The Victoria Climbié Foundation UK (VCF) emerged from the Victoria Climbié Family Campaign; an organisation founded to support the family of Victoria Climbié in their quest to seek justice and accountability in regard to the failures, incompetency and negligence of the child protection system. They supported Mr and Mrs Climbié during the course of the Victoria Climbié Public Inquiry.

With humility we offer the words of Mr and Mrs Climbié which aptly describe our role:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), sometimes mistakenly referred to as Female Circumcision, is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the range of procedures which involves "partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reasons". FGM is classified into four types and is typically performed on girls between 4 and 15, although in some cases it is performed on new babies to young women prior to marriage:

It is important to remember not every Child (from the countries where FGM is practised) going abroad around the term time holidays may become a victim of FGM, however if you suspect a child may or has been a victim of FGM speak to your designated Child Protection Lead within your school and refer to Children’s Services.

Short-term problems include severe pain, difficulty passing urine, bleeding, infection and death. For some types Long-term problems include difficulty passing urine and long painful periods. For Type III there may be a long scar, which can make sex and childbirth difficult. Recurrent infections can lead to infertility. Women may also feel angry, depressed and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

It is estimated that as many as 20,000 girls are at risk of FGM within the UK every year. There are severe consequences, both psychological and emotional and the medical consequences include extreme pain, shock, infection, haemorrhage, infertility, incontinence, HIV and death.

The Law in the UK

Any FGM procedure on a woman or girl is unlawful under the Female Genital Mutliation ACT 2003. It is also an offence under the ACT for UK nationals or permanent residents to carry out FGM abroad, or to aid, abet, consel or procure the carrying out of FGM abroad, even in countries where the practice is legal.

Children Services Contact Details:
Harrow Children Services Duty and Assessment Team
Tel: 020 8863 5544
Fax: 020 8861 1816
Address: 429 to 433 Pinner Road North Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 4HN

If you have any queries regarding the content of this document please email Philip.Ishola@harrow.gov.uk

What you can do
Actions your school can take before the Easter Break and Summer Holidays and on the return to school in order to support and monitor individual student that may be at risk and also help raise awareness amongst parents, pupils and teachers. These actions are provided as a guide only. As such we anticipate schools would draw on the knowledge of their local community and devise an appropriate response to the specific to the needs of students within a school

For specific advice or guidance regarding Child Protection issues you can contact Steve Spurr, Senior Coordinator Child Protection Practice & Performance at Steve.Spurr@harrow.gov.uk

On November 26th 2009, the London Safeguarding Children Board launched the London FGM Resource Pack at the Globe Academy in Southwark. This innovative pack brings together a wide range of existing work into one handy document for the first time, and will be a key tool to help professionals and community groups work together to combat FGM. There is a separate fact sheet and resource pack available to download.

The pack is designed for all people who work with children, but especially midwives and other health professionals, teachers, social workers and police officers. It contains detailed information about FGM, as well as guidelines on how to spot victims of abuse or girls at risk. These include a set of questions for midwives to ask women attending their clinics. There is also advice on how community groups can help to prevent FGM, and information to help professionals discuss the issue with parents and children