A mother who represents a charity that helps children with a condition causing chronic fatigue has raised concerns about plans to assign a state guardian to every child in Scotland.
Lesley Scott said that parents are already in a constant battle with the state over how their children should live their lives, and that the Named Person plans will make it worse.
“If the parents’ view of ME differs from that of the professionals involved in the case, then the parents often decide not to partake in the services offered to them, and this can lead to concerns within the agencies that something else is going on.
Concern
“The named person could be a head teacher who believes that the child could and indeed should be in school.”
Her concern is that families could be reported, as the named person would cut across their parental rights.
Lesley, who lives in Perth, is the Scotland representative of Tymes (The Young ME Sufferers) Trust, a charity providing support services to children with ME.
Consequences
She added that, despite Government assurances that parents do not need to engage with the named person, the potential consequences of such a move have not been made clear.
Lesley commented: “The parents’ authority is being undermined by this legislation and it makes it extremely difficult for them to take care of their child in a way they feel is most beneficial if they have a state guardian looking over their shoulder.”
“The problem by widening the net so much that you are looking into every child in Scotland and every associated adult is that you make resources much scarcer and that makes it I think much more likely that you will miss the really vulnerable children”, she added.
Campaign
Lesley has joined the No 2 Named Person (NO2NP) campaign, which was launched last week to oppose the scheme.
Over 200 people attended the launch in Edinburgh last week, featuring discussion from parents, doctors and academics on the SNP’s widely criticised state guardian measures.
The Christian Institute is preparing to challenge the proposals in the courts through a judicial review later this year.