Barnardo`s defends the GIRFEC bill

Barnardo`s Scotland has addressed the criticisms of the Children and Young People Bill made by Mel Kelly in OurKingdom last week. They feel that Mel Kelly has misunderstood the role of universal services and preventative work.

According to Barnardo`s the Bill will generate a legal framework to allow the various public bodies who provide services to children to co-ordinate their effort in order to work with children and families at an earlier stage. The named person will all ready be known to the child and will be the first point of contact. Barnardo`s goes on to say:

Mel sets out two main pillars for her case against these proposals, and in particular the named person. Firstly she argues that "no state government is fit to be the over-riding guardian of every child in any country" and secondly that while "when children are identified as at risk and social work departments are involved it is vital there is a "named person", but that checking on all our children's wellbeing will lead to a system that is "overzealous and overburdened by tracking every child in Scotland – whether they are at risk or not". [Barnardo`s muddle]

However, children are not born with an ‘at risk’ label on their forehead. If it was this easy to spot the children who were in danger social work would be a much easier job.  [Barnardo`s is saying: Let`s make the job of social work easier, by targetting EVERYBODY. That is, `Be overzealous.`]

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mark-ballard/why-we-must-get-it-right-for-every-child-in-scotland

Here is Government and state sponsored political charities

See also Engage for Scotland and the comments which are very negative about the GIRFEC bill.

http://engageforeducation.org/2013/12/alan-mcniven-blog-ambition-can-share/

Universal surveillance system

"The Scottish parliament is on its way to passing a law that would assign a state 'named person' to every child in Scotland until the age of 18. Not only is this an unacceptable intrusion on liberty but it could actually harm the state's ability to track genuinely at risk children like Mikaeel Kumar."

"In 2012, the SNP government undertook a consultation on their proposed Children and Young Person Bill which set out a range of ambitious proposals for children’s rights and services. This far-reaching bill passed its first reading in November 2013 and will cover children’s rights, adoption, nursery provision, child protection, child detention and a clear definition of "Corporate Parenting". Will it address the failings in the current child protection system which failed to stop the death of 3 year old Mikaeel Kular?"

"The Scottish Faculty for advocates warns the Bill has some "potentially insidious aspects". A petition has been set up warning that this Scottish parliament bill "seeks to establish a universal surveillance system in respect of every child and associated adult in Scotland"

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mel-kelly/muddled-and-dangerous-assigning-state-person-to-every-child-in-scotland

Belgian euthanasia bill

Last week, a large number of the European Parliament members signed a Declaration opposing the euthanasia for children in Belgium. The Belgian media is reporting that the bill to extend euthanasia to children in Belgium will likely be voted on Thursday February 13.

The Belgian government announced today that the debate on the child euthanasia bill, in the Chamber of Deputies, will occur on February 12 and the vote will likely happen the next day, but possibly on the same day of the debate.

Similar to the Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands, the extension of euthanasia to children in Belgian is based on allowing euthanasia for children with disabilities.

It is likely that the bill is being fast tracked because a strong opposition to the bill is developing.

http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.ca/2014/02/child-euthanasia-bill-in-belgium-will.html

Fathers4Justice campaigner jailed for 6 months

"A Fathers4Justice campaigner has been jailed for six months for defacing a portrait of the Queen with paint in Westminster Abbey."

"Tim Haries, who told jurors he vandalised the picture to highlight the "social justice issue of our time", had denied causing criminal damage of more than £5,000 but was found guilty at London's Southwark crown court last month."

"The judge said the sentence must acknowledge Haries's distress and unhappiness, but have regard to the case's aggravating features, and to a degree deter others."

"I accept that your separation from your daughters for a period of four years caused you real anguish. I also accept that you felt that the legal processes by which you tried to have contact with them had failed you."

"But I do not accept that the means that you chose to adopt to make your protest were in any way justified."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/05/fathers4justice-campaigner-jailed-defacing-queen-portrait-haries

Such is the state of the justice system in the United Kingdom that in contrast many paedophiles, convicted of crimes against children, are let off with suspended sentences or community orders.

See HERE

Magdalene Laundries - an apology

 

"Women who had their childhoods ‘stolen away’, locked up in Catholic-run workhouses received a qualified apology from the Irish government ... Over a period of 70 years, an estimated 10,000 were sent to the ‘Magdalene laundries’ to carry out unpaid manual labour under the supervision of nuns."

"Some were sent because they were the children of unmarried mothers, others for crimes as minor as not paying a train ticket.
Survivors of the Catholic-run institutions have asked for a fuller and more frank admission from government and the religious orders involved."

"Incredibly the last of the ten laundries, which washed clothes and linen for major hotel groups, the Irish armed forces and even the brewer Guinness, was in operation until 1996. They were established in 1922."

"The move follows an 18-month inquiry chaired by senator Martin McAleese which found one in four of the women sent to the laundries had been sent by the state."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273961/Ireland-says-sorry-10-000-women-slaves-Catholic-workhouses-locked-brutalised-nuns.html

Schools should open their doors to two year olds

There is a drive towards reducing the amount of time children spend with their families with calls for extended school days and shorter holidays. The Government is also introducing legislation to make it easier to allow schools to provide nursery provision for two-year-olds. Ministers say this should help mothers get back into part-time work. Others say this is a move towards disrupting family life and more state control of children.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10615824/Schools-encouraged-to-take-2-year-olds-to-tackle-childcare-crisis.html

The Government would like to see primary school sites open for more hours in the day, from 8-6 if possible, and for more weeks in the year, offering a blend of education, childcare and extra-curricular activities."

The DfE suggested that primaries and secondaries follow the lead of schools such as the Harris Academy Chain and Norwich Free School.

Norwich Free School has chidlcare facilities open from 8.15am to 5.45pm, 51 weeks of the year, and offers occasional sleepovers, the DfE said, while every new Harris Academy will open from 8am to 6pm, as well as giving parents the option of holiday childcare.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10182584/Schools-urged-to-hold-sleepovers-to-help-parents-with-childcare.html

10 hour school days

"State schools should operate 10-hour days to boost standards so they are indistinguishable from private schools, the Education Secretary has said."

"Children should also sit private school-style Common Entrance exams at the age of 13 to make sure that they are "on track for later success".

"Delivering a keynote speech at the London Academy of Excellence, Michael Gove said he wanted the country's schools to be among the best in the world and that the "Berlin Wall" between state and private schools must be torn down."

"He also said teachers should be willing to use disciplinary measures such as detentions, line-writing and litter-picking to combat poor behaviour."

"Hailing the achievements of academies and free schools, which are already able to run longer school days, Mr Gove said he would be providing resources to allow all state schools to extend the day..."

"Announcing the Conservative manifesto pledge, he said: "So a future Conservative Government would help state schools - just like independent schools - to offer a school day 9 or 10 hours long - allowing time for structured homework sessions, prep, which will be particularly helpful for those children who come from homes where it's difficult to secure the peace and quiet necessary for hard study."

http://news.sky.com/story/1205596/michael-gove-pledges-10-hour-school-days

The Children`s Parliament

The Children`s Parliament does not advocate on behalf of children because it believes children can advocate effectively for themselves. The name `Children`s Parliament` came from the children attending a European environmental education project in Scotland.

Our work is based on children having fun and engaging in projects and investigations in and across our themes [my emphasis] which reflect the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

When children come into this space we want them to bring with them their knowledge of what it is like to be a child, their ideas and their opinions, and to be willing to voice and explore them. [my emphasis]

So the `usual suspects`are involved: the European Union (funding) and the United Nations encouraging authoritites to get closer to children by way of psuedo-independent charities. 

Funding for some projects in Glasgow also came from the Big Lottery`s `Realising Amibition` fund. Primary school classes in six schools explored children`s human rights and what it means to be healthy, happy and safe in their home, school and community. [GIRFEC] At the Winter Gardens in Glasgow parents and teachers heard the children voice their aspirations for the future and what adults could do to help them realise their dreams.

How sad. What future have some of these children got in an age of unrelenting austerity?

The Secondary programme involved working with groups of pupils across six secondary schools in North East Glasgow.

Our Children’s Parliament workers and Glasgow Life Learning Assistants establish positive relationships with young people, supporting them to think about their personal goals and ambitions, and to begin planning how they might achieve these.

The Children`s Parliament list their project partners. Amongst them there is the Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and, surprisingly, the Social Research Unit. This is the independent charity (?) who collaborated with Perth and Kinross Council to introduce the controversial survey to schoolchildren in that area. [See the link HERE ]

Meanwhile The Children`s Parliament are developing their own national survey for children and young people aged 8 to 18 years old.  It will be based on the subjective measure of wellbeing.

This means that it measures how the child or young person is now in the context of their environments and relationships – at home, at school and in the community. So, rather than count what children and young people do or don’t do, or focus on problems or challenges from an adult perspective, our survey looks at wellbeing and rights from a holistic, empowering and positive view of children and young people’s lives, as defined by them. 

The Children`s Parliament

Cathy McCulloch is Co-Director of the Children`s Parliament. She is also co-founder of TASC along with Dr Colin Morrison. TASC provides a range of services which include social research and service evaluation. Their use of language is quite revealing.

TASC has a real interest in people - how they experience their lives and what their dreams, hopes and ambitions are for themselves and for their families and communities. We work with policy makers and service providers to help ensure that the needs and interests of service users are recognised and met.

TASC researched, consulted on, wrote and produced 6 booklets for pupils from P6 to S6 which support sexual health and relationship education in Glasgow Schools. The booklets are used at the heart of the new SHRE curriculum being rolled out in Glasgow.  TASC website

They work with policy makers and service providers.. and set up companies to provide the services and the sex education booklets to implement the policices ...

It`s a bit of a scam isn`t it?

See Sex Education

6 year old excluded from school because of mini cheddars in lunch box

"A six-year-old boy who went to school with a bag of Mini Cheddars in his packed lunch has been suspended for four days after teachers said it contravened its healthy eating policy. Riley Pearson, from Colnbrook, near Slough, was excluded from Colnbrook C of E Primary School after teachers discovered the snack and called in his parents."

"After a meeting with headmaster Jeremy Meek, they were sent a letter telling them Riley would be excluded from Wednesday until Monday because he had been 'continuously breaking school rules'."

"The school, which was placed in special measures after Ofsted inspectors deemed it 'inadequate' in 2012, introduced a healthy eating policy at the start of term. A letter was sent to parents saying that from 14 January, packed lunches should be 'healthy and balanced'."

"Parents were told: 'Chocolate, sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks are not allowed."

"Riley's parents, who both work at nearby Heathrow Airport, will be attending a meeting with the head on Tuesday to learn whether their son can return to the 290-pupil school."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2549618/Boy-six-suspended-school-four-days-packet-Mini-Cheddars-lunchbox.html

When the school begins to lobby the producers of chocolate, sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks to produce healtheir products for children maybe then we can  believe they actually care about children`s diets. Until then, it is acting defensively, and it`s rules for rules` sake.

Fracking and increased birth defects

Barton Moss UK

"Hydraulic ‘Fracking’ is a process of fracturing rock with the use of pressurized liquid consisting of water, sand and chemicals. It drills deep underground, forming fractures that force gas and other chemicals to come out of rock and into the hole. Proponents believe it is a much more economical way of getting to the gas and oil. Environmental groups maintain the process can cause small earthquakes and badly contaminate water, leading to a myriad of problems."

"A new study from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) reveals how unborn babies living within a 10-mile radius of fracking wells are much more at risk to birth defects."

RT.com

"Although fracking already attracts controversy as an allegedly bio-hazardous industry, a new study takes it up a notch by showing that the practice can badly impact the health of unborn children."

"Babies still in their mothers’ wombs living within a 10-mile range of fracking wells are in much greater danger of congenital heart defects (CHD) and neural tube defects (NTD). This was surmised in a recent study correlating birth data with geographical locations of gas wells and congenital conditions."

"The study, called "Birth Outcomes and Maternal Residential Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado"comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) and Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), and explores three variations of birth defects, fetal growth and pre-term birth."

"Fracking causes babies to be deformed – the more we learn about fracking, the worse it gets," Gary Wockner, the director of the Clean Water Action program in Colorado, told environmental business portal Ecowatch.com while commenting on the research."

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/01/31/new-study-living-near-fracking-sites-increases-infant-birth-defects/

"Hydraulic fracturing may soon take place under thousands of homes across the United Kingdom without their owners’ knowledge. Based on a proposed law change the burden of notifying homeowners will be lifted from energy companies, the Guardian reports."

"Planning Minister Nick Boles said a change in UK law will allow gas companies to put in drilling applications without notifying those in the area whose property could be affected, the Guardian reported. Companies will instead have to post notices in local newspapers and erect site displays in local parishes."

"Many opposed to fracking cite potential health risks, air pollution and water contamination, as well as possible earthquakes. Nevertheless, the government portrayed alerting all those possibly impacted by localized fracking as too much of a burden for companies to weather."

http://rt.com/news/uk-fracking-notification-homes-466/