Child Q: Special scrutiny meeting looking at what has changed since scandal broke to take place next week – with residents invited

The words of Child Q written on a pavement by protesters. Photograph: Julia Gregory

The safeguarding of children and police presence in schools are set to come under the spotlight at a special scrutiny meeting in Hackney next Tuesday.

Councillors will be looking into what has changed in the year since the strip-search of a Black teenager at a Hackney school became public knowledge, sending shockwaves throughout the borough.

Parents and pupils took to the streets in protest after news emerged about what had happened to the 15-year-old, known as Child Q.

No appropriate adult was present during her strip-search, and her family was not told it was being carried out.

A safeguarding review said racism played a part in the incident.

Child Q, who was on her period at the time of the search, told the review: “I can’t go a single day without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up. I don’t know if I’m going to feel normal again. But I do know this can’t happen to anyone else, ever again.”

Her mother said: “This wasn’t treated as a safeguarding issue but a criminal matter. Professionals treated her as an adult. She was searched as an adult. Is it because of her skin? Her hair? Why her?”

The pupil’s identity and that of the school have not been disclosed to protect her privacy and for legal reasons.

Child Q has launched legal action against the Metropolitan Police and the school.

The Independent Office of Police Conduct is investigating four police officers for gross misconduct. It has not yet completed its investigation and will discuss its findings with the Met before recommendations are published.

The joint Children and Young People and Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commissions are to hold a special meeting to examine what progress has been made to tackle racism and ensure effective safeguarding for children in the borough.

Councillors will get an update from Jim Gamble, the Independent Commissioner, at City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Commission, which investigated what happened to Child Q.

Gamble found that the adultification of Black children played a role. Adultification is when children are treated as adults by those in authority, rather than as young people.

Hackney’s new borough commander James Conway is among those expected to give an update into what has changed since the scandal broke.

Other speakers include Deputy Mayor Anntionette Bramble, who has responsibility for education, young people and children’s social care, and Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, cabinet member for community safety and regulatory services.

The meeting will also hear from Kenny Bowie, director of strategy and oversight of the Met at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

The 20 councillors and three lay members of the joint commission want updates on work to address the disproportionality of stop-and-search and intimate searches of children.

They also want to know how many times children have been searched and if there was an appropriate adult there.

They will ask about work to build trust in local policing, policing in schools, and school behaviour policies for pupils.

They also want to know what is being done to ensure there is a “safeguarding-first approach for local children” and the progress of an anti-racist action plan in Hackney.

Residents are invited to attend the meeting at Hackney Town Hall from 7pm on Tuesday 25 April.

Last month, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza published a report revealing that found thousands of children have been stopped and strip-searched in the past four years in England and Wales – often without an appropriate adult present.