MSCP response to Child Q Review

Date: Thursday, 24th Mar 2022 | Category: National News

Merton Safeguarding Children Partnership were shocked to read the findings of the recent Child Q review published last week by City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP). Child Q was strip-searched in her school, a place of safety and without an appropriate adult present. The impact of these events will have a lasting effect on Child Q and her family and is a trauma no child should have to face. We share the ambitions of Child Q and her family to ensure lessons are learnt so that this never happens to another child.

The report highlighted learning in several areas, including the disproportionate impact of stop and search on Black children, the importance of agencies taking a safeguarding first approach, and the need for robust implementation of policies and procedures between police and schools, for example, around suspected substance misuse. The MSCP will be working with all agencies across our Partnership, but particularly our police and education colleagues, to review our current work and practice in this area. We will pay particular attention to the recommendations set out by the Child Q Review to identify any improvements needed in our own practice.