Project News for November

During November, Project Lead, Rachael Clawson spoke at the Birmingham ‘Adults at Risk: Can You Hear Me?’conference - a multi-agency conference attended by around 200 delegates, and organised by West Midlands Police Service.  This was an opportunity to keep forced marriage of people with learning disabilities high on the agenda.  The West Midlands is also one of the key UK areas from which the research team are hoping to recruit participants for interviews and focus groups.  The team would very much like to hear from charitable organisations that could put them in touch with local groups for people with learning disabilities, with local family/carer groups and faith leaders and with social work and other professionals involved in safeguarding activities.  For ethical reasons, contact will only be made with people with learning disabilities and their families via charitable organisations and groups to which they are known and who could facilitate contact with them, so the team would be grateful for suggestions of organisations that may be able to help. 

Anne Patterson from the research team was able to spend time at the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) in Whitehall to gain a greater appreciation of some of the many cases of forced marriage that are reported to the FMU and with which the unit assists. 

Ethical clearance was also obtained from the Social Care Research Ethics Committee for interview and focus group schedules, which are now being piloted and made ready for use early in the new year.  The research team are keen to hear from anyone who may be able to assist with participant recruitment, particularly in the following regions: West Midlands, West Yorkshire, North West and London and the south east.  Please see our contact page for ways of getting in touch with the research team.