 | Talking About Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Safeguarding for Professionals who Work with Children Subjects: Education; Health and Social Care; School Leadership Management & Administration; Health & Society; Public Health Policy and Practice; Social Work and Social Policy; School Leaders & Managers; Children and Youth; Women; Maternal and Child Health; Child and Family Social Work; Social Work Practice; This workbook is designed to be used to facilitate discussion and to disseminate awareness amongst all professionals (social workers, teachers and health care professionals) who are required by law to report instances of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Suitable for use in group settings, it requires no prior knowledge of the subject, but is written in such a way for anyone to be able to facilitate a session with colleagues, which takes between one-three hours depending on the facilitator and group's needs. Divided into five parts, it shows how to facilitate a training session using the material, including being aware of how people may be triggered by this difficult subject. Providing activities to facilitate discussion, it explains terminology and provides explanation of different types of FGM, risk factors and legal aspects including mandatory reporting in certain regions. Designed to be concise, it will give busy professionals a quick and effective tool to disseminate information to as many colleagues as possible to allow them develop understanding of a legal requirement of their job which has real and life-saving benefits for children. Caroline Lisa is the FGM lead across two London Local Authorities a job which involves auditing, being the specialist on hand for strategy meetings in FGM cases and advising social workers in making initial safeguarding risk assessments. For several years she has developed and delivered FGM and other safeguarding training to other professionals working with children. She is the author of the novel Song of the Crocodile, a story inspired by her time living with the Mandinka community in West Africa, which was written to raise further awareness of FGM. |
