15 year old girl forced to marry her abuser

[andyoldlabour]

I am failing to comprehend this, how it could happen in the UK. A 15 year old girl from Bradford from a non Muslim background, was forced to marry one of her abusers. She was placed in the care of her abuser's family after becoming pregnant and forced to convert to Islam. Social workers had turned a blind eye to what was happening and one of them even attended the wedding.
What has happened to the UK?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-48106927

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9831797/Bradford-child-abuse-report-reveals-victim-raped-forced-Islamic-marriage.html

It wouldn't have been a legal marriage.

Appalling what happened.

Three major child abuse situations in the press at the moment.

Bradford ongoing abuse
The scouts
The children physically and sexually abused, groomed etc in childrens homes.

Massive numbers of abusers. Sod all action when reported.

There was another thread about the care homes appalling facilitation etc of abuse.

This is a systematic problem. These things are all different sides of the same coin.

There needs to be action around looking at ALL of it as a piece.

It's all about total failure of the authorities to act, blind eyes being turned, and in some cases facilitating/ abusing themselves.

I am fucking so angry. These THREE all in the news at the same time. Couple of weeks ago girls being assaulted raped in schools all over the country nothing being done.

It's CONSTANT and massive widespread. It needs fucking sorting to protect right now.

This hasn't got anything to do with Islam!

I'm not so sure tbh. Child brides are certainly a thing in many Muslim countries.

@Whoarethewho

Absolutely shocking. This isn't the UK I grew up in it has changed and not for the better.

Just catching up.

Remember Mandy Smith? I was a teen. On Wogan in the papers. Presented as a romantic fairy tale. -

The rocker courted controversy after he met Mandy Smith in 1984, when she was 13 and he was 47.

It was in the public eye.

Rock stars shagging (underage) 'groupies'. Presenters assaulting children.

Sam fox page 3 age 16.

I mean just so much.

In the USA it's legal in some states for children to marry.

It's often used to hide CSA resulting in pregnancy- if married then you can have sex obv.

Christian groups that is.

@Fluffycloudland77

Liberal attitudes, this is where it gets you.

I heard the woman who I think was leader of the council at the time saying she didn’t know about it because she got grief for being a black lesbian so was busy with that.

I mean, we’ve all got shit going on but your paid to do a job so you should do it.

Link please.

Nothing to do with Islam?

Can you please expand?

Absolutely shocking. This isn't the UK I grew up in it has changed and not for the better.

Crap was going on like this when I was at school in the '80s. A 16yo in my year married a 32yo. Another was groomed by men and stayed out all night with them. I wasn't a good friend of hers, but we all knew it was happening

^

Yes, East lancs/West Yorkshire isn't the Home Counties. Its a different UK for sure.

This has been going on for years. Exactly the same when I was at school in the 90s in Lancs.

Good grief.

There are 3, THREE massive child abuse scandals in the news right now.

The scouts. Massive number of abusers. God knows how many children. Into the thousands prob. Blind eye was turned.

Bradford. Grooming continues. Authorities continue to be fucking useless.

Care homes. Employed men who had criminal records for sex offences. Again turned a blind eye. Did nothing.

And on and on.

Recently. Girls in schools across the country being assaulted raped. Not dealt with. Hushed up.

All of that is because of 'woke'?

And definitely not to do with the authorities not giving a shit?

What's the commonality in the victims? Vulnerable children. Or, abusers who were 'good'.

Other commonalities.
Reports ignored. By police, SS, adults who were in a position of trust (care homes, scouts).

Over and over. Different situations, different types of abuse. They need to be considered together. All of it. Why those who are supposed to care, to safeguard. Do fuck all.

A lot of rose coloured glasses about how things used to be. A lot of incorrect info - what age marriage is legal UK. Which religions / cultures are into child marriage. A idea that it's because of 'woke' - how does that explain the very wide situations where systemic CSA occurs?

The failure in all these cases was people who were supposed to care, not giving a shit. Doing nothing.

That's the problem.

The Lambeth care homes scandal is mainly 60s to 90s, so yes, it was like this in the past. It has been an ongoing investigation for many years now; the people affected have been fighting Lambeth council for recognition / compensation for many, many years now.

Loads of other settings and situations as well.

Schools esp those for 'difficult' children.
RC and CofE all over the place.
Etc

And in those days it wasn't spoken about.

The abuse of children- violence/ sexual abuse- has always been there and seemingly widespread.

And the authorities- didn't give a shit and still don't.

Gerbil, I know, it is shocking. I feel so angry and frustrated. And this despite the fact that there is a legal obligation for any professionals with even the merest hint of safeguarding responsibility for children and young people to report any cause for concern, and follow up; eg in my job as a teacher, I must be sure that my registered cause for concern is dealt with by the right people in a timely manner. If I feel this is not happening, it is incumbent on me to escalate and make other professionals and agencies aware of my concern. A person working with children, young adults and vulnerable people in general, is not allowed to just file a cause for concern and hope it gets dealt with by "whoever"; it has to be followed up.

And as for the grey areas you describe; this is why we have what should be robust safeguarding legislation in place. It shouldn't be possible for misinterpretation and "individual judgement calls" to derail the safeguarding process without it signalling massive safeguarding failure and personal culpability. Sadly, grooming occurs among professionals too, where weak decisions or lack of action go unchallenged and insidious cultures of non-compliance grow in institutions, disguised as professional judgement. Not for the purpose of aiding criminal activity in the community, but because of a failure to acknowledge that the law is the law and what an individual professional may think or interpret or feel like they have time for shouldn't come into it.

And, Gerbil, Linda Bellos was on BBC R4 on Tuesday, World At One (at 18:50 mins)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y6jr

saying what Fluffy is paraphrasing.

Gutted for so many reasons.

As a social worker I'm trying to work out how this could happen
The child was pregnant and I can see how they may have placed her with the PGPs as support to enable her to keep the baby in her care, if her parents weren't safe. I can see how they may have missed signs of her being groomed if the boyfriend wasn't much older and if the girl was very strongly stating she wanted to be with him. I do wonder what the background of the social worker was. I'm afraid to say I've worked with some male social workers from non western countries who have had very concerning and misogynist views about girls and women (not all, and white British SWs can also be misogynists of course)
I wonder if the social worker had viewed religion as a positive influence in the life of a child who prior to 'converting' had been at risk of harm by going missing regularly.

@Whoarethewho

Absolutely shocking. This isn't the UK I grew up in it has changed and not for the better.

I grew up in one of the areas where this was a very common occurrence. You can’t imagine the fear professionals were under. It was so normalised that anyone daring to suggest it was abusive in anyway would have had no backing from their employer, would have been labelled as racist and have had their careers and lives ruined. This shouldn’t have happened but it wasn’t an isolated incident where a few social workers acted appallingly. It was an entire system which made it impossible to speak out.

I don’t why I’m writing in past tense, it’s still very much going on now.

I suppose, what we can take from all the other examples, such as the catholic priests, Lambeth care homes, is if males have something to hide behind and deflect criticism or obscure investigations such as their professional status or their religion, a significant minority will utilise it to abuse.

@gogohm

She was failed by her parents initially, social services and the Islamic authorities who are not meant to conduct Islamic marriage ceremonies (they aren't legal weddings by the way, they weird actually married) for under 18's (16&17 with parental consent which she didn't have)

Islamic weddings are legal weddings , otherwise l am not married to my husband and my wedding was abroad and is recognised by the UKVI.

This child's marriage was not legal as she was underage and it should not have gone ahead. Failings all around.

In the UK there is a real issue with various religions carrying out weddings which are not recognised in the UK.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sharia-marriage-islamic-wedding-nikah-court-appeal-divorce-union-a9335946.html%3famp

Having grown up in that area, and with experience of both secondary education and social work, all anyone ever appeared to care about was not upsetting minority groups and religious elders. Every year, Asian (usually Pakistani) girls from Batley, Dewsbury, Bradford etc. would disappear over the summer holidays to be married, some never to be seen again. We were banned from putting literature in the schools for the girls this might happen to - e.g. warning them that any proposed holiday might not be what it seemed, always to know where their passport was, informing them of their rights at the airport etc. (ie they didn’t have to board the plane). Horrendous. Political correctness gone mad, so many young and innocent lives ruined.

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken - exactly. Not quite the same area but anyone remember the 3 Girls TV show? It was exactly like that.

Apologies the other religion I was thinking of it's religious divorce that's the issue for women.

Sara Rowbotham - just look at how she was treated when she tried to raise awareness.