BPS working group response to Child Q safeguarding review

The working group supports the conclusions of the independent safeguarding review. The evidence shows that the actions of the police and school staff were disproportionate and failed to consider the likely trauma a strip search can have on children and young people. This was compounded by the lack of any communication with her parent/s and Child Q being sent back to class without the offer of any emotional support.

Following the publication of the Child Q safeguarding report in February 2022, the BPS established a working group bringing together psychologists from across different disciplines.

The aims of the group were to explore the evidence presented from a psychological perspective, and by doing so to understand how such an event could occur and the implications for psychological practice. The working group aims to work in partnership with BPS advisory groups to produce a psychology-informed toolkit for those working with children and young people.

All schools should be a place of safety and security for all young people, and safeguarding should sit at the heart of all school-based activities, actions, and decisions. The Child Q case allows us to ask how far organisations have come since the principles of safeguarding children and young people were established in Every Child Matters (2003), Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and Keeping Children Safe in Education (2021).

Given the level of trauma likely to have been suffered by Child Q, it is our view that the actions that day directly contravened the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child sections 3.1 and 3.2.

The independent safeguarding report has indicated that racial profiling likely sat at the heart of the choices made that day, further damaging the levels of trust between the Police, education and Black and Ethnic communities.

As a professional body, the BPS is deeply concerned by the events surrounding the traumatising of Child Q and the racial profiling and discrimination highlighted by the case.

In the weeks and months since the publication of the safeguarding report further information on the strip searching of young people has come to light, and the publication of this information has exacerbated our concerns.

The recent report from the Children's Commissioner further highlights that racial discrimination is at the root of strip-searching practice. We acknowledge that these figures currently only relate to The Metropolitan Police, but we are concerned that wider Police data may show similar trends. Recent data raises several urgent questions in relation to the ongoing treatment of Black young people and the lack of progress made since The Macpherson Report (1999) and the Lammy Review of 2017.  At the same time, it raises significant and urgent questions around safeguarding practice in relation to the strip-searching of children and young people.

We commend Child Q and her family in coming forward and welcome the intervention of the Children's Commissioner.

We are mindful of the challenges faced in policing and education, and the difficult decisions all officers and teachers must make. Nevertheless, we also believe that any strip search of a child or young person must be accompanied by clear safeguarding rules that involve parents, guardians or carers. We also believe that transparent data and reasoning for all strip searches must be open to public scrutiny.

As a result, the BPS working group has committed to producing a psychologically informed toolkit for those working with children and young people. Our toolkit will aim to empower those working in the field with data, information and resources aimed at challenging racism, racialised profiling and addressing the power dynamics that may lead individuals to become bystanders in situations they feel are wrong, abusive, damaging or ethically questionable.