Report to the People
30th July 2007
The Shadow Children
It’s one of
our more unattractive national traits, but we in Scotland have a tendency to
sweep uncomfortable truths under the carpet.
And it’s
not just us as individuals. Our
national institutions aren’t above turning a blind eye when they’re
frightened about what they might see.
Take the
plight of the probably tens of thousands of children living with drug addicted
parents. Not only are they not
getting the help they need, many official agencies haven’t even counted them.
That’s how
low these “shadow children” are on the state’s priorities list. They’re
not even a statistic.
In March
2006, the Executive wrote to Scotland’s councils, seeking assurances that all
children affected by drug abuse had been identified.
But this May, over a year later, another letter from a high-ranking civil
servant reveals that, “almost all” councils had “difficulties in being
able to identify all the children … adversely affected by their parents’
drug misuse.”
The Scottish
Executive strategy, Hidden Harm: Next Steps, says addicts’ children need
helped before it’s too late. “Agencies
should not,” it warns, “wait until children are considered to be at risk
from harm.” Of course they
shouldn’t. But how are the
agencies supposed to step in if they don’t know who the kids are?
I’ve
therefore tabled parliamentary questions, calling for the publication of key
correspondence and asking Ministers if they have any idea of the real number and
location of these kids.
I fear we
won’t like the answers, but that’s all the more reason to ask the questions.
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