Deputy Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime, Sue Arnold, today called on key partners from police, local authorities, social care, health, and education to engage with communities across the region to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Deputy Commissioner spoke to over 80 delegates as she launched the ‘One Year On: Bringing about Change in Response to FGM in Staffordshire’ conference in Stoke-on-Trent today (Thursday 12 March).
Mrs Arnold recognised the progress made in Staffordshire since 2014, when she first highlighted the issue at a conference attended by over 400 delegates, but stressed that there was still a lot of work to be done to tackle this often hidden crime.
According to figures from NHS Digital, 50 cases of FGM were identified in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent from April 2018 to March 2019, all of which were recorded during midwifery or obstetrics appointments. All of the cases identified were women over 18 years of age, with many understood to be cases where FGM was carried out historically as a child abroad.*
A specialist service, appointed in 2018 by Staffordshire Commissioner Matthew Ellis with funding from the Home Office, is in operation to tackle FGM across the region. Run by the National FGM Centre, a partnership between Barnardo’s and the Local Government Association, the free service for adults and children – male and female – provides:
- Specialist support in the community for families at risk of FGM;
- Advice and training for professionals, including social workers who work with children and families who have been identified as at risk of FGM;
- Counselling and therapeutic support for victims, including referrals to other services such as health services and clinics;
- Educating and raising awareness within communities affected by FGM, with the aim of changing attitudes and beliefs around the procedure;
- ‘Community champions’ within the region, recruited from volunteers who have been involved with or supported by the service, to help raise awareness of the health implications for those who undergo the procedure;
- The creation of a multi-agency FGM Steering Group which reports to the Domestic Abuse Commissioning and Development Board.
Mrs Arnold, who leads on FGM on behalf of the Commissioner, said: ‘Female genital mutilation is a traumatic crime which almost always goes unreported. All women and girls have the right to live free from this abuse.
‘Events like today’s conference are vital to increase awareness of FGM across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and make sure frontline professionals are fully prepared to recognise and support survivors and those at risk, and I am encouraged to see so many key agencies represented here today.
‘We all need to engage better with communities to educate this generation to protect future generations of women and girls from FGM.’
Since July 2018, specialist training and awareness sessions have been provided by the service for more than 1,200 professionals working in social care, police, health and education in the region, to help them identify and support women and girls who have undergone FGM, or who may be at risk.
Direct work has been carried out with families and individuals, as well as supporting other professionals, and the service has supported work to obtain three FGM Protection Orders to safeguard girls believed to be at risk from the procedure.
Leethen Bartholomew, Barnardo’s Lead for the Staffordshire FGM Service, said: ‘It was valuable to be able to share the work of the service with professionals from such a wide range of backgrounds, as well as to reinforce our aim going forward of creating stronger links with communities that may be affected by FGM, to help spread this important message wider.
‘The support of our volunteers, who are helping us to raise awareness about the facts and health implications within their own communities, is invaluable in our campaign to stop FGM.
‘We will continue in our work to educate and support professionals and families in the region, but it is only by working at this community level that we can truly educate people and change hearts and minds about this unlawful practice, and prevent this issue from remaining hidden.’
For further information about FGM, please visit www.nationalfgmcentre.org.uk.
Find out more about the Staffordshire Commissioner’s Office’s work to tackle FGM at: www.staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk/initiatives/end-fgm/
