Hidden Voices UK consist of individuals from different background with a range of skills. One of the objectives is to support families that are currently being investigated in safeguarding procedures in relation to FGM. If Children’s Services receive information (called ‘a referral’) from a member of the public or another professional (such as a teacher or doctor) which makes them suspect that your child may not be safe and well cared for, they must make enquiries to find out if this is true. These enquiries are called ’child protection enquiries’ or ’a child protection investigation’. The aim is for Children’s Services to gather information about your child’s circumstances and to decide whether they should take any action to keep your child safe and promote his/her welfare
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In February 2018, a Bristol Somali father was acquitted at Bristol Crown Court. He was wrongfully accused of allowing his six-year old daughter to undergo female circumcision. He was then subsequently acquitted due to no substantive or credible evidence to support the allegations made against him. Indeed, Judge Lambert described the medical evidence as “wholly inconclusive at its highest”. He also said the account of the key witness, (an anti FGM campaigner), was “inconsistent”.
Shortly after the Bristol case, families from the Somali Community had disclosed that many of them were being racially profiled and stigmatized by the “Bristol Safeguarding Policy”. As a result, local councilors were contacted, and several events were done by the newly formed group – “Somali Parents Against Stigmatization” to enable their voices to be heard and to highlight the hurt, pain, and devastating impact unsubstantiated allegations were having on families and communities. READ FULL STORY
Legislation: FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985. In 2003 it also became a criminal offence for UK nationals or permanent UK residents to take their child abroad to have female genital mutilation.
A mandatory reporting duty for FGM requires regulated health and social care professionals and teachers in England and Wales to report known cases of FGM in under 18-year-olds to the police. The FGM duty came into force on 31 October 2015
We provide advice and support to families who are subject to child protection investigations resulting from suspicions that girls have been or are at risk of being cut.
We encourage respect and cultural sensitivity for circumcised women through abandonment of offensive and degrading terminology “Mutilation/FGM”
We campaign for an end of racial profiling and targeting of families and communities for unjustified interventions by social services and other public agencies
