Parents’ responsibilities would come under attack from a Scottish Government plan to allocate a state guardian for all children, an MSP has said.
Liz Smith said the proposal implies it is the state, rather than parents and families, that has the primary obligation for looking after children.
The ‘named person’ idea, contained in the Children and Young People Bill, has already been criticised as “unhealthy” and potentially illegal.
Wrong
Now Scottish Conservative young people spokeswoman Liz Smith has said: “Implicit in this proposal to have a named person for every child is the insistence that the state has the primary obligation to look after children, rather than the parents and families.
“That is entirely the wrong way round.
“If there are thousands of parents across Scotland doing a thoroughly good job – and there are – then what right does the Scottish Government have to tell them that the state knows better?
Threat
“Expecting all children to have a named person in the terms stated in the bill is an assault on the responsibility of families and parents, for whose children there are no real problems.”
She also said the idea “threatens to take away resources from those children who are the most vulnerable”.
Last month the Law Society in Scotland said the Government’s plans could potentially breach European human rights laws on privacy and family life.
Interfere
Morag Driscoll, from the group, also said the idea “could be interpreted as disproportionate state interference”.
Earlier this month it emerged that charities had hit out at the plan, with the Autism Rights charity saying it was “as unhealthy as it is impracticable”.
The Scottish Parent Teacher Council said the proposal was “ill thought through and offers no benefit to the majority of children, whose ‘named person’ is already in place – their parent or carer”.
And Christian charity CARE for Scotland warned that the plan could result in young people being given contraception or abortions against the desires of their parents.