Black church leaders met yesterday with the children’s minister to discuss ways of better protecting children in immigrant communities from abuse. The meeting was met with claims that African communities are becoming unfairly stigmatised by the recent high profile abuse cases.
The summit was called by Beverley Hughes amid concerns over child abuse, including exorcism, in immigrant communities, particularly those ‘hard to reach’ by the social services. The meeting is a response particularly to the high-profile court case last month in which three Angolans were jailed for abusing an eight-year-old girl they accused of being a witch.
The meeting was attended by ministers from the Department for Education and Skills and the Home Office, as well as representatives of the police, local government and numerous faith groups, including those from black church communities.
The meeting called for a greater focus on immigrant communities, as well as the proper research of ritualistic abuse.
Black churches have called for a stop to ‘racist’ reporting on the issue, saying they have been unfairly linked to these cases.
Bishop Joe Aldred, black church spokesman for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, who attended yesterday’s meeting, said he hoped the meeting would not help to further "stigmatise" black churches.
He said: "Sometimes by simply having a meeting it can appear as though you are saying there is problem.
"Whilst you cannot turn a blind eye to any suggestion this might be happening and we’ve had two or three cases which worry us, it would be quite wrong to give the impression that child abuse was the staple diet for black churches," Dr Aldred said.
