When a child’s name was on the Register an immediate alert went to police and hospitals if a child came to their notice. These police officers and doctors would then check with the social worker or the police child abuse investigation team and make decisions informed by background knowledge.
Since April 2008, this alert system is no longer in place throughout the country, although in London, and possibly in other areas, it has been retained so that children who are the subject of child protection planning are still flagged up on the police and hospital systems. Where this is not in place, instead of an alarm drawing attention to high risk children, the professionals have to check every single child against the database to see whether or not they are known to children’s services and then make a call to see if that child is the subject of a child protection plan. To busy police and doctors this clearly is unworkable.
State interference with family life has to be justified. After all, most parents care for their children very well and professionals do not need to be involved in their lives. When parents abuse a child there is justification for professional involvement in order to respect and uphold the child’s right to be safe from harm. The Child Protection Register was a clear and effective procedure for working with parents to keep their children safe or for making decisions to take legal safeguards where children need to be removed from their families.
I have no doubt that children will be less protected as a result of this disastrous change in policy. Please sign this petition to help bring back the register.
No comments:
Post a Comment