Pan London faith and culture project - presentation to Barnet professionals for Safeguarding Month - November 2010

1. +
Karen Walkden

2. +
Barnet Contribution
Pan London
Safeguarding
Faith and
Culture
Project

3. +
Background…
 1.6m children in London
 40% BME
 Disproportionality - SCRs
 Parenting practices vs UK legislation on
child rearing and safeguarding
 Community knowledge of legislation
and resources
 Professionals understanding and
weighting of family culture and
sensitivities
 Trust needs to be built between
statutory services and faith and cultural
groups – so that protection of children
is prioritised.
Beliefs
Drive
Behaviour

4. +
…Background
 New Migrant Fund
 Pan London Steering Group
 All boroughs deliver focus groups (adult variations)
 Identify and disseminate best practice
 8 Local Authorities with projects
 July 2010 to December 2011

5. +
Outputs
 Guidance on culture and faith issues to accompany the
London Child Protection Procedures
 A Strategy Toolkit to assist LSCBs engage with local
communities whose culture and faith distinguishes them from
the host nation
 A Training Toolkit to assist professionals to better safeguard
children whose circumstances include culture and faith
issues
 Conference held jointly with Trust for London in April 2011
 London Councils conference in December 2011

6. +
Best practice – local authority audit
 Ethnic monitoring
 Policies in place, processes for
updating
 Equalities impact assessment
 Designated BME/Faith
safeguarding person
 Process for views of BME/Faith
to influence service provision
 Publications to promote
safeguarding of BME/Faith
 Prevention? Parent support
programmes for BME/Faith
 Training courses for
professionals working with
BME/Faith

7. +
Barnet’s contribution
 Increase knowledge and uptake of safeguarding resources by
faith and BME communities through advice service.
 Safeguarding surgery on-the-road
 www.thefaithbook.co.uk
 Involve young people through Junior Safeguarding Board
 Newly formed in October 2010
 Conference with SACRE in March 2011
 Focus on supplementary schools and their particular needs
 Focus group with Safe Networks on 30th
November
 Specific training with ContinYou
 Piloting materials, toolkits and information through focus groups
and learning sets.

8. +
Other boroughs…
 Bexley – community parenting
support groups for BME,
managing inter-generational
tensions
 Brent – community needs
assessment, creating a
community lead sub-group for
the local SCB. – focus on BME
( Victoria Climbe Foundation).
Links to work in Harrow.
 Enfield – training for
professionals, church and
community leaders and parents
to promote early intervention
and prevention in African
communities. (AFRUCA)
 Hackney – Community group work
with Turkish/Kurdish families to
address domestic violence and
intergenerational conflict.
 Merton – Investigating the extent
and causes of disproportionality in
child protection interventions for
minority ethnic and faith
communities. Links to AFRUCA work
in Southwark.
 Newham – sexual abuse and spirit
possession in relation to Muslim
teenage girls.
 Tower Hamlets – Piloting a multi-
agency cultural competence training
programme

9. +
Focus group questions for faith and
cultural community groups
 What do you think are the priority safeguarding children
issues in your community and/or faith group?
 What is your experience of the statutory and voluntary
services for supporting families and keeping children safe in
your area?
 What do you think statutory services professionals need to
know and do (in relation to your culture and/or faith) that
would help keep children safe?

10. +
Focus group questions for
professionals
 What do you feel least confident about when acting to
safeguard children/support families from minority ethnic
cultures and faiths?
 Do you have easy access to expert advisers for the minority
ethnic communities and faith groups that you deal with in
your area?
 What training would you like to improve your confidence and
competence to safeguard children/support families from
minority ethnic cultures and faiths?
 What do you think your LSCB could do to assist you in your
task of safeguarding children in different culture and faith
communities and groups?

11. +
Stakeholders
 London Councils
 Barnet Safeguarding Children
Board
 Faith and Culture sub-group
(membership and TOR?)
 Professionals working with
children in Barnet
 Faith communities – via
faithbook and CommUNITY
Barnet
 BME and new migrant
communities via CommUNITY
Barnet
 Supplementary schools via
BSSF
 ContinYou
 Junior Safeguarding Board
 Barnet Multi Faith Forum
 … and others

12. +
Linked Project – Safe Network
 4 Boroughs
 Engaging with faith groups to
understand how they access
safeguarding support
 What are the barriers
 Jointly managed by NSPCC and
Children England
 Elaine Ryan to October Pan London
meeting
Also CD available – Keeping our children
safe – Raising awareness in black and
minority ethnic communities.

13. +
So far…
 Membership of steering group
 Scoping the Barnet contribution
across the four strands
 Research into existing resources
 Audit of Barnet’s policies and
procedures
 Proposed focus groups
 Designed and delivered on-line
survey
 Post training evaluation form
questions
 Briefings

14. +
Follow progress through
updates on the following
websites:

15. +
karen@flourishing.me.uk
07941 203564
www.flourishing.me.uk
Link to on-line focus group questions:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/faithandculture
Link to project update:
www.londonscb.gov.uk/culture_and_faith/
Link to BME/Faith safeguarding resources:
www.slideshare.net/karenwalkden/safeguarding-resources-for-faith-and-bme
Link to this presentation: