Fight over boy`s school record

The mother of 5-year-old Eric Lopez, who signed a paper attesting to the act of voluntarily ‘depantsing’ in his school playground, is now fighting authorities to remove the stain from her son’s permanent school record.

Accused of the ‘lewd act’, Eric Lopez did not ask that his parents be present at the moment he was asked to sign the incriminating document inside the assistant principal’s office. The boy’s mother said her son had no idea he could make such a request.

"He did not know that he could ask for me,"  the boy’s mother, Erica Martinez, told azfamily.com. "He's five." The boy also received a detention from school in addition to the permanent sexual misconduct charge on his file.

Martinez, who says school officials failed to take her son's age into account when they labeled his ‘depantsing’, has been locked in a legal battle for two months to have the charge scratched from her son's record, arguing that Eric's actions were simply the innocent behavior of a child.

Under Arizona State law, every school district is advised to consider the age of a student before painting any actions on the part of a child with the black brush of sexual misconduct.

Dean says Martinez has the right to include her objections to the report in her son’s permanent file. The other option for Erica Martinez is to move her son into a completely new school district, where his file will then become a clean slate.

http://rt.com/usa/169308-sexual-misconduct-boy-depantsing/

Here`s a good reason why we should not be building up huge databases on children from zero to eighteen.

Coming at the issue from another angle, Big Brother Watch has this to say in their Class of 1984 report:

... here are more than 100,000 CCTV cameras in secondary schools and academies across England, Wales and Scotland. Some schools reported a ratio of one camera for every five pupils, and more than two hundred schools reported using CCTV in bathrooms and changing rooms, whilst others reported more cameras inside school buildings as outside.

http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2014/06/school-cctv-footage-can-accessed-smartphones-tablets.html#more-6123

Setting aside the issue of privacy for the moment, think about the opportunities for misreporting, mislabeling and mass databasing.

More pressure for an independent inquiry

"The Government is under mounting pressure to hold a comprehensive nationwide inquiry into historic child abuse following the latest disclosures over Jimmy Savile’s prolific sex offending."

Almost 120 MPs from all parties have joined forces to call on Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to set up an overarching investigation into a series of cases.

It comes as Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, warned that the culture that helped Savile to abuse hundreds of children and adults without being caught still existed. The campaign for a nationwide inquiry has been orchestrated by seven MPs, including Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative backbencher, and Tim Loughton, the former children’s minister, but has snowballed with support from more than a sixth of all MPs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/10933200/Jimmy-Savile-pressure-grows-for-full-inquiry-into-historic-child-abuse.html

So what is the culture that helped Savile to abuse hundreds of children and adults without being caught? 

 

Perhaps there`s a clue in the discussion about MI5`s possible vetting of Savile:

http://beforeitsnews.com/eu/2014/06/how-mi5-vetted-savile-and-decided-paedophilia-was-nothing-to-worry-about-2562784.html


And the British security services` infiltration and funding of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange in a covert operation to identify and possibly blackmail establishment figures. (See previous post).

Any inquiry that investigates and draws these various strands together would be helpful, although let`s not hold our breath.  

British security services infiltrated PIE

In an exclusive article the Sunday Express has reported that British security services infiltrated and funded the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange in a covert operation to identify and possibly blackmail establishment figures. This information was provided to the newspaper by a Home Office whistleblower who wished to remain anonymous.

The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was a British pro-paedophile activist group, founded in October 1974 and officially disbanded in 1984.

PIE was set up as a special interest group within the Scottish Minorities Group by founder member Michael Hanson, who became the group's first Chairman. Since the majority of enquiries were from England, PIE relocated to London in 1975 where 23-year-old Keith Hose became its first Chairman. The group's stated aim was to "to alleviate [the] suffering of many adults and children" by campaigning to abolish the age of consent thus legalising sex between adults and children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paedophile_Information_Exchange

　
The Express reports that the money handed to PIE by the government between 1977 and 1980 would today be worth over £400,000. A Home Office inquiry has now been launched to establish the reason why the government donated this money to the notorious organisation.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/485529/Special-Branch-funded-Paedophile-Information-Exchange-says-Home-Office-whistleblower

How to deal with pushy parents: treat them like demanding children

As the author of a best- selling book on childcare, she is known for helping parents cope with teething, toddlers and tantrums. Now Gina Ford is turning her hand to a new task – telling teachers how to deal with pushy parents.  And the key to her advice? Treat them just like demanding children.

Miss Ford, who has divided mothers with her ultra-strict advice, insists difficult parents must be taught the importance of ‘boundaries’ and be treated with a ‘fair but firm’ hand. She told the Times Educational Supplement: ‘Applying good boundaries to a pushy parent is just as necessary as applying good boundaries to a demanding child.

‘A pushy or demanding parent needs to understand that he or she can’t fundamentally alter the way the school operates. ‘Good schools will work with the parent to improve communication and resolve matters successfully, but being fair but firm may be the only way to deal with a really demanding parent.’ Former maternity nurse Miss Ford, who does not have children of her own, is a pioneer of the controversial ‘controlled crying’ technique for babies – where children are left to cry themselves to sleep.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2672923/Pushy-parents-Treat-like-petulant-children-Adults-need-boundaries-says-leading-childcare-guru.html

Thought provoking. It is all very well having self-proclaimed experts giving us advice as long as we can take it or leave it.
 
However, in Scotland, parents whether demanding or not, will soon have to understand that they will not be able to alter how GIRFEC works. Personal data on the family can and will be gathered and shared  with or without their consent. Advice will be given and the alarm will be raised if it is not accepted. A red flag will appear on their file sparking off closer monitoring.

The named person will be allowed to use their professional judgement and that is the problem because there is no authority a parent can turn to, in order to get a second opinion, if they do not agree. It does not matter that actually experts disagree and there are passing fads.

This totalitarian control system is set to operate in August 2016.

Duck tape used to strap down child

"A photo of a child strapped to his napping mat at a Texas daycare has sparked a state investigation into the school's practices."

"The image of an unidentified child at Heart2Heart Montessori Academy in Willow Park showed the boy secured to the mat with two strips of duct tape over his blanket, with one at the feet and the other over his shoulders. The picture was taken by a now-former employee of the school."

"This image of a child strapped down at his daycare has sparked an investigation by Texas child services officials Parent Lorrie Almquist said the image led to a confrontation with academy co-owner Pam Decker on Wednesday."

"Decker then admitted to her that she'd resorted to similar tactics with Almquist's son, 3, on the same day the picture was taken. 'I was honestly in such shock, I had no words to say to her,' Almquist told KHOU. 'I was immediately angry. Upset.' "

"She immediately removed her son from the school. "

" 'She was very apologetic, and told me it was something that probably shouldn't have been done,' she said. "

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2663902/Parents-outraged-shocking-photo-child-duct-taped-napping-mat-daycare.html

4000 teachers lost

It has been reported that almost 4000 teachers have been slashed from Scotland`s schools in the past seven years. Admittedly slashes have occured right across the board in Health and other departments due to the Westminster Government`s austerity measures.

What is surprising is that the Scottish Government, in the midst of these measures, that is the reduction of teachers, have insisted on pushing forward the most drastic upheaval in Scottish Education since records began: Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), a measure that has left teachers confused and that confusion is well documented.

As if that was not hard enough to understand, when the Scottish Government put forward plans to put more resources in the way of children, they did so by committing themselves to appointing 500 health visitors over the next few years, whose only remit is to carry out the statutory requirements of the named person. (GIRFEC snooping)

Parents want a good education for their children and there is no dispute about that. Since when did parents agree that `snooping health visitors` should have a priority over teachers?

They didn`t.


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/schools-shock-4000-teachers-lost-3729523

Not The UK Column News - ATVOD Exposed

UK Column videos removed from youtube

The UK Column which has done more than any other alternative media source to expose what is happening to children in the UK has been shut down by the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD). All their videos have been removed from Youtube.

They have persistently covered topics like the unlawful snatching of children by social services and the cover up of paedophilia in high places.

It looks like they have been getting too close to the truth.

 [Update and correction: 26 June 2014. UK Column have not been shut down by ATVOD but have chosen not to enter their system of regulation.] 

A new world Parliament. Are the parallels with curriculum for excellence just a coincidence?

This is what we know about the Curriculum for excellence in Scotland: Throughout the whole curriculum in schools there must be education for sustainable development and global citizenship. Are we expected to believe that what is being pushed forward in Scottish schools, which parallel the Great Transition and move towards a United Nations one world government,  is just a coincidence?

Or should we ask: When did the elite who think they can rule over us sell the soul of the Scottish electorate?

Great Transition Initiative enters new phase, relaunches website

Secretariat | April 26th, 2014
Miscellanea

The GTI network is advancing a “Great Transition”
 

For over a decade, the Great Transition Initiative has advanced a visionary scenario of a future rooted in human solidarity, well-being for all, and ecological sustainability. It now enters a new phase with renewed energy and heightened sense of urgency. Its new website serves as a platform for exploring bold visions and change strategies.

According to GTI, “History has entered the Planetary Phase of Civilization, a profound shift in the condition of society and the dynamics driving change. In our time, multiple threads of interdependence are binding people, places, and the wider community of life into a single social-ecological system.” ...

GTI’s past and future publications engage with the questions of global citizenship and global democracy on both a theoretical and a practical level.

A paper published in 2010, for example, states that “One specific change to work towards is creating a bicameral system for the United Nations to consist of the existing General Assembly representing nations and a new World Parliament elected through universal suffrage and representing the citizens of the world.”
http://www.greattransition.org/

http://blog.unpacampaign.org/2014/04/great-transition-initiative-enters-new-phase-relaunches-website/

The trouble with Housing Benefit

From the Void: narking off the state since 2005:

When Universal Credit is finally introduced, those earning less than the equivalent of the minimum wage for 35 hours a week will be forced to constantly look for more or better paid work to qualify for in-work benefits such as Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. Part time workers could face being sent on workfare in the hours they are not at work and will have to prove to Jobcentre busybodies that they are constantly looking for another, better paid job.

Currently sanctions are usually only inflicted on unemployed people, lone parents or those on sickness or disability benefiits. Sanctions are often imposed for the most trivial reason such as being a few minutes late for a meeting with the Jobcentre. At pressent Housing Benefits, which allow people to at least keep a roof over their heads, cannot be sanctioned. 

This will all change for part-time workers who will now face possible eviction if they upset the Jobcentre according to Inside Housing who warn this could affect up to a million workers. The number of people in work reliant on Housing Benefits has soared in recent years as social housing has been eroded, whilst wages stagnated and private sector rents climbed to eye-watering levels.

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/part-time-workers-to-face-housing-benefit-sanctions/

From the Department for Work and Pensions:

You may get a visit from a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officer to check that your benefits payments are correct.

A Performance Measurement review officer may visit you if you’re claiming:

Employment and Support Allowance
Housing Benefit
Income Support
Jobseeker’s Allowance
Pension Credit

Your name is selected at random to be checked. You won’t always get a letter in advance telling you about the visit. (Last updated: 2 June 2014)

 https://www.gov.uk/dwp-visit

Previously councils have dealt with all aspects of Housing Benefit, not the DWP. The confusion and worry these changes in Housing Benefit checks are causing is well illustrated on the Net Mums forum:

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/general-coffeehouse-chat-514/news-current-affairs-topical-discussion-12/596088-dwp-home-visit-housing-benefit-all.html

Single parent mothers will suffer a double pronged attack. Already perceived by the Government as the cause of most social ills, those in part-time work will be hounded to do more - or else - whilst juggling child care as soon as their children start school. They must also make themselves available for random Housing Benefit checks. No doubt, in Scotland, the named-persons, where they exist, trained to perceive the stress but not its root causes, will wish to visit as well to push ahead with their early interventions. Parenting classes anybody!

If ever a system was designed to push struggling parents over the edge, this is it.

How about a bit of reality instead?  There are not enough jobs providing a living wage for those who need them.

MPs call for an independent inquiry to address child sex abuse

An article put out by Exaro, updated 24 June 2014, indicates that there are now over 100 MPs calling for an independent inquiry into historical child sex abuse.

Although the issue was raised at Prime Minister`s question time, David Cameron was non-committal about such an inquiry.

http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5282/pressure-builds-in-parliament-to-address-child-sex-abuse-in-uk

Is this Scotland`s GIRFEC approach, or what ?

The McDougall`s children have been snatched by Fife social services on their return to Scotland after the council failed to get Kerry McDougall`s baby at birth. Is this GIRFEC in action and, more importantly, which aspect of GIRFEC in action is this?

Early intervention?  (No, Kerry and her child escaped that because she fled to Ireland and they have now formed a loving bond which is irreplaceable. It would be damaging to the child to intervene.)

Getting it right for every child? (No. Fife social services lied when they told the MacDougall`s they would be left alone if they returned to Scotland. The alarm has been raised around the country that social services cannot be trusted. )

Fife social workers in enacting their revenge are not the Machiavellian manipulators they thought they were. As a concept, GIRFEC has been weakened and social workers in Fife have fallen into disrepute.

What is wrong with the child protection system?

For anybody interested in the wider implications, Dr Lynne Wrennall presented a paper to the All Party Group on Abuse Investigations in which she addressed the question: what is wrong with the child protection system and what are the indicators of the need for change?

She argued that the child protection system is harming children, families and communities because it has lost its focus. Social workers no longer do social work because they are acting out the role of child abuse investigators.

Some people would say: leave the police to do the policing - they are better at it - and let social workers provide the social support. The two roles are incompatible.

It`s worth another read.

http://www.academia.edu/339801/Wrennall_L._2004_Miscarriages_of_Justice_in_Child_Protection_a_brief_history_and_proposals_for_change._Paper_presented_to_the_parliamentary_conference_held_by_the_All_Party_Group_on_Abuse_Investigations_Attlee_Suite_Portcullis_House_2_December

Children removed from Kerry and Mark McDougall

A Facebook group was opened on 21 June 2014 in support of Ben and Lochlan, the two sons of Kerry and Mark McDougall whose boys were removed from their care by social services on the same day. A member reports that:

This group is not owned, moderated or otherwise controlled by the family. It is completely independent.

This afternoon, after a five hour wait with police sitting in their living room keeping them under house arrest (without an arrest, of course) Fife Social Services came and took Ben and Lochlan McDougall into their custody. This will be a terrible long fight and both boys will need your help and support for them, and for Kerry and Mark. The boys have been removed. No one knows why. The police turned up at midnight last night with Social Workers who asked if the family were going to return to Ireland (Where Social Workers deemed the family fine). Mark asked if they could go out and visit the grandparents today. Social Worker said they could go wherever they pleased, there was nothing to stop them.

Today, police turned up at approx 1pm. Asked Mark and Kerry to remain in the house until Social Workers arrived. Social workers did not turn up for over five hours. When they did, they took both boys away.

Mark and Kerry, devastated. As ever, no evidence of neglect. None. I'll update you on the paperwork whilst I can. Please propagate, share, tell everyone. We are legally allowed to speak right now. That may not be the case, come Monday.

By: Morgan Gallagher

Group at https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/249731588558370/

EU Conference - Will the state take over the role of parent?.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most rapidly and widely ratified international human rights treaty in history.　

http://www.unicef.org/crc/

Did the UNCRC alter the relationship between the state and the family by putting forward the principle that the child`s rights had paramountcy?

Did this allow state agents to determine what was in the best interests of the child?

In general, has this really served the best interests of children?

500 health visitors to be recruited as named persons

http://no2np.org/ 
 

Another 500 health visitors are to be recruited to deliver controversial plans to give every child in the country a "state guardian" to monitor their welfare and development.

"Health secretary Alex Neil said an investment of more than £40 million would see the establishment of the new posts over the next four years."

"The move will help implement the most contentious aspect of the Scottish Government’s Children and Young People Act, which allocates every child a "named person" – or state guardian – who will have the power to "advise and inform" the child and if necessary raise concerns with the authorities."

"It is envisaged that health visitors and teachers will fulfil the role of "named persons" when the scheme is rolled out in August 2016. The proposal has attracted a great deal of criticism, with opponents claiming it is intrusive and undermines parental freedom and responsibility."

"A group of critics are currently putting together the case for a judicial review to challenge the legislation, which they say contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights."

"The creation of the new posts were criticised by the No To Named Person (NO2NP), the group set up to fight the legislation contained in act."

http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/snp-hires-500-health-staff-as-child-guardians-1-3449773 

Parents criticise poll dancing at school fete

Dressed in a pair of gold hot pants and a cropped tee-shirt, the unnamed dancer hurls herself around the pole put up in the playground as families including young children watch on. Parents have criticised the school, and one father who stormed off said 'lots of people were upset' after seeing the performance at Crockenhill Primary School near Swanley, in north Kent.

But the owner of Revolutions Pole Academy, who led the display, and the primary school's headteacher have denied the show was 'sleazy' and said any anger is an 'over-reaction'.

An unnamed father-of-two with children at the school said the display on Sunday, which also featured the girls hanging upside down with their legs split in the air, was 'so wrong'. He said: 'A lot of people were upset about it. They were performing a routine to music in inappropriate clothing and they had children doing it and I just thought, "this is so wrong".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2660079/Parents-fury-primary-school-fete-includes-pole-dancing-display-children-young-four-inappropriate-clothing.html

Let`s hope parents will not be fined for refusing to take part!

Police should record playground high jinx as crimes

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Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said police are under increasing pressure to record 'playground high jinx' as crimes

"Police are under increasing pressure to record 'playground high jinx' as crimes, one of the country's most senior officers said last night.  Officers are regularly criticised for not adding petty pranks and boisterous escapades by youngsters to official records, Sir Hugh Orde revealed."

"In one case police dealt with three eight-year-olds caught bearing their bottoms at passing motorists by simply taking them home and informing their parents.

And in another an officer did the same when he was called to a 10-year-old boy and a younger friend who were throwing around stolen penny sweets."

"But official inspectors later said both incidents should have been recorded as crimes, potentially triggering a full inquiry, even when the participants could not be prosecuted because they were below the age of criminal responsibility."

"Speaking yesterday, Sir Hugh, said the trend is causing 'real frustration' to chief constables who believe they should have discretion to focus their efforts elsewhere."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2660757/Treat-pranks-children-crimes-Senior-officer-says-police-pressure-start-recording-playground-high-jinks.html#ixzz3523I3rH6

Teachers must confront bad parents

"The Times is reporting that the chief inspector of schools has said parents should be fined if they miss parents’ evenings, fail to read with their children or allow homework to go undone…"

"Sir Michael Wilshaw said that teachers must confront "bad parents" who do not support their children’s education as he accused white working-class families of no longer valuing education as a way to improve their family’s prospects."

"Children with immigrant parents outperform poor white British children in the classroom as many hold a deep cultural belief in the importance of doing well at school, he added."

"Sir Michael’s comments, in an interview with The Times, will provoke anger from poverty campaigners who say that poor families are least able to pay fines and that their children would suffer. However, he said that too often deprivation was used as an excuse for low achievement."

"Drawing on his own experience as a head teacher at inner London schools, he said: "I was absolutely clear with parents; if they weren’t doing a good job, I would tell them so. It’s up to head teachers to say quite clearly, ‘You’re a poor parent’."

http://schoolsimprovement.net/fine-parents-who-dont-read-to-children-says-schools-chief/

100s of children placed in isolation in school on Isle of Wight

Originally posted by Tom Pride

More trouble for Education Secretary Michael Gove.

An Academy school on the Isle of Wight run by a head who used to work in a prison is in meltdown today after it started pulling hundreds of pupils from classes and putting them in isolation for not having the "correct" uniform.

Young children are reported to be made to sit in isolation facing a wall with their arms parallel to a desk for hours at a time for having the wrong length of skirt or colour of hairband.

The head – Dr Rory Fox – is said to be on site "shouting at pupils" in isolation.

And parents are now apparently arriving at the school in droves to remove their children after pupils called them in tears at their treatment by Dr Fox.

Follow the full developing story here from local paper the Island Echo:

http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/academy-school-in-meltdown-as-ex-prison-head-puts-100s-of-children-in-isolation/

Call for inquiry into historical child abuse in residential homes

"A LEADING human rights expert has called on the Scottish Government to launch a "forensic" inquiry into historical abuse in Scotland. Professor Alan Miller, chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, wants an independent investigation into crimes committed against children in the 1960s, 70s and 80s."

"He believes it is vital to find out what the state knew about abuse that went on at residential homes – particularly allegations of child deaths and the destruction of documents and records."

"Speaking to the Record on the eve of today’s publication of abuse victims’ consultation findings, Miller called for a "national, judge-led" inquiry. He said it should be "forensically focused on the real areas that haven’t been touched elsewhere by other inquiries. It would be cheaper and more efficient".

"He added: "In particular it would have to look at the role the state played in any abuse and not just focus on the church."

"The SHRC produced a "Framework for Justice" in June 2010 that many survivors regard as the only truly independent report into historic abuse in Scotland."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tell-truth-child-abuse-cover-ups-3709010#.U6FsN249Ea0.facebook

See http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/msp-graeme-pearson-asks-for-pubblic.html

and http://www.shrcinteraction.org/Portals/23/Action-Plan-on-Historic-Abuse-of-Children-in-Care-Nov-2013.pdf

`The myth of the first three years` still skewing policy

"Five charity-led consortia will receive a share of £215m as part of a bid to improve the life chances of vulnerable under-threes, the Big Lottery Fund has announced. The Big Lottery Fund wants to support 60,000 under-threes over the next decade."

"The charities, including the National Children's Bureau, NSPCC and Pre-school Learning Alliance, have been awarded up to £50m each to devise a long-term plan for supporting parents with children from pregnancy to three years old. The funding is part of the Lottery’s A Better Start initiative and will be used to fund projects in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend, the details of which are below."

"Announcing the funding, Dharmendra Kanani, director of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "Parents want the best for their children and as a society we know that what happens in the first three years of life profoundly affects a child’s future life chances."

"A poor start in life can affect your health, wellbeing, outlook on life and how you form relationships. "Prevention matters more in the early years as we have a much greater understanding of what can and might improve the life chances of a future generation."

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1144889/charities-win-share-gbp215m-lottery-intervention-fund

Earlier in the year John Bruer talked to Helene Guldberg who asked him about the myth of the first three years.

HG  What – if any – negative effects has infant determinism had?

JB    Jerry Kagan, a developmental psychologist at Harvard, has written extensively on the history and consequences of infant determinism in his book, Three Seductive Ideas. In fact, I think the term, infant determinism, might even be his.

One negative effect of infant determinism is an unwarranted over-emphasis on early childhood. This can skew policy. We have to be open to the possibility that our science may overturn or modify our long-standing cultural biases. 

HG  Would you argue that what parents do doesn’t matter at all?

JB  Of course, what a parent does matters. However, the claim that what parents do during the first three years has irreversible, lifelong effects in all areas of cognitive, social and emotional development is not supported by neuroscience.

http://www.heleneguldberg.co.uk/index.php/site/article/135/

The Scottish Government still refers to the same debunked neuroscience on its website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/07/7181/3

Irish children to determine fitness of parents to homeschool

"Artillery for the Northern Ireland government's takeover of homeschooling, stockpiled by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), is being set to usurp the power of parents and hand it over to children and the state. If the U.N.-based policy is implemented, government assessors will be directed to obtain the "opinion of the child" in order to determine whether homeschool parents are fit to teach their own."

"The proposed policy grants government agents sweeping power over homeschooling in Northern Ireland," says Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) staff attorney Mike Donnelly, who also serves as the organization's director or international relations. "The policy is a frontal attack on the rights of parents and families to be free from unwarranted and unreasonable government interference and shows how U.N. treaties are a threat to educational freedom everywhere."

"Donnelly warns that the U.N.-crafted policy that's routed to take shape in Northern Ireland is something in which nations abroad should be very concerned. "It reflects a dramatic departure from the policy in the rest of the United Kingdom, where parents enjoy the appropriate freedom to decide whether or not their children will be homeschooled without unreasonable state intrusion," he asserts. "The new policy involves prior and subjective approval of homeschooling, a database to register homeschooled children, and gives school officials the power to question homeschooled children and arbitrarily enter a homeschooler's home."

"The HSLDA attorney reminds homeschoolers of a previous battle against overregulation. "In 2009, homeschoolers in England fought against a similar proposal recommended by the 'Badman Report,'" Donnelly notes. "The current policy being proposed in Northern Ireland appears to have been influenced by similar ideas that the state has the authority to intervene and determine how and whether children should be home-educated."

"HSLDA's online petition, "Hands off Home Education," is designed to defend the freedom of homeschoolers in Northern Ireland by providing a way for homeschool advocates worldwide to sign in their support."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/education/2014/05/31/irish-children-to-determine-whether-parents-are-fit-to-homeschool

14 to 17 year-olds want a UK wide education system

 

FORMER Prime Minister Gordon Brown has appeared to question the devolution of education in extracts of a speech on independence.

In a speech at Edinburgh University, Mr Brown cited surveys which show more than 50 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds in Scotland want a UK-wide education system with common UK exams and qualifications.

The speech challenges the separation of education for Scotland which has been guaranteed for more than 300 years since the Act of Union.

Mr Brown cited "astonishing new surveys of young people" carried out one year apart which found that around half of Scottish 14 to 17-year-olds "do not want to be part of an exclusively Scottish education system but want a UK system where the curriculum and exams are the same for everyone in the UK".

Perhaps 14 to 17 year-olds in Scotland need to be better informed. There is more than one exam board in England and Wales and a mixture of different type of schools. Education in Scotland is all ready being influenced by outside sources coming from the United Nations. Since the UN ambitions are global in extent the intention is that differences in education systems are one day going to be a thing of the past.

Surely Mr Brown should know this.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/gordon-brown-scots-want-uk-wide-school-system-1-3445973

The World Education Blog discusses the problem of measurement which they require to refine so that they can study the adoption of their agenda across the world.
http://efareport.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/how-can-we-measure-global-citizenship-skills-post-2015/

Early interventions - Police State by Tony Blair

http://namedblamedandshamed.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/blairs-biggest-lie-condemns-generation.html

Laying the Children`s Ghosts to Rest: Canada`s Home Children in the West

The Barnardo Boys

"Though it affects what is an estimated one in every eight Canadians, the dark tale of Canada's "home children" is little known. Author and journalist Sean Arthur Joyce hopes to change that with his latest book, Laying the Children's Ghosts to Rest: Canada's Home Children in the West."

"From 1869 to 1949, more than 100,000 British children were taken and sent to Canada to work in homes and on farms as child labourers. For some children, who were living in grinding poverty, the situation worked out rather well; however for others — as might be expected — it ended in tragedy."

"Perhaps one of the most compelling of the stories Joyce uncovered in his research is that of William and Walter Roberts, two brothers abandoned at the ages of four and six. They remained in the care of the British charity Barnardo's — and then sent to Canada to work seven years later."

"Walter ended up with kind of a vicious, sadistic individual who today, we would call a psychopth or something. He would stab him with a pitchfork, make him walk through a snowstorm with no shoes on, sleep with the dog — to the point where he became so ill he was ready to die, basically," said Joyce. The boy was eventually rescued when two men delivering grain saw his condition and contacted the police. However the experience for his brother had been entirely different."

"They were both working on farms in the Manitoba area and he did just fine, nobody ever mistreated him, he was happy with his work, happy with the families he was with. So it gives you this dichotomy of the experience — the one who did well, the one who obviously was going to be marked for life."

"The initial idea of solving the problem by sending the children abroad to work in exchange for room and board initially began with a Scottish Christian named Annie McPherson, who worked with Barnardo's founder Dr. Thomas Barnardo."

http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/entertainment/home-children-legacy-explored-1.1080014#sthash.OBIltea6.gbpl

"Between 1855 and 1970 Barnardo's had been home to 350.000 children who had spent all or part of their lives living in their homes in the UK, Canada or Australia. Many of these children grew up unaware of their family circumstances or why they were taken into care."

"In 1995 Barnardo had about 1,500 requests per year for access to such records. In this year the BBC released a series of documentaries called "Barnardo's Children". In the few weeks following the airing of the first segment, over 4,000 requests flooded in. Because of the media coverage and increased awareness and knowledge that these records are available, the number of requests have increased and remain steady."

http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/barnardo-home-records.html

Barnardo`s basic idea was that if parents were in a condition of poverty it was a moral failure on their part. "So he performed what he called `philanthropic abductions`... and used the power of the law to get them into his custody and at that point he considered them his to do with as he pleased."

So nothing has really changed, has it?

Nowadays it is called `early intervention` and the agents who use the law are called social workers.

From the CIA to UNICEF: Big Aid`s dirty secret

"What are Tony Lake's qualifications to run the number one children's relief works in the world? Maybe his silence during the Rwandan genocide, when as National Security Advisor to President Clinton, he admitted knowing about and "regretted" not doing something when hundreds of thousands of women and children were hacked to death in central Africa. Then there were the million and a half women and children in Eritrea who had to flee for their lives in the face of the Ethiopian invasion in 2000, something Tony Lake was intimately involved in helping instigate and direct."

"Tony Lake was nominated to be the Director of the CIA as a parting gift for his loyal role as consigliere in the Clinton White House, a gift taken from him when reports of corruption derailed his nomination."

"From CIA to UNICEF? The charge that every person who has headed a major western aid agency has an intelligence background has been proven time and time again. It may have taken some serious digging, some dogged investigation, but the fact remains that everyone of those supposed humanitarians that has been investigated has turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"Whether its the World Health Organization suppressing news of the breakthrough in malaria mortality prevention, to the World Food Program trying to destroy food security/self sufficiency, to Tony Lake taking over UNICEF, the word to the wise is beware enemies bearing gifts. Big Aid has a very dirty secret and the whole world needs to know about it."

http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/02-08-2011/118641-CIA_to_UNICEF_Big_Aid-0/

Penniless mum died alone

A mum-of-one suffering from mental health illness died alone and penniless after she stopped receiving disability benefits, her family claim.

Annette Francis, 30, was found dead at her home in Garston, Liverpool, after six months of no benefits payments – despite being eligible.

Annette suffered from a mental health condition similar to bipolar and was unable to hold down a regular job and her distraught family said she was tragically let down by authorities.

Ann Sorotos, Annette’s aunt, said: "Annette was penniless because she had no money coming in from the benefits people.

"I’m disgusted with them and think Annette was really badly let down."

Annette suffered from a mental illness similar to bipolar disorder and was unable to hold down a job.

Ann, from Childwall, who has taken care of Kieron since her niece’s death, told the Liverpool Echo : "She had very bad mental health problems and struggled to cope day to day."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/disabled-mum-died-alone-penniless-3662850#ixzz348isWWvz

Rochdale Council misled investigation into Knowl View school

"Rochdale Council misled police looking into alleged paedophiles linked to a residential school by withholding a report detailing claims of serious sex abuse there, a former detective says."

"Det Supt Bob Huntbach, who is now retired, led inquiries into people linked to Knowl View School in 2000 but says he did not see the 1991 report."

"Mr Huntbach says arrests would have been made had he been given it. The council says it will not comment until it has completed its own inquiry."

"Mr Huntbach said he asked Rochdale Council for all the relevant paperwork but claims he was never given the unpublished report, which detailed serious sexual abuse at the school."

Mr Huntbach believes the council "misled" his investigation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27819017

Suspected illegal drug trials in care homes

"In harrowing new information revealed this weekend, the Daily Mail has uncovered medical records that suggest 2,051 children across several Irish care homes were given a diphtheria vaccine from pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome in a suspected illegal drug trial that ran from 1930 to 1936. As the Mail reports, "Michael Dwyer, of Cork University’s School of History, found the child vaccination data by trawling through tens of thousands of medical journal articles and archive files. He discovered that the trials were carried out before the vaccine was made available for commercial use in the UK."

"There is no evidence yet – and there may never be – that any family consent was ever offered, or about how many children had adverse effects or died as a result of the vaccinations. Dwyer told the Mail, "The fact that no record of these trials can be found in the files relating to the Department of Local Government and Public Health, the Municipal Health Reports relating to Cork and Dublin, or the Wellcome Archives in London, suggests that vaccine trials would not have been acceptable to government, municipal authorities, or the general public. However, the fact that reports of these trials were published in the most prestigious medical journals suggests that this type of human experimentation was largely accepted by medical practitioners and facilitated by authorities in charge of children’s residential institutions."

"Irish Minister of State for Training and Skills Ciaran Cannon has called for a public inquiry into the treatment of the children and their deaths."

https://trove.com/?hash_nav=1#me/content/V7Ra7?chid=82583&utm_source=webapp&utm_medium=fbshare&utm_content=article_host

Moving up a notch in state control of children

(The man who left his child in a pub - because he forgot.) 

"Benefits will be docked from feckless parents who refuse to take classes on how to improve their children’s discipline, diet and exercise under plans being discussed by senior Tories. A secret party document photographed in Downing Street reveals MPs preparing the Conservative election manifesto are considering attaching new conditions to welfare."

"Carried by MP Margot James, who sits on a policy advisory board which is drawing up proposals for Prime Minister David Cameron, it reads: ‘Apply conditions for parents on benefits `(training or parenting classes)."

Miss James’s document suggests the Tories now want to go far further to make parents sign up, by making receipt of benefits conditional on co-operation with training by charities and experts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2656727/Feckless-parents-stripped-benefits-unless-lessons-raising-family.html

It has to be remembered that many working parents require state benefits to top up the inadequate wages they receive. So the rhetoric about work shy `scroungers` or `feckless` parents does not apply. Tax payers are actually subsidising companies who will not pay a living wage.

This proposed policy, like GIRFEC, is another example of the relentless drive towards state control of families and children, particularly those who are disadvantaged. Only this time the government insists they will tell families how to bring up their children, and they must obey, or else.

Trussell Trust must stop speaking out against poverty

Trussell Trust volunteers in Glasgow.

"A bullying Government official threatened to close Britain’s largest food bank provider for criticising welfare cuts."

"The head of the Trussell Trust, Chris Mould, said he was warned by "someone in power" to stop attacking the benefits system or "the Government might try to shut you down".

"His disclosure comes just days after Tory MPs demanded action against Oxfam for running a campaign on poverty levels."

"Mr Mould said the Christian trust, which runs more than 400 food banks, was berated by the Government at a face-to-face meeting in 2013 for highlighting how benefits reforms led to more families going hungry."

"He told the Panel on Independence in the Voluntary Sector of "ongoing efforts to belittle the organisation", including an "angry" phone call from Iain Duncan Smith’s office in 2011."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/foodbank-charity-threatened-closure-government-3682914

Files removed from national archives in Ireland

"THE DEPARTMENT OF Health has removed a dozen files from the National Archives since revelations about the deaths of almost 800 children at a mother and baby home in Tuam hit the headlines."

"The department confirmed to TheJournal.ie that since 25 May – when the Irish Mail on Sunday led with the story – 12 state files have been withdrawn from the archives."

"The spokesperson said that the files will be returned because they are still the property of the National Archive."

"However, no copies of the 12 files which were taken are currently available to readers in the archive."

"Furthermore, over 40 state files relating to unmarried mothers, such as health inspection reports on unmarried mother’s homes and other aspects of their administration, were "recalled" by the Department of Health in May 1992 and on 8 February 2006."

"Typically, lending of documents is permitted, but generally only for a period of up to six months. Some of these documents have been withdrawn for nearly 10 years."

http://www.thejournal.ie/state-files-removed-from-national-archive-following-mother-and-baby-home-revelations-1510066-Jun2014/

Child sexual abuse inquiry in Australia

"Time is running out for the child sexual abuse inquiry to hear all the cases before it is scheduled to end, the chairman has revealed..."

"Case studies examined in more than a dozen public hearings, have revealed decades of shocking failures among some of Australia’s most respected institutions – including the Salvation Army, the Scouts and several arms of the Catholic church – to adequately respond to abuse of children in their care."

"It has been suggested by some people that the problems we are looking at are all ‘historical’, happened in the past and are unlikely to occur today," McClellan said. "An analysis of the institutions reported to us in private sessions confirms that, although it is possible that the level of abuse has diminished, the reality is that the potential remains."

"McClellan revealed that about a third of all institutions reported to the commission can be described as an industrial school, training school, reformatory, orphanage or children’s home. One third of complaints received were from people abused in a school or educational setting, and 16% in a place of worship, church youth group or seminary."

"It is only the child migrant children and children born out of wedlock who are no longer in institutions," said McClellan, who said "opportunities for abuse remain."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/peter-mcclellan-time-running-out-abuse

NSPCC evidence debunked

 The NSPCC, never shy of shock tactics, or making a case without producing evidence, has decided to have its annual conference in Scotland.

It is at conferences such as these where speakers are intent on driving the professionals, clinicians, experts and policy makers to look beyond the boundaries of their existing fields in order to push the case for early intervention. 

"There is growing recognition of the need for early intervention to prevent child abuse and neglect and improve children's life chances. "

When they talk about early intervention they mean intervening in family life before a crisis occurs. Where is the evidence that early intervention prevents child abuse? Although the number of children taken into care increases year on year, the number of murdered children certainly has not fallen. It looks more like, despite the lessons learned and the conferences, the wrong children are taken into care. They go on:

"Together delegates will explore the crucial challenges we face in our approach to child welfare and protection and share the latest research and best practice from both infant mental health and child protection social work."

Then there is this bombshell - they use the same debunked brain scans of the two three year-olds to support their case.

Isn`t it about time, instead,  that social workers were taught that these images show two different head sizes?  Since when did research indicate that neglect shrinks the skull of a child?

In fact, the images are more misleading than that.

It looks like the spokesperson for the NSPCC has stepped too far beyond the boundary of his field, and maybe that is not such a brilliant idea!

ttp://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/newsandevents/cpconferences/beyond-boundaries-conference_wda99065.html




From the the Guardian:

"Val Gillies, a researcher in social policy at South Bank University, takes the scans head-on. "That illustration of the walnut brain is from a paper by Bruce Perry. There are no details given of the case histories of those kids. We don't know what 'normal' was. We don't know what 'extreme neglect' was. We don't even have a scale on that image. It's had the most powerful impact, but I've never seen another image like that. When people say, 'I've seen a brain scan showing what neglect does to the brain', that's the image they're talking about."

"Immediately, there are a few things wrong with this: with no details on the case study, except for the fact that "extreme neglect" meant life in a Romanian orphanage, we could be dealing with anything, from the effects of malnutrition to a disability. But even without the drama of the image, the use of these extreme populations is misleading."

"Aside from the dodgy science, if you look at who's pushing this stuff, it's wealthy philanthropists, Heinz, Carnegie Foundation, with the same notion, that the ills of society are located in the lower orders."

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/apr/26/misused-neuroscience-defining-child-protection-policy

NO2NP: Say No to the Named Person scheme

"Every child will be assigned a named person – a health worker or senior teacher – to oversee their upbringing to the age of 18 by 2016. But medical staff are already threatening to report mothers or fathers if they forget to take their children to hospital appointments..."

"The Scottish Government claims the move will ensure potential cases of abuse or developmental difficulties are spotted and acted upon at an early stage..."

"But critics have dubbed it a "Big Brother invasion" and warned that it "undermines the role of parents". There are also fears that parents could be dragged into damaging child protection probes for trivial reasons."

 http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/480288/Fury-as-hospitals-begin-reporting-children-s-missed-appointments-to-state-snoopers

"The five local health authorities with the knowledge and consent of their local authority and of the Scottish Government, who now have Named Persons in place for every child are: Angus; Ayrshire; Edinburgh; Highland; and Stirlingshire."

http://forargyll.com/2014/06/salmond-jibs-at-darling-dictator-jibe-as-government-allows-5-local-health-authorities-premature-naming-of-state-guardians-for-children/