a monthly column from members of
SIRCC
This
month’s column is from
Mark
Smith
Lecturer,
Glasgow School of Social Work,
Strathclyde University
Ban
'Buckie' - Aye right!
Youth
drunkenness has caused a bit of a ‘stushie’ up here
lately. The Justice Minister was reported in the newspapers as
calling on shops in her constituency to ban the sale of ‘Buckie.’
‘Buckie’,
aka Buckfast tonic wine, is the tipple of choice among some West
of Scotland youth or ‘neds’ (the term favoured by
Scottish ministers). Understandably, the manufacturers of Buckfast
are not best pleased about infringements on their trading rights
(or maybe they are as we'll see later).
This latest political brainwave is sadly symptomatic of the political
climate in relation to youth. We look for 'quick-fix' solutions
to complex social problems. If there's a problem, ban its most
obvious manifestation, introduce new legislation, put more and
more people on more and more registers, appoint a Tsar. And when
none of this works, legislate some more. Don't you just love it
when politicians talk tough?
It
saddens me to be confronted with such nonsense. As one who, man
and boy, supported the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament,
I had hoped it would be so different. Back in 1999, when I was
still in practice, I took a few kids from the secure unit I worked
in, to the opening of the new Parliament, believing it to be history
in the making. Later that same spring evening I took my own kids
up to Princes Street to soak up the atmosphere. It was vibrant,
confident and, above all, hopeful.
In
truth, Scotland could have taken wings. The country has a particularly
rich heritage in its approach to children and youth. Scottish
Enlightenment thought introduced ideas of contextual morality.
Tangible expression of this can be found in the ideas of the founders
of the industrial feeding or 'ragged' schools. Dr Guthrie, the
publicist and fundraiser for the 'ragged' schools asks, ‘Who
could bring himself to punish a child who had not that morning
broke his fast?'
Delinquency,
by such reckoning, was seen to be inextricably bound up with social
circumstances. This linkage was re-stated in the Kilbrandon Report
(1964), which led to the introduction of the Children's Hearings
system. The primacy of needs rather than deeds is the cornerstone
of the hearings system. Worthy ideals, but ideals that are nevertheless
under threat from the new hard-line on youth emanating from the
Scottish Executive. And in favour of what? Banning Buckie. Is
that really the extent of our political vision?
Of
course, when you challenge the received political wisdom around
youth, you're confronted with false dichotomies. So you're in
favour of youths getting 'tanked up' and terrorising local communities?
Well actually, I'm not. It's just that I think that dealing with
this real problem demands solutions that are a bit more imaginative
than banning 'Buckie.'
My
first job in residential child care was with the De La Salle Brothers.
I remember, during that period, reading a biography of Brother
Finbar. Finbar took over St William's School in Market Wheaton,
in the Edwardian period, if I remember rightly. The school was
out of control. Specifically, it faced an epidemic of absconding.
The first thing Finbar did was to remove all the window locks
and bolts that the half-demented staff group had fitted to try
and get to grips with the problem. And lo and behold, absconding
virtually stopped. That was a lesson I took with me throughout
my years in practice. You can't afford to be a linear thinker
in this game. Sometimes you've got to do what is counter-intuitive.
When
I first read about the justice minister's attempts to ban 'Buckie,'
Brother Finbar came back into my head. And really the Minister
should have known better. A previous Scottish Secretary tried
the same tack back in 1997. And what happened? You've guessed
it; Buckfast sales went through the roof. So maybe the manufacturers
are less than sincere in their protests.
Musing
about the consequences of this latest political intervention,
I fear that youth look and laugh at the sanctimony of such adult
'initiatives.' They create their own counter-cultures, which in
the age of the internet are becoming increasingly sophisticated,
with even gangs setting up their own websites. When politicians
get on their high horses they risk feeding into rather than tackling
youth crime and youth drunkenness.
Taking pot-shots at politicians doesn't detract from what is a
very real problem of disaffected youth. There is a breakdown in
community in housing schemes across the country. But 'Buckie'
is merely a symptom of this disaffection. At one level it can
be construed as an understandable response to the nihilism that
characterises many of these schemes.
If we want to look for causes we need to delve deeper. We need
to consider the impact of a growing gap between rich and poor
and the consequences of this on the social capital available within
deprived communities. We need to question the impact of child
protection policies that have made children and youth untouchable,
both physically and metaphorically; policies that introduce a
dissonance to healthy intergenerational relationships between
adults and youth; policies that restrict social work services
to the investigation of abuse allegations to the virtual exclusion
of preventative services for youth.
We
need to look at the needs of the 'whole child,' and to re-examine
the links between needs and deeds. We need, in short, the 'liberal
commonsense' of Kilbrandon, and yet under a Labour (and Liberal!)
government we're moving further and further from it. Banning 'Buckie'
indeed! I think I need a drink.
Mark
Smith was a practitioner and manager in residential school, close
support and secure accommodation settings over a period of nearly
20
years. Since 2000 he has been a lecturer at Strathclyde
University/Glasgow School of Social Work, where he developed and
is
course director of the MSc in Advanced Residential Child Care.
His
current research interests are in youth justice and in masculinity
and
caring. He is a regular contributor to cyc-net, an international
on-line
journal for those working in child and youth care.
The Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care is funded
by the Scottish Executive and employs staff in a number
of Universities and Colleges to provide training, research
and a range of advice and support services. SIRCC-employed
staff deliver the BA in Social Work and Higher National
Certificate in Social Care with a strong focus on residential
child care. Some staff are also employed to deliver a
wide range of in-service short courses. SIRCC provides
advice, consultancy and organisational development to
all agencies across Scotland, local authority and independent,
which provide children units or residential schools for
looked after children. SIRCC also runs a library and information
service. Its national office is located on the Jordanhill
Campus within the Glasgow School of Social Work. The GSSW
is a joint school of the Universities of Strathclyde and
Glasgow
|
Email
us on sircc@childrenwebmag.com
