Social work bosses in Aberdeen have vowed to tackle cultural issues such as forced marriage as part of a new three-year child protection plan.
Councillors on next week’s public protection committee will scrutinise the Child Protection Improvement Programme for 2019-21.
One of the main issues identified is the need to improve work in relation to “cultural issues” like female genital mutilation, forced marriage, indoctrination by extremist groups and other issues around ethnicity and sexuality.
As part of the strategy, there will also be a renewed focus on emotional abuse of children in the city, “cumulative neglect”, protecting children online and domestic abuse.
Social work teams also aim to gain a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of 16 and 17-year-olds and all young people who go missing.
As of March 31, 2019, there were 82 children on the Child Protection Register in the city.
The greatest percentage of the children – 52% – were in the pre-school age group of 0-4 years.
Compared to March 2018, registrations in the city have increased from 61 to 82 children (2.4 per 1,000 population).
These numbers are comparable to the national average rate, which is 3.0 per 1,000 children.
The council works closely with other partners like the police and charities to protect children in the city.
