Youth worker says Scottish Government will unleash ‘pandemonium’ with Named Person scheme
A youth worker due to become a named person has warned the controversial Scottish Government policy will unleash “pandemonium”.
Dr Simon Knight, a senior youth worker in Glasgow, described plans to assign a single point of contact such as a teacher or health visitor to look out for the welfare of every child as “rotten”.
Writing in the Herald newspaper, he said he had recently discovered he was to become a named person for young people who have left school but who are still under 18, and raised fears a combination of guidelines and a risk-averse approach would “transform” minor concerns.
He said: “Despite the anticipated endless list of protocols, some individuals will be more enthusiastic or risk-averse than others.
“These days there are no such things as accidents. In retrospect, everything has a causal set of occurrences that ‘could have been avoided’.
“It’s easy to be wise after the event but named persons will be tracking concerns forward and predicting future outcomes for every child – including your child.”
He said the policy would “inevitably” increase the workloads of named persons and questioned what would happen if they went on holiday or sick leave.
“Because it is a legal obligation and because no-one wants to get blamed, minor issues will be prioritised over other important work.
“Cases of serious harm will inevitably get lost in all the clutter.”
He continued: “I think the Scottish Government is beginning to recognise the pandemonium that it is about to unleash and is looking for a way to water down the proposals.
“It was no accident that the First Minister used the term ‘entitlement’ instead of ‘obligation’. But the whole thing is rotten.
“Parents are infinitely more consistent than any state guardian. Just because things aren’t ideal doesn’t make them problematic. Just who do these people think they are?
“Sinister plot or political farce – someone needs to stop the bus on this one.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2016, All Rights Reserved.
