Know Your Rights: Strip Searching of Children

What are the laws around strip searching children and how are Black young people overwhelmingly affected? We break this down and what rights you have as a child, Teacher, parent or guardian.

Content warning: racism, sexual assault, police and state violence

What is strip searching?

Strip searching is an intrusive police search. It ranges from a person removing their t-shirt to the removal of all clothing.

According to the Government, there are two types of strip searches:

More Thorough Searches (MTS searches). This is “where an officer requires the person as part of a stop and search to remove more than an outer coat, jacket, or gloves (for example a t-shirt).”
Searches Involving Exposure of Intimate Parts of the Body (EIP searches). This is “where a person is required to remove all or most of their clothing.

They can be carried out as part of a stop and search or at a police station if you’ve been arrested.

Strip searches can only be conducted if an officer has a ‘necessary’ reason to search someone outside of their outer clothing, like a jacket. These specific reasons are not clearly outlined in the Government’s advice.

The statistics on strip searching children

The Children’s Commissioner released a review into strip searching children in England and Wales.

It revealed from 2018 to mid-2022:

2,847 children were strip searched
95% of children strip searched were boys
52% had no appropriate adult present
46% of children strip searched were in London
38% of children strip searched were Black
45% of search locations weren’t recorded
24% of children were aged 10-15, 76% were aged 16-17

Writing on the Children Commissioner’s study, The Guardian states “police did not follow the rules in more than half of strip-searches.” This has led to “widespread non-compliance” with over half of reported cases not finding anything.

Black children are disproportionately targeted and are 11 times more likely to be strip searched than white kids.

Liberty Investigates carried out research into the strip searching of children and found "Black girls [are] nearly three times more likely to be subjected to [the] most invasive strip-search."

Adultification of Black children

Adultification is when young people who are marginalised, especially Black children, are treated like adults.

This shows up in many harmful and racially discriminatory ways, including how young Black people are policed and strip searched. Child Q is one of the many examples of how Black children are viewed by police and the deep effects of adultification on mental health.

Jahnine Davis is the Director and Co-founder of Listen Up, an organisation aiming to tackle adultification and “amplify the experiences of children and young people [who are marginalised].”

Speaking to The Guardian, Davis said: “[Adultification] feeds into various different racialised stereotypes, in particular about Black children being aggressive, angry, more deviant.” These stereotypes, Davis says, continue on from slavery and colonialism.

What is the law around strip searching children?

The current laws around strip searching children state:

The reasons for the strip search should always be explained.

Strip searches can’t be carried out as “an extension of less thorough initial search because nothing is found.”

They may be conducted at a police station or another nearby place that’s out of public view. You can’t be searched in a police vehicle.

The officer must be the same sex as the child. It also can’t be done in a place where someone of “the opposite sex” can see them - unless an appropriate adult has been requested by the child.

Searches can’t be in a place where the child can be seen by anyone who doesn’t need to be present. There must be no more, or less, than two people present “except in the most exceptional circumstances.” One of these people must be an appropriate adult.

Appropriate adults can include a parent, guardian, Social Worker or “a representative of a local authority or charity organisation the child is in the care of.”

Appropriate adults must be over the age of 18 and not a Police Officer.

Searches, in cases of urgency, may be carried out without an appropriate adult. This is when “ there is risk of serious harm to the child or to others, or if the child refuses and the appropriate adult agrees and signs a record of the [child’s] decision.”

The search should always be carried out with care for the child’s wellbeing.

Children “shouldn’t normally be required to remove all their clothes at the same time.” This means that a child “should be allowed to remove clothing above the waist and redress before removing further clothing.”

During the search,” the child may be required to hold their arms in the air or to stand with their legs apart and bend forward so the searching officer can visually examine the genital and anal areas.”

A strip search should be conducted as quickly as possible, and the child allowed to dress as soon as it is complete.

As reported by the Child Commissioner’s review into strip searching:

“While the guidelines state physical contact cannot be made with bodily orifices (i.e. the vagina or anus), a recent court ruling has determined that searching officers may make physical contact with, but not a ‘physical intrusion’ of, these areas. Searching officers can physically manipulate intimate body parts, including the penis or buttocks, or ask the child to do so themselves.”

What are your rights?

Children

Before any searches takes place, an officer needs to state:

Their name and police station
That the person is being detained for a search and what they’re searching for
That the individual can request a copy of the record of the search

You don’t have to provide the police with evidence that you are under 18. Regardless, police should treat you as a child and not an adult if they have been told as such.

Two adults must always be present if a strip search is carried out if you are under 14.

If you are aged 14-18, you and an appropriate adult have to consent to a search. You can request not to have an appropriate adult present, but they must be there when the suggestion is made and agree to it.

An appropriate adult, like a parent or guardian, can be asked for at your request. They are someone who can:

Support you and offer advice during the strip search
Call out any police actions which seem unreasonable or unfair
Help speak with the police when you want to
Help understand your rights and ensure they are always protected

Currently there is little guidance for supporting trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming students who are strip searched.

Despite it being in a child’s welfare to choose the sex of a searching staff member, there is no legal requirement to do so.

Liberty points out that gender reassignment, under the Equality Act 2010, is protected and “refusing to acknowledge a transgender person’s transition may be considered discrimination.

Teachers

While it is not stated in the Department for Education’s guidance on strip searches, Heaadteachers can refuse to allow Police Officers on school premises.

If a strip search is carried out, and a parent, guardian or Social Worker isn’t available, Teachers can act as appropriate adults.

In the role of an appropriate adult you can:

Support and offering advice during the strip search
Call out any police actions which seem unreasonable or unfair
Speak with the police when a child requests
Help a child understand their rights and ensure in the search they’re always protected

You can only be one of the appropriate adults present if the child requests you as one.

Read more: Maslaha, in partnership with Transforming Together, released a Radical Safeguarding guide for practitioners working with young people, especially in schools.

The resource looks at safeguarding practices that aren’t rooted in harm and explores the structures and cultures of UK schooling.

Parents and guardians

Government guidance states parents and guardians must be notified if a child in their care is undergoing a strip search. This isn’t a legal requirement, but as Liberty says “it might be considered harmful to the child’s welfare if they don’t.”

If neither a parent or a guardian is available to attend as an appropriate adult, a Social Worker should be asked for.

You can record the officer’s unique badge number and voice note of the interaction. As an appropriate adult, you can offer support to a child in your care including:

Supporting and advising during the strip search
Call out any police actions which seem unreasonable or unfair
Speaking with the police when a child requests
Help a child understand their rights and ensure in the search they’re always protected

Read more: Beyond the Line are a collective of Black parents who came together in 2022 after the response and treatment Child Q experienced.

They created a free resource pack which gives guidance to parents and carers to help support Black kids. The guide “ask questions, interrogate, and feel empowered to advocate and support our children."

Organisations you can follow for guidance and support

Want to learn more?

Watch our video on the Casey Review where we report on the institutional discrimination in the Met Police

This piece was written by Spark & Co.’s Digital Marketing and Website Support Lead, Cherokee Seebalack (They/Them).