Harmful Practices

Harmful practices are persistent practices and behaviours that are grounded on discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, age and other grounds as well as multiple and/or intersecting forms of discrimination that often involve violence and cause physical and/or psychological harm or suffering.

National Female Genital Mutilation Centre

UNICEF identifies that both boys and girls are at risk of harmful practices, although girls are often at greater risk. It also notes that communities where harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation take place, often reflect values that hold girls in low esteem.

In many cases, the children who might be more vulnerable to harmful practices are the same as the groups vulnerable to other forms of abuse, e.g., those with additional needs, and children who have been or are currently experiencing forms of harm and or neglect. However, harmful practices may also take place in households and areas where no other issues are present other than the particular beliefs of the family and, possibly, the associated wider community.

Many child safeguarding practice reviews identify a lack of knowledge about a particular culture or faith as an issue leading to abuse often not being identified, challenged and or stopped. It has been identified that things like structural racism, unconscious bias and a lack of cultural competence among professionals can leave children and families from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic and cultural backgrounds at risk of harm.

The over-riding question should always be: “What does this mean for this child – is it harming them/likely to harm them in any way?” If the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘I think so’, we must take appropriate action. While different faiths/beliefs/communities/families have different practices, the definitions of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and neglect still hold true.

There is always a duty to keep the child safe, but when dealing with any allegation of child abuse linked to faith, belief, and/or cultural practices, agencies must also engage with individuals, families and, in some cases, the wider communities to challenge the belief that underlies the harm. You may have a role in this, but your primary focus should remain the child’s safety.

Many of the signs are like those we see with any abusive situation; however, some specific considerations relate to children who:

· are in situations where you do not know who holds parental responsibility (see also private fostering);

• are missing from education and/or home and or are absent for long periods without plausible explanation;

• have unbelievable or surprising accounts of how they are in the country or area;

• display multiple or repeated injuries;

• show recurring symptoms of poor physical, sexual and emotional health;

• are not registered with a school or a GP practice​;

• do not have any documents (or have falsified documents);

• are self-harming;

• misuse substances;

However, some of the practices have more specific indicators. Click on the links to find out more about:

• forced marriage;

• female genital mutilation;

• child abuse linked to faith or belief; and

• so-called ‘honour’-based abuse.

Note: In the case of FGM (in England and Wales), if a girl discloses that she has had FGM carried out on her to, or what could be FGM has been seen by, a teacher or regulated health or social care professional (e.g., during nappy-changing/other forms of intimate care or medical care), the said person has a mandatory duty to report directly to the police on 101.

Know the safeguarding processes in your setting – harmful practices are child abuse; therefore, normal child protection procedures apply.

Ensure children/young people are informed – talk about these issues at an age-appropriate level in the same way we do about consent, health and other issues. Children should know what safe looks and feels like and what laws and processes are available to protect them.

Check children and young people have safe relationships – in their families, with their peers, and with staff. Create an environment where it’s okay to talk even about the most difficult things.

Consider the child’s lived experiences - build and use your relationships with children and young people to understand what’s happening in their community (in family, school, locally and online).

Listen to/observe the ‘voice’ of the child - children and young people often find it difficult to speak about their experiences – what is their behaviour trying to tell you? Work with them to build trust and be a safe person for them to come to when needed.

Work closely with parents and families, in agreement with your safeguarding lead, and where it’s appropriate, work closely with families to understand and reduce the risk.

Know the signs and know what to do – use the checklists above, your safeguarding procedures and be confident in raising harmful practice concerns with your designated safeguarding lead.

Take action – and keep taking action until you know children and young people are safe.