No more 'Brandons'

March 9th, 2009

After a week of sickening headlines about the Brandon Muir case, another child’s name is now burned into our collective conscious.

The description of the last days in the life of a child not yet two years old made chilling reading and was akin to a scene from the film Trainspotting.

Brandon Muir needless death at the hands of abusive and neglectful ‘carers’ would have touched everyone in Scotland.

The wholly depressing reality is that this latest case may be just the tip of the iceberg.

In response to my written question, Adam Ingram, the junior minister in charge of this area, estimated that the number of children living with a drug-abusing parent was between 10,000 and 20,000.

And what of these children who survive a difficult birth or an early childhood of neglect which all too often leads to an adolescence of drugs and crime?

It begs the questions – if we don’t even know to the nearest ten thousand how many of these children are out there, how can we ever expect to break this vicious cycle?

If this child’s death is to mean anything at all, it must be the catalyst for action.

Every child living with a parent with an addiction has to be identified and their needs acknowledged

And those parent or parents with an addiction should be assessed as to their parental capability.

If the child lacks basic necessities, is exposed to violence, or criminality, or shows signs of physical neglect, then we must act.

This will need significant investment and political leadership to achieve this – that is why we need a cabinet secretary at the heart of government to take responsibility.

Only then will we be able to end this postcode lottery on child protection.