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Hitting Children is Wrong

The pressure group Children are Unbeatable is holding a mass lobby of Parliament on Tuesday 26 October, in the hope of influencing the Children Bill.

We know that a lot of parliamentarians in both Houses are worried about the possible inappropriate prosecution of parents for minor smacks, but we think that is a mirage. It would be like prosecuting every motorist who goes a mile an hour over the speed limit. The fact that motorists could be prosecuted for doing so does not stop politicians voting in laws which set speed limits.

Similarly, the principle that hitting children is wrong should be established. Everything short of that is a fudge. The principle applies to adults. What would the objecting parliamentarians think if the lobbyists gave them “loving taps” to make their point? And what if some of the loving tappers unintentionally walloped them too hard and then claimed it was “reasonable chastisement”, as child abusers do?

For more information, look at www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk or ring 020 8671 2911.

Eurochild

A new European organisation is making its mark. Eurochild is holding a day conference on Tuesday 26th October in Brussels on Combating Child Poverty in Europe - Making it a Reality. They hope to highlight lessons learnt to date and to examine how National Action Plans can be developed, with an emphasis on the inclusion of the views of children and young people.

They are hoping that the conference will be attended by representatives of NGOs, statutory bodies, academia, professional associations and government departments. Anyone interested can click here for the booking form, or Eurochild can be contacted on admin@eurochild.org or phone +32 (0)2 511 70.

Eurochild is the successor to EFCW, and it has good connections and a base in Brussels. The EFCW was primarily for the voluntary sector, but Eurochild aims to cover all sectors and the full breadth of child welfare. The event should provide a good opportunity to network if this theme is your concern.

National Services Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services

This mouthful is the outcome of a lot of consultation - a comprehensive ten year plan, published by the Department of Health, to consider all the health needs of children and young people. When implemented, it will cover a lot of neglected areas that have been highlighted in the media over recent years - the problems of prescribing doses of drugs suitable for children, the disposal of the organs of dead children by hospitals, and so on.

The NCB news service tells us that the NSF can be downloaded from here

Sharing and Caring

The most moving story to come out of the young people’s FICE conference in Scotland was that the young people themselves clubbed together to find the money for one of their number who badly needed cosmetic surgery but could not afford it. As young people who had experience of the care system, they were no doubt far from well off, but they shared what they had. A shining example of international ubuntu.

Let’s hope that Gordon Brown’s campaign to cancel third world debt triggers off a similar response at world government level. We may be cynics, but we doubt whether the fat cats will want to give up their cream. Wealth can be a terrible burden for those who are trapped into wanting to hang on to it. We can but hope that the key politicians who control fiscal policy will follow the young people's lead.

Childminders and Nannies

The National Child Minding Association is moving into the field of nannying. It is a logical step. The two groups of workers both look after young children in the domestic setting. They need similar knowledge and similar skills. They both work on their own and may need support to overcome isolation. The biggest difference is that childminders work in their own homes while nannies work in the homes of the families they work with, but the nature of the work is similar in many ways.

The systems which the NCMA has devised for its members - training, support, quality assurance, membership benefits, publications etc. - are excellent, and a number of nannies over the years have sought to join the Association. Now the NCMA has decided to approach the issue squarely and has produced some really good material on the roles of nannies and what the NCMA can do for them.

The other big differences between nannies and childminders concern their training and regulation. Childminders have to be registered; nannies do not (yet). Some nannies have quite lengthy college courses. Childminders tend to have more shorter training, though it is becoming steadily more prevalent than it was.

These systems may simply reflect historical splits. It is possible that different types of people in the past were served by the two groups and that different types of people were recruited to the two workforces - in terms of age and class. If so, that is becoming a thing of the past as the two sorts of service are becoming more similar with the changes in demand as more women return to work. Tax benefits will only speed up the merging, and before long we may see a more coherent profession serving young children. For more information, contact NCMA’s Nanny Information Line on 0800 169 4486.

At their annual conference (in Scarborough this year from 26 - 28 November) the NCMA hope to come to a conclusion on changing their job title to registered childminder in legislation, to emphasise the greater professionalism and higher standards expected now. Their conferences are always great occasions, with a friendly atmosphere and a mixture of information, ideas and good company. If you’re interested, ring 020 8290 8972 or email sue.waterman@ncma.org.uk for a booking form.

Macedon

During this last month, a couple of residential child care workers in Northern Ireland have been sentenced for abusing children in the Barnardo’s home, Macedon, on the outskirts of Belfast, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. George Anderson received an 18-year sentence and Margaret Hewitt eleven years.

The abuse was appalling, and affected the lives of the children who were its victims, who spoke on television. Let us hope that the court case will help them to put their experiences behind them. The two staff involved will obviously have some time ahead of them to repent for what they have done.

As for the home, it was pulled down several years ago, to make way for a motorway. It was an attractive Victorian white-painted building in a beautiful setting. When it was opened by Barnardo’s, it was no doubt seen as an ideal place where children would be protected from the problems they had suffered at home and would have a chance to grow and develop in pleasant surroundings. It is really sad, then, that Macedon’s contribution to child care had to end so ignominiously and with such bitter memories.

We doubt whether many abusers go into residential child care with the conscious intention of abusing children. We suspect that the power of the role of adults with vulnerable children is a corrupting force that brings out the predisposition of some people to misuse their power. If so, the question is how we prevent people from becoming abusers, whether there are critical factors or points in the process, for example. We are not aware of any research on this theme. Can any reader point us towards any relevant paper or report?

Changing Hats

There is a brilliant Tommy Cooper sketch where he exchanges his fez for a whole box of hats of various shapes, colours and sizes, and he recites a piece of doggerel about a variety of characters, changing hats to match the speaker. Obviously he gets it wrong, and the outcome is hilarious.

It must be a bit like that being a Minister. No sooner have you learnt one brief than the Prime Minister decides that he wants a reshuffle and off you go to a ministry you know nothing about and have to slot in with the diary of your predecessor as an expert spokesman for government policy on the new subject, no doubt hoping that the change of hats is not quite as hilarious for the audience as Tommy Cooper’s.

On the child care front, we have lost Baroness Ashton, and got Lord Filkin. Having not yet met Geoff Filkin, we can only say “Welcome” to him, but we are really sorry to have lost Cathy Ashton. She was well briefed, enormously knowledgeable, genuinely concerned, a clear thinker and excellent at public relations. We could not have asked for more, and her departure is a real loss. We understand that she has gone to the Treasury. If so, we hope that she enjoys wearing the new hat - a bowler, perhaps? - and will be able to play an ambassadorial role in steering money towards meeting children’s needs.

Did You See? …..

….. Trevor Phillips arguing on BBC breakfast television on 13 September for citizenship training for everyone at the age of 18? We agree. Citizenship is something which should be valued in every country. It should be a positive choice, a privilege and an honour to become a citizen. There should be minimum requirements, such as the ability to speak one of the country’s official languages and some knowledge of the country’s past and present. The requirements should not be so high that they exclude adults with limited abilities who are keen to undertake training to meet the minimum requirements, but they should certainly be more demanding than an eighteenth birthday binge.

….. a nice piece in the Guardian (1 September 2004, Supplement pp. 14 - 15) by Joanna Moorhead on fostering? It gives a good description of the current scene and poses the current conundrum - the need for a further 8,200 foster homes in addition to the existing 37,000.

Fostering’s a positive and very rewarding role, but can be very difficult and the financial returns can be limited. In an economy with low unemployment, how do we recruit people to jobs with such a strong voluntary element? After all, fostering is a way of life, rather than a job. Even when one is ill, a fosterparent still has to care, as they would for their own children in a similar situation.

Some countries have no tradition of fostering. Although we grumble, Britain has generally been fortunate to have a good blend of services, allowing choice to match children’s needs. Perhaps Gordon Brown can think of a way to make the role financially attractive.

….. the report of Tim Gill’s lecture to the National Children’s Bureau? He described children now as “trapped indoors” and battery-reared” because of parental fears. Over the last thirty years the area in which they are allowed to travel has shrunk by 90% because of parental fears for their safety. This underlines the recent FICE Congress theme that we need to create a place for children in the way we shape the communities we live in.

Among the Stars

A new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been published, giving details of nearly 55,000 people who have played significant roles in the history of Great Britain. There are 60 volumes in all, and at £7,500 for the lot, it will not be on many people’s Christmas present lists.

The criterion for selection is that the subjects must have died before31 December 2000, and so there are a lot of important living people who are not included. We haven’t been able to check yet to see which child care workers have been included, but we assume that Dr Barnardo, Thomas Coram, Mary Carpenter and the others are there.

The sad thing is that we understand that James Bulger has been included - sad because he must surely be the person with the most recent date of birth, sad as he is well known because of what was done to him rather than what he was able to achieve, and sad because he does not have the chance to enjoy growing up into a young man with the prospect of living through much of the twenty-first century ahead of him.

Perhaps his inclusion is a good thing, though. Jamie’s entry in the Dictionary, along with kings, generals and artists, is a memorial to him. We hope that his death will be remembered, to make us think hard about human nature, children’s behaviour and how we bring our children up. If his entry prompts readers to continue to think about these issues, his short life will have made a significant contribution to the community.

From the Case Files

The boys wore distinctive cloths on arrival.

Loincloths, or those things which tennis players tie round their heads to keep the sweat out of their eyes?

Mrs W suffers from indigenous depression. This started … when she returned from South Africa.

The saddening impact of experiencing the weather of her native land after all those sunny skies?

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