Responding to the panic in our schools

SPTC Development Manager, Judith Gillespie wrote a letter to "The Herald" following Iain MacWhirter's article "This paedophilia panic is undermining our schools".

Judith wrote:

Dear Sir,

What a relief to read Iain Macwhirter's voice of reason in this current paedophile panic which has more in common with McCarthyism than any real concern for child safety.

As a parent's group with a very real concern for child protection, we have long argued that the starting point should be to look at the main and real (as opposed to hypothetical) risks to children; Iain Macwhirter rightly points out that these arise from domestic situations - from family and friends. There are also the appalling and often high-profile cases which result from a child's chance but disastrous encounter with a complete stranger. All these situations are difficult to deal with but they are also completely unaffected by the whole business of police checks and lists, whether of sex offenders or of those deemed unfit to work with children. Moreover, the whole process of police checks is not just a huge bureaucratic exercise targeting the lowest risk to children, it is also diverting millions (and I do means millions) of pounds away from more purposeful and effective action.

However, perhaps the most worrying aspect of this whole panic is that children are picking up the vibes and beginning themselves at risk from any and every adult. As I have argued before, it begins to look as though the only safe option is to lock all children up in Rapunzel-style towers until the age of 18 when they will emerge, blinking and naive, into the real world. A more constructive alternative is to bite the bullet; recognise that you cannot eradicate all risk and set about safety-proofing children themselves. This means you do not just give them a negative message of "don't speak to strangers"; you give them a list of positive actions that they can take if they feel unsure and teach them that some adults (in fact most) are quite safe. Indeed, following the tragic Rory Blackwell case, we prepared a starter child-safety code for parents to consider.

With some prescience we suggested that the number one piece of advice parents could give their children was "Stay with your friends especially in the evening. This is equally good advice whether the child is eight, eighteen or on a gap year overseas". The other points included telling children which adults they might safely approach and the fairly obvious advice to stay in public places. In the hope that it might promote a more sensible and balanced debate about child safety, I attach the full code for your information.

Yours sincerely
Judith Gillespie

Unfortunately, the editor of "The Herald" decided not to publish this advice. But you can access it on this website - see the article on the Home Page and Backchat 87.

For more on the original article by Iain Macwhirter, go to:
www.theherald.co.uk

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