The Sate as Parent: Scotlands Named Persons Scheme: Quotations and Comments

The State as Parent
State Intrusion into the Sanctity and Privacy of the Family

"We must remove the children from the crude influence of their families.
We must take them over and, to speak frankly, nationalize them"

"[T]he most vulnerable children in our society ... are in our care; we, the state, are their parents"

"The first thing that a totalitarian regime tries to do is to get at the children,
to distance them from the subversive, varied influences of their families,
and indoctrinate them in their rulers' view of the world"

Quotes and Comments

"Imagine a country where the government so mistrusted parents that every child was assigned a state guardian - not a member of their family - to act as a direct link between the child and officials. Imagine that such a scheme was compulsory, no matter how strongly parents objected. Imagine that the ruling party controlled 95% of MPs, and policed the political culture through a voluntary army of internet fanatics who seek out and shout down dissent. Welcome to Nicola Sturgeon's Scotland in 2015. ... The proposal for a 'named person' ... will, in the Scottish government's chilling words, 'monitor what children and young people need'. That parents, families, doctors and teachers do this already is not enough: the state must do it, too. Badged under the ghastly Orwellian acronym Girfec (Getting It Right For Every Child), the 'named person' will ensure a child's wellbeing is 'assessed' according to the extent to which the child is 'safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, and included'. So Ms Sturgeon's 'named persons' will not focus only on harm, risk or even neglect - but the entire human condition. If my child is judged to be underachieving, inactive or somehow lacking in respect or responsibility, the 'named person' can discuss my child not only with the NHS, a social worker or the police, but with bodies including the Scottish Sports Council and something called Skills Development Scotland Co. Ltd. The illiberal control-freakery of this measure might have attracted more attention had it been unusual. But it is typical of the Scottish National Party in power. From policing to higher education, the SNP are archetypes of the top-down, authoritarian, one-size-fits-all school of government" [source].

"The Scottish Government remains fully committed to rolling out its intrusive state guardian scheme to every child under the age of 18. As yet, no similar scheme exists in the rest of the UK - but for how long? Sidelining of parents, escalations for non-compliance and data sharing without permission are all hallmarks of the Named Person scheme. Instances of parents being quizzed about their children by local authorities after taking them to A&E for treatment are already occurring. The NHS shares information without permission. It is possible that this sort of hassling of parents could even deter some from taking a child to casualty in the future., In September there was a very disturbing case of a 14-year-old schoolboy from the north of England who had his details logged on a national crime database without parental knowledge. It was only after the boy had been questioned by teachers with police present that his mother was informed. 'Where was the appropriate adult for my son?' she asked afterwards. She also claimed that when she complained about her son's treatment she was warned it 'could make matters worse'" [Could Scots Scheme Come To Rest Of UK?, Christian Institute Newsletter, Autumn 2015].

"Another SNP measure hits at the autonomy of the family. This is the Named Persons Act, which provides for the state to appoint a named guardian, usually a social work or teacher, for every child and adolescent in Scotland. This is, of course, dressed up as a means of providing protection for vulnerable children and young people. Who, they say, could possibly object to this? The answer is anyone who believes parents are better judges of their children's interests than the state or social workers. The SNP claims parents and children have asked for these guardians, but, for me, the assumption is clear: parents can't be trusted and children belong not to their parents but to the state, just as in Mao's China" [source].

Social Care: A Poem

by Anne Murray

"It has become apparent that, in this modern day,
our health and social services are rife with compliancy.

"And if you dare to tell them, this system isn't right,
Prepare yourself for battle; you're going to have a fight.

"They twist and turn the subject; to them we're all the same,
They will take away your dignity, and blacken your good name.

"Then you'll be abandoned, to suffer a bureaucratic fate,
Targeted by the social sharks; that use our babies as bait.

"The destruction of the family will be their only goal,
It has become apparent: the social care system has no soul"

Withdraw Thy Foot...

"God gave children to parents, not to the State, to love, nurture, teach, discipline, and train up into adulthood. It does not take a 'village' or the 'Collective' or State-run 'Care' homes to raise a child; it takes a loving and biological/adoptive/foster family. Please see the article Communism and the Family for the ideology underlying the 'Collective'.

"The issues are:... [continue reading]

"And he that stealeth [a child], and selleth him..."
(Exodus 21:16)

"The words of a talebearer are as wounds,
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly"
(Proverbs 18:8)

"Every fool will be meddling ... Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house:
lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee"
(Proverbs 20:3b; 25:17)

"Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him"
(Proverbs 26:12)

"Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have prescribed"
(Isaiah 10:1-3)

"Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds!
when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. ...
So they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage"
(Micah 2:1-2)

"It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea,
than that he should offend one of these little ones"
(Luke 17:1-2)

"Let none of you suffer ... as a busybody in other men's matters"
(1 Peter 4:15)

"Never, anywhere in the Holy Bible will you find God giving civil government
any authority to rear or direct the rearing of children ...
God told parents, not the government, to 'train up' their children."
(Laura Rogers, Societal Structures vs. Restructuring, as quoted in Berit Kjos, Brave New Schools, p185)