David Jennings, an ex-pat British minister now living in California and writing for the Canada Free Press, says the proposed law, introduced in April 2013, would not only make sure parents are raising their children in a certain way, but it also allows children who are unhappy with their parents to report them into authorities.
“It literally is something out of Orwell’s 1984 where parents constantly had to be mindful of what they did, since children were encouraged to report them to the authorities for the tiniest infractions of party policy,” Jennings writes.
“First Minister Alex Salmond’s SNP administration wants every child to have a ‘Named Person’ with the legal authority to ensure they are raised in a government-approved manner. There will be a database where children’s personal details can be recorded, stored and shared, and the act…would permit children who are angry with their parents to report them to their named person,” Jennings reports.
As draconian as this sounds, the SNP insists the law, called the Children and Young People Bill, is completely necessary. “The protection and promotion of the well-being of Scotland’s children and our aim of making our nation the best place for children to grow up are at heart of the Children and Young People Bill," the SNP said in a recent statement defending the law.
"Our focus is on the safety and protection of children. The named person, who is likely to be a health visitor, head or deputy head teacher and will usually already know the child, will be a first point of contact if help is needed."
Some of the responsibilities of the "named person" will be to advise, inform and support the child, help him or her to access a service, and raise issues about the child to potential service providers or relevant authorities.
The legislation is suggesting that these "named persons" be a health care or education professional. In the case of education professionals, these persons would have to be of the rank of principal rather than just a teacher. As Jennings, points out, this would put the child-guardian ratio at something like 100:1.
"Subsequently a Primary School Headmaster/Mistress with 300 children to watch would also have another 100 aged up to 18 for whom they are the guardian (the child has the same guardian for 18 years). Brilliantly of course the legislation doesn’t cover how all the extra work will be done by the guardians in addition to their existing duties."
Besides being unworkable, drafters of the bill also seem oblivious to the fact that it could be in violation of European law.
For instance, the Scottish Law Society website features an article questioning the legality of the current proposal. "The proposals could interfere with Article 8 of ECHR (European Court of Human Rights), the right to respect for private and family life, as there is scope for interference between the role of the ‘named person’ and the exercise of a parent’s rights and responsibilities. It could be interpreted as disproportionate state interference.”
The Scottish-based Schoolhouse Home Education Association raised a myriad of other concerns as well, such as how the law is “open to abuse and misinterpretation and many parents could fall foul of overzealous agents of the state or people who are just plain busybodies."
The good news is that the legislative process in Scotland doesn't move too fast.
" . . . (T)he process will take time as all parliamentary legislation in the UK does," Jennings concludes.
"We can only pray that less controlling heads will prevail and a majority of parliamentary members will see this as a massive, intrusive and unnecessary over-step."
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