Forced Marriage

 

One Chance to Save a Life

 

(image used with permission of FCO)

"All Chief Executives, directors and senior managers providing services to victims of forced marriage and honour-based violence need to be aware of the "one chance" rule. That is, their staff may only have one chance to speak to a potential victim and thus their staff may only have one chance to save a life. This means that all professionals working within statutory agencies need to be aware of their responsibilities and obligations when they come across forced marriage cases. If the victim is allowed to walk out of the door without support, that one chance might be wasted."

Forced Marriage 

Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board has developed new Inter-agency Forced Marriage Guidance (No.30)

Remember if you are concerned that someone is being made subject to a forced marriage contact.

First Response on 0800 13 13 126

or

Staffordshire Police on 0300 123 44 55

Forced Marriage Awareness Training

To assist professionals to understand the issues around forced marriage we have developed an awareness programme to be used during team events.

This Powerpoint training package can be downloaded from here  Forced Marriage Awareness Training (206kb)

Multi-Agency Forced Marriage Training

Multi Agency Forced Marriage & Child Trafficking training has also been arranged, please access our training brochure for full details

The Right to Choose: Multi-agency statutory guidance for dealing with forced marriage. 2008. www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3849543/forced-marriage-right-to-choose

This statutory guidance is issued under the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007. It sets out the processes that agencies must have in place when exercising public functions in relation to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in cases of forced marriage.

Please note that this guidance is not intended to be used in case handling by front-line practitioners - go to the Foreign and Commomwealth Office website for info for professionals.

Warning signs

Young people rarely feel able to disclose their feelings about forced marriage.  However there are some warning signs that may indicate the possibility of an impending forced marriage:

• extended absence from school/college, truancy, drop in performance, low motivation, excessive parental restriction and control of movements and history of siblings leaving education to marry early
• poor attendance in the workplace, poor performance, parental control of income and limited career choices
• evidence of self-harm, treatment for depression, attempted suicide, social isolation, eating disorders or substance abuse
• evidence of family disputes/conflict, domestic violence/abuse or running away from home.

A young person demonstrating any of the above may not be necessarily at risk, but if you feel concerned about a potential forced marriage you should contact the foreign and commonwealth Office  on 020 7008 0151.

The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007

The Forced Marriage Act will give the courts a wide discretion to deal flexibly with each individual case, employing civil remedies that will offer protection to victims without criminalising family members. 

Last Modified: 25/06/2009 14:44:12
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