PROTECTING CHILDREN
I was privileged to hear an outstanding speech last Friday by Lord Laming, who conducted the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie
Visibly angry in recounting this horrific story, Lord Laming captured for me the eternal tension local Councils face as “corporate parents” - looking after children when they are at risk. Councils must constantly be ready to intervene but yet we must not become so interventionist that we hinder parents being parents and more importantly, stop children being children,.
Like health and safety rules on things like school trips that have become so over protective that we are stifling children's opportunities for self discovery, we can become so obsessed with the process of child protection that we loose sight of the needs of the children we are trying to protect. Yet we must always be vigilant.
I don’t think we will ever get the balance absolutely right. I also doubt whether we will every stop all abuse, especially given that most abuse comes from family members or “trusted’ adults. And Councils have to be prepared to take the easy criticism from people who will never recognize that this isn’t a perfect world, that however hard we try, we might always make a mistake.
Yet, as Lord Laming demanded of us, even though the task is hard, we must never ever stop trying to protect our children from harm
Visibly angry in recounting this horrific story, Lord Laming captured for me the eternal tension local Councils face as “corporate parents” - looking after children when they are at risk. Councils must constantly be ready to intervene but yet we must not become so interventionist that we hinder parents being parents and more importantly, stop children being children,.
Like health and safety rules on things like school trips that have become so over protective that we are stifling children's opportunities for self discovery, we can become so obsessed with the process of child protection that we loose sight of the needs of the children we are trying to protect. Yet we must always be vigilant.
I don’t think we will ever get the balance absolutely right. I also doubt whether we will every stop all abuse, especially given that most abuse comes from family members or “trusted’ adults. And Councils have to be prepared to take the easy criticism from people who will never recognize that this isn’t a perfect world, that however hard we try, we might always make a mistake.
Yet, as Lord Laming demanded of us, even though the task is hard, we must never ever stop trying to protect our children from harm
posted by Councillor Ewan Aitken at
8:05 pm
