The Child Minder

by Adam McCulloch

Throw religion into the child protection pot and things become very complicated.

By Clare Jerrom

You have to feel for Britney Spears. After a very public meltdown, she has, within a matter of weeks, fallen out with her family, made an appalling “comeback” at the MTV Music Video Awards, been dropped by her management company and yesterday she lost custody of her children to ex husband Kevin Federline – aka K-Fed.

The family of the baby wrongly put on the ‘at risk’ register by Norfolk county council is not after blood. If they were, they would, like many others before them, have taken up the Daily Mail’s offer to tell all.

The case of a two-year old who was stabbed to death by her mother reported today is the third case of child death in appalling circumstances that has been reported over the past fortnight.

When will Victoria Climbie be laid to rest? Never, according to the national press. The news that Haringey council, which was criticised heavily over the Climbie case, has announced a serious case review into the suspicious death of a 17-month baby, has provoked criticial headlines once more.

A BBC investigation has revealed that more than 150 children placed in care in the south east of England have disappeared over the last three years. Of those, 65 disappeared from Gatwick Airport, 69 from Kent and 27 from Surrey. Depressingly and predictably, it is believed they were trafficked.

I am confused. On the one hand, the government claims to be promoting a preventive agenda to make sure children are safe and thriving in their own homes, where action is taken early if they are not. On the other hand, it appears to be doing nothing to prevent the decline in the number of health visitors for families today and in the future.

Research from Amicus/the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association
shows that, thanks to cuts, 55 per cent of health visitors are now making fewer visits to parents, with the biggest impact being losing track of vulnerable families.

The organisation is warning that the result will be an increase in the level of child abuse cases.

Must we wait for the next child death for anyone to sit up and take notice of their very real concerns? Steps must be taken today to reverse the decline in both the number of health visitors in post and health visitor students in training.

Writing about the appalling case of the disabled girl tortured by her parents, novelist Lionel Shriver actually defends social workers. In yesterday's Independent, Shriver describes social work as "thankless, underpaid and perilous." Although you may not agree with everything she says, Shriver does at least bother to consider the complexities of child protection work. Another commentary on the case in the Sunday Times is less insightful, drawing spurious analogies with Victoria Climbie.

The story today about a local community hounding a man living amongst them who they discovered was on the sex offenders' register illustrates why a 'Megan's Law' in this country would simply not work.

The Mirror reported that angry parents beseiged the man's house in Somerset, chanting and pelting eggs, while the man cowered inside.

The solution, according to a local councilor, is to move him somewhere else. But such Nimbyism will achieve nothing. If the man is not safe to live in one community, he is not safe to live in another one 30 miles further down the road either.

The point is that, if we are going to have a system where sex offenders who have served their time can be released back into the community, we have to have faith in the supervision and monitoring services around them that are supporting their rehabilitation and preventing their re-offending.

Introducing a Megan's Law, where local communities are informed about paedophiles living in their area, will - as today's story shows - simply see them hounded out and, eventually, driven underground where they can pose a far greater risk.

The Home secretary should be focusing his attentions on improving the management and rehabilitation of sex offenders, not on following America down this path of mob rule.

Terry Grange's comments at the weekend have created a stir. Should everyone and anyone who has sex with a child under the age of 16 automatically be labelled a paedophile or not?

For many, including children's charity Kidscape, the situation is black and white. But I agree with the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on child protection and sex offenders that, in fact, the area is very grey. A 17-year-old boy who has consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend is not the same as a 40-year-old man who has sex with a 13-year-old child, and I defy anyone to suggest otherwise.

As Grange suggests, the label paedophile should be reserved for men who target prepubescent children. It should not be used in relation to teenagers who experiment with consensual sex with other teenagers.

Instead of labelling these young people, we should be ensuring that they receive the sex and relationships education they need to be in a position to have respectful relationships and safe sex. And for that, we return to the long-running - but so far unsuccessful - campaign to make personal, social and health education lessons obligatory in schools.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the launch of Childline, the free-24-hour helpline set up by Esther Rantzen for children and young people.

This is one of those rare occasions where numbers speak louder than words:

-Since 1986, the 0800 1111 helpline has been a source of help for nearly 2 million children
-Since 1986, volunteers have counselled 175,000 victims of child sex abuse
-4,500 children call each day, but only around 2,500 of them get through
-An extra £20m would help an extra 1,000 children per day get through
-90% of Childline's funding comes from donations from the public

Need I say more?

To donate to Childline's 20th Birthday Appeal, go to www.childline.org.uk

Or email your MP to lobby government to provide long-term meaningful funding to expand this valuable service.