FGM

NO FGM
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is creating its Vetting and Barring database of a minimum of 11 million adults, ostensibly to protect our children. As a result scout jamborees, foreign student exchanges and many voluntary activities are at risk. The papers are full of cases where school workers, who have had stringent police checks, have been convicted of paedophilia, so the protection offered to children by the ISA would appear to be highly debatable.

On the other hand there is a group of children that we know are at risk who seem deliberately not to be offered the protection of our courts. These are the 6,500 girls at risk annually of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This figure is provided by the small charity FORWARD. Health Authorities and the Home Office say that they work closely with FORWARD which does its research and helps with education, cultural awareness and counselling.

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The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is busily putting all 11 million children in England on the ContactPoint database. According to the DCSF 390,000 people will have access to the database (others say could be up to 1 million.) Details to be recorded consist of:
Name, address, gender, date of birth and a unique identifying number.