CIRITS · Child protection · Forced criminality
From immediate protection to sustainable exit.
CHILD-EXIT is a child-focused, longitudinal research framework developed
by CIRITS under the project direction of
Cyril Malglaive.
It examines how separation from child criminal exploitation and forced
criminality may — or may not — become a sustainable exit over time.
Foundational paper · Version 1.0 · 1 October 2026
Recommended citation:
Malglaive, C. (2026). CHILD-EXIT: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Exit from Child Criminal Exploitation and Forced Criminality (Version 1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23090078
The research gap
Children exploited through criminal activities may be identified, removed from immediate danger and recognised as victims while remaining exposed to the functions and conditions that can make re-recruitment, re-exploitation or renewed dependence possible.
CHILD-EXIT does not claim that the general idea of sustainable exit is new. Its specific contribution is to formalise a child-focused, longitudinal and falsifiable research architecture linking protective separation, functional replacement, identity transition, social recognition and reincorporation, ecological and institutional continuity, and sustainability over time.
The CHILD-EXIT architecture
The architecture is dynamic rather than linear. Oscillation, re-contact, setbacks and renewed protection are treated as data about the trajectory, not automatically coded as failure.
Longitudinal research programme
At 12 months: has the child remained outside the exploitative environment, and what supports have replaced the functions previously supplied by the network?
At 24 months: has social recognition of change taken hold, and are education, care, work or daily routines becoming credible alternatives?
At 36 months: does the exit remain viable, which mechanisms appear strongest in sustaining change, and what weakens or reverses durability?
Research foundations
CHILD-EXIT is developed in relation to CIRITS work on sustainable exit and on the longitudinal trajectories of documented change after intensive protection or intervention.
A complementary strategic study, NO EXIT — Evidence for Action, examines the cumulative human, institutional and economic costs that can arise when protection does not become a sustainable exit.
The research programme also builds on Note CIRITS n°01, Quand la délinquance dissimule l’exploitation, which addresses the identification and protection of minors whose apparent offending may conceal forced criminality or criminal exploitation. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21944755
Sortir ne suffit pas.
Conditions for moving from immediate separation to a sustainable exit pathway.
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22238074
Après le séjour : que devient la transformation ?
A longitudinal framework for examining what becomes of documented change over time and across contexts.
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22976170
Transformational trajectories.
Canonical CIRITS definitions for transformational latency, ecology of consolidation, intercontextual generalization and transformational robustness.
Read the CIRITS framework →
Scientific position
CHILD-EXIT Version 1.0 is now a public, attributable and citable research framework. It is not presented as a validated intervention, a standardised protocol or a model whose effectiveness has already been demonstrated.
CIRITS develops the framework as a research proposition to be confronted with international scientific literature, professional practice, public policy and empirical evaluation.
Its development relies on dialogue with researchers, child-protection professionals, anti-trafficking actors, justice institutions and international organisations.
CHILD-EXIT International Dialogue
CIRITS welcomes scientific and policy dialogue on forced criminality, child trafficking, non-punishment, reintegration and sustainable disengagement.
CHILD-EXIT · CIRITS — Centre International de Recherches et
d’Innovations en Travail Social · France
Public research framework · Version 1.0 · 1 October 2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23090078