By Dearbhail McDonald
Irish Independent
July 14, 2010
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/children-cant-be-left-one-more-report-from-safety-2257281.html
THEY make my desk at work look sophisticated, erudite even, those worthy reports on children's rights that surround my computer desktop.
The five volumes of the report of the Ryan Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the well-worn newsroom copy of the Murphy Report into the abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
The endless annual reports from NGOs and all-party Oireachtas committees on children.
For international flair, there are two leading reports on Ireland from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
And of course the prototype, almost a collector's item now, the 1993 landmark Kilkenny incest report carried out by former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness, which first recommended that a referendum be held to amend the Constitution to specifically include the rights of children.
When he unveiled the wording of the proposed referendum on the rights and protection of children in 2007, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern declared it was "a watershed for Ireland's children".
But a watershed, a critical turning point, a change in the course in history, is only that if change truly occurs.
Yesterday's annual report from Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan has confirmed that change has not come and states that many remain vulnerable, hidden, at risk and in desperate need of the support of the State.
From time to time, public and political concern about children's rights spikes, usually in the aftermath of the death of a child in care, infanticide, a high-profile divorce, adoption or custody case or when a landmark report is made public.
This year was no different and included the tragic death, of teenager Daniel McAnaspie, whose killing prompted a state inquiry after it was revealed that 188 children had died in care in the last decade.
For the most part, we view the issue of children's rights through the narrow lens of child welfare and protection scandals. That produces swathes of reactionary measures, but few proactive ones.
And these narrow but vital debates fail to address much wider issues including parental disputes on the care and custody of children, adoption, early childhood education, access to services, and support for parents under pressure.
Yesterday Ms Logan reiterated calls for a children's rights referendum as a matter of urgency. She said that legal gaps as well as gaps in policy and practice meant children remained vulnerable.
These are gaps that have already been identified by child rapporteur Geoffrey Shannon, who made over 100 recommendations to the Government on child welfare and protection, less than a handful of which have been implemented.
Calling for a referendum is the easy part; everyone loves children and agrees they should come to no harm.
Everyone loves the ideal of an ideal family life, but the State must, through its laws, be in a position to intervene when the family unit is the most dangerous place on earth for a child.
We seem to have an intractable problem about agreeing how the protection of children should best be achieved and what children we choose to protect in the constitutional pecking order.
This was apparent most recently when the civil partnership law was introduced, a law that granted some long overdue parity for same-sex partners with their heterosexual peers.
But the law dodged the issue of gay parenting like a bullet, reinforcing a two-tier system that discriminates between the constitutionally supreme marital family unit and all other family forms.
We are standing on the brink of a divisive referendum on children that, regrettably, will be debated at its extremes.
We will hear arguments from children's rights activists who say families will not be torn asunder, that we are only giving specific voice to rights they already enjoy but are not enumerated in the constitutional document.
We will hear arguments from other advocates who will raise alarms, in my view false ones, about the risk of the State reaching into our homes, stealing our children and destroying the autonomy of the family.
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| Children's shoes left on the railings of Dail Eireann after a child abuse protest last year. Photo by Steve Humphreys |
Politicians will kick the issue to touch and the HSE will fight the latest fire to engulf it.
In the meantime, children will suffer and some may die.
Will a constitutional referendum be a panacea to protect children? No, it won't.
Will it ensure that no child is ever abused or dies in state care? Of course not.
Could it provide us with a new framework that will change the legal and cultural dynamic that will ensure, as far as is practicable, that the welfare of children is paramount?
It might, but we already have promising legislation that, if adequately resourced, could make a real difference to children's lives. The referendum will only succeed if a change in the legal framework is matched by a political and societal commitment to valuing children's rights and, crucially, adequately resourcing their needs.
This means improved and integrated services, and they cost money.
What is undeniable is the need to dispense with worthy reports and honour them with action.
That time is now.
Contact: dmcdonald@independent.ie
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