Children being failed by the current strip search system, safeguarding specialist says

We must never forget Child Q who, in December 2020, was taken into a medical room at school by police to have an intimate body search which should only be reserved where there is suspicion of Class A drugs? The allegation was that she smelled of cannabis, yet no drugs were found on her or in her belongings. This intimate, traumatic and disproportionate search by police took place without a trusted adult present, contrary to agreed policy – and in the knowledge that she was menstruating. The report, published two years ago by the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership, concluded the strip-search was unjustified and that racism ‘was likely to have been an influencing factor.’

I recall the outrage. A government adviser said the strip search should ‘horrify us all’ but this was not the first review to raise questions about the types of bias a young black person might face.

Fast forward to April 2023 when Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, published findings that black children are up to six times more likely to be strip searched compared with national population figures. At the time my reaction was to recognise that there is often silence in reviews when what is really needed is analysis about how a person’s race, religion or ethnicity affected their experience of services.

Now we have headlines this week that during July 2022 and June 2023 one child was strip searched every 14 hours, with no appropriate adult being confirmed as present in almost half (39%) of recent searches and none in 6% of cases, is unforgiveable. And why are black children still four times more likely to be searched? Despite a 2% improvement from previous figures, they are being unfairly targeted.

Although there is strong government guidance regarding the presence of an appropriate adult, there is currently no law. This isn’t enough and must change. No child should be subjected to such an ordeal. The Children’s Commissioner is pleased with the progress made by the Metropolitan Police but the threshold for these searches is too low. This needs urgent work in order to safeguard all of our children from unnecessary, unsafe and unreported strip searches.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) Panel began a thematic project in 2023 about race, culture and racism in child protection. A significant number of local reviews were looked at, highlighting important learning around these three issues and their impact on responses to intra and extra familial harm as well as looking at the impact of professional bias on decision making.

There are now ongoing round table discussions being held around the country to understand the challenges faced in each local area. But tackling the problem itself requires improved multi-agency working, which would only be strengthened by a legal mandate.