobody to be aware of the signs.

@Limegreentangerine

I live in hampshire never heard of it !!!

With respect (and I do mean that sincerely ♥️) you really ought to read up on county lines if you are a parent. It's something you should be aware of, like a lot of things that parents ought to be aware of to be fair. Parenting is hard these days 🤦‍♀️

@Limegreentangerine

I live in hampshire never heard of it !!!

So do I. It's everywhere. Honestly, read up on it.

Agree completely @TheFormidableMrsC and I definitely intend to read up more on it

KobaniDaughters I wouldnt worry honestly. As long as you are aware of it as an issue and caution your kids against getting involved in stuff like that - by being an excellent parent as Im sure you are, all will be well.
Its everywhere........... but most of us probably dont actually know anybody involved.

Thanks @Wafflesnsniffles

I live in Hampshire, the police have made several well publicised crackdowns on it which have been all over local news, so your friend might have picked up on that, I have teenage children and its certainly on my radar. But I don't think its any worse here than other areas.

We live in North Hampshire, have a ds (13). Never see any sign of ds being approached and never had any cause for concern. Luckily he would rather poke sticks in his eyes than hang around in a town centre.

I know there is an issue in Basingstoke, sometimes the police close the back entrance to the railway station and everyone has to use the front, where they position some drugs dogs.

Less of a problem in villages where a stranger would stand out.

mint the kids that loiter outside the train station are so vulnerable / cocky. Luckily my teens are aware of county lines and don't hang around with them.

@ZittiEBuoni

The headteacher of my dd's very rural, very leafy, ofsted-outstanding etc school has brought sniffer dogs in for random checks in response to county lines.

The dogs went into lessons yesterday, a few kids were found to be in possession of drugs and were investigated.

I won't say I don't have concerns for dd (16) - all parents have concerns for their dc - but it's quite a long way from my number one worry. (At the moment that's her going for rides in cars with her new driver mates.)

Ditto. The rides in cars is my current No1 worry.

My apologies for self-promoting, but my fictionalised account of a boy who gets involved in county lines is going down well with secondary schools, so I thought it was worth posting it here. Because of the format, it's very accessible, even for those who prefer to read on their phones. https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/childrens-book-reviews/crossing-the-line/ It shows how easy it is for a young person from any background to get drawn in. Lots of help resources and discussion points in the back.