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Thursday 12 December 2013

GIRFEC - Survey for Parents

A survey on Engage for Education which was supposed to question parents about their thoughts regarding GIRFEC was criticized by a parent because the survey only asked questions like; `Did the school provide information about it?` But this is not quite the same thing as asking for opinions about GIRFEC.

Another respondent had this to say:
As to analysing responses to consultations/surveys (and how many of them are we faced with every year?), it is some people's views that you may analyse them and then choose to ignore them because you are not bound to take account of the results.
The reassurances ive read are anything but reassuring. 'Professionals working together can decide who or what they want to investigate on no evidence at all, on hearsay or prejudice in fact. Assessments can be purely subjective and based on the assessor's opinions and prejudices.
Consent is a red herring and people who haven't realised that they cant opt out may find themselves, or more importantly their children, on databases which, let's be honest about this, are misused and liable to be lost, hacked or otherwise maltreated. I see no reason why, if someone like a doctor is concerned about a child, he or she cannot pick up a phone, write an email or a text to inform someone else.
You do not appear to understand the level of public hostility to unnecessary listing of children on insecure inventories.
Comments were very hostile and no assurances from the team could allay concerns about GIRFEC and mass surveillance of children and their families.·One response was very alarming: 
So what does asking young kids if they ever had anal sex have anything to do with wellbeing ? These questions among others are highly creepy and very intrusive questions being asked as part of an Evidence2Success survey in perth schools. This is all without parental knowledge or concent. The ICO has admitted in writing that this was in preparation for the children and young people bill.
Children as young as nine were asked how many times they had carried a knife, sold illegal drugs, turned up for school high, been arrested, or stolen something; how many times they had used prescription drugs that not been prescribed by a doctor; how many times they had drunk alcohol. They were asked whether they felt 'very close' to their mother (one little girl whose mother had just died was very upset by this question). They were also invited to say whether 'people in my family often insult or shout at each other'.  
The questionnaire for older children, from 14 upwards, included a section on sexual activity. The pupils were asked in Q31 if they had ever had sexual intercourse – 'vaginal or anal sex', as the questionnaire helpfully added. They were then asked to reveal how many people they had had vaginal or anal sex with in the last year.
Had they ever been told by a doctor or nurse that they had a sexually transmitted disease or infection?. How many times had they been pregnant or got someone pregnant? 'Not sure' was one of the options. How many children had they given birth to or fathered? Were they currently pregnant? Was their partner currently pregnant? And so on.  
How can it possibly be safe to question children in this way and then put their responses on a database?  Apart from that, the questioning itself is abusive. 
 

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