Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

No To the Children Bill

Sharon Gifford | 18.11.2004 09:23 | Education | Health | Repression | World

This week by a majority of 12 the House of Lords have approved the latest reading of the Children Bill...we can now look forward to every child being on Big Brother's database, accessible to all and sundry who are allegedly "professionals"...and for what? "Every Child Matters" was the mantra, for what purpose?


No longer private citizens, children will be watched and thereby controlled by the state. Parents don't count (unless they're "good") and children don't either...certainly not as the individual private human beings they should be.

The Children Bill was published on 4th March. Having read the Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’ we thought we knew what to expect, but it surpassed our worst fears. There has been so little comment in the media about the sheer scale of the mandate sought by the government we feel a need to raise public awareness concerning this legislation.

The Bill is asking Parliament to give this - and any future - Government the power to set up whatever database they want, and to do whatever they want with the information on it.

The Government intends to put the details of every child on to a database and allow every agency with which a family comes into contact to share information about that family. There does not need to be any suggestion that a child is at risk of harm. All children will have their own file on the database. That is bad enough in itself. But there’s more…

No family will know what information is being shared – or even that it is happening. Clause 8(7)(23(7) for Wales) of the Bill abolishes patient or client confidentiality, overturning Common Law to do so. That is a very serious step.

What kind of database?

The Government has said that databases would be created at local level. BUT Clause 8(1)(or 23(1) for Wales) of the Bill allows the Secretary of State to establish any kind of system he chooses

- even one central, national database – whenever he chooses.

Who can share information ?

This is the list contained in Clause 6 of the Children Bill:

Local Authority
District Council
Police Authority
Chief Officer of Police
Probation Service
Health Authority
Primary Care Trust – GPs, Health Visitors etc
Local Education Authority
Teachers and other school staff
The Learning and Skills Council – a public/private partnership
The Connexions Service – which includes the careers service and other private service providers
Anyone else the Secretary of State “arranges to provide, secure or participate in the provision of services”

In fact, so many different classes of people that it is impossible to identify just how many we are talking about. Clause 8(4)(23(4) Wales) leaves it to the Secretary of State to decide later who else should have access to a child’s file.

Where will the information be held?

The Government has said that each agency would hold their own information and only share it if two or more agencies have ‘concerns’ about a child. BUT Clause 8(4)(23(4) Wales) allows the Secretary of State to include all the information on one database if he so chooses.

What information will be shared?

Anything that gives ‘cause for concern’ to someone in the information-sharing network. Not just signs of abuse. The Government has suggested that poor SATs results or low birthweight would be a ‘cause for concern’. If a parent visited the doctor because they were depressed or wanted help to get their drinking under control, this could be entered on their child’s data file. Poverty is a risk factor. So is ‘Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy’!

If the Government does not intend to use these powers, why are they asking Parliament for them?

We believe that the Government’s proposals breach children’s rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which gives each person the right to ‘respect for his private and family life’.

They also breach Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that ‘no child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence’.

If information about family members is shared, that is a breach of their Article 8 rights, too.

If these proposals become law, there will be no such thing as a private family life any longer. The very essence of the right to privacy will have been extinguished.

Here are just some of the Government databases that have failed or had serious problems:

Child Support Agency (CSA)
Nationality and Immigration
Working Families Tax Credit
‘Libra’ Courts System
Criminal Records Bureau
Individual Learning Accounts

What happens to a child who is in danger if the child database fails?

Databases are only as accurate as the person keying in the information, and errors are inevitable. For example, in 2000 an audit of Metropolitan Police records held on the Police National Computer revealed that 85% of files contained errors, four-fifths of which were considered serious; some were libellous. { http://www.computerweekly.com/Article22806.htm}
What happens when errors build up on the child database?

Computers can be hacked. They can be stolen. Those with access to information can use it corruptly or pass it on to others. Not all ‘professionals’ are trustworthy, and recently the Criminal Records Bureau admitted that its checks were limited. { http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3480777.stm} On the same day that the Bill was published, Humberside's Chief Constable admitted that checks cannot be relied on { http://www.ypn.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=751580}

Far from protecting vulnerable children, we believe that a child database will put all of our children at risk. What happens if the wrong person gains access to information about a child?

If children and parents know that every time they ask for help, they risk attracting unwanted attention and having their privacy invaded, it is likely that they will keep their problems to themselves until they simply cannot cope, rather than seeking advice at an early stage.

What are the implications for child protection if parents are too scared to seek help for depression, stress-related drinking or domestic violence before their problems are critical?

What about a child who wants help with a drug problem, or a teenaged girl who fears she is pregnant? Are they more, or less, likely to confide in a GP or youth worker if they know their confidence might be broken?

If every trivial concern is flagged, there will be constant alerts on the system.
How will children in urgent need of protection be noticed in a forest of flags about truancy and SATs results?

Caseloads will inevitably increase as unnecessary cases come to the attention of social services. We already have a huge shortage of social workers and teachers. How will they cope with the extra workload? It seems more than likely that they will become very dependent on the computer system.

Who is responsible when the computer system breaks down?

Ultimately, a computer cannot go round to a house and help a child who is distressed or in danger. Only a human being can do that. Rather than wasting money on computer systems that are likely to make matters worse, all our available resources should be going towards solving the staffing crisis in social work: currently we are short of thousands of social workers. Our child protection system needs proper funding and staff, not ‘radical’ gestures.

So what is really going on?

We believe that ‘child protection’ is a cover story. This Bill is not about protecting children who are in danger. It is about supervising families and getting the Government’s ID card and e-government agenda through. We think it is a disgrace that they are using child protection as an excuse, and as a means of silencing criticism.

Well, we have a message for the Government.

You won’t scare us into silence. We are part of the huge majority of parents who take their own children very seriously, and care passionately about children who are abused.

We are horrified that you intend to put our children’s details on a vulnerable computer system, and that we won’t even know who has access to it. What would social services think of a parent who published their children’s names and addresses on the Internet? You are putting all our children in danger and increasing the problems of those children who are already at risk of harm.

Our children are precious, and we are angry that you are disregarding their safety simply because you want to know where they are and control what they are doing. A lot of other people would like to do that, too, and we think that a child database will become an online catalogue for paedophiles.

We are deeply insulted by your suggestions that parents don’t care about their children, and that unless we are watched, we will inevitably abuse and neglect them. We are appalled that nearly 3% of children are on the ‘at-risk’ register, but that means 97% of children are not. Most parents love their children and do a fantastic job, even in the face of poverty, inadequate services and bad housing.

Our children are not parts on a national production line, and families don’t lend themselves to industrial processes. Our private, family lives are off-limits unless someone is assaulting their children or making their lives hell. And when that happens, we want to know that there is a fully resourced child protection system that investigates complaints properly. There was no shortage of complaints about Victoria Climbie. There is, however, a huge shortage of social workers.

Please spend our money wisely. Not on trying to control us or spy on us, but where it is really needed – in training and staffing our social services, and in giving families the support they actually need. If someone is struggling along the street, a reasonable person asks how they can help. That’s support. Picking someone up and bundling them down the road isn’t support. It’s assault. We would like you to start doing things for us, and not to us.

Finally, we would like to remind you of the preamble to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since the UK is signed up to it, you presumably agree that you are ‘convinced of the family as the fundamental unit of society’. Well, from where we are, it doesn’t feel like it.

If anyone would like to help raise awareness of the Children Bill and discuss how it can be challenged please contact  notthechildrenbill@hotmail.com

Sharon Gifford
- e-mail: notthechildrenbill@hotmail.com

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. It's an anti pedophile measure!.... — King Amdo
  2. already half way here — mother of a teenager

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech