Scotland to have Named Person for every child

I regularly post articles warning about the creeping nanny state, and against judge-appoint guarian ad litems, and other attempts for the state to usurp the roles of parents.

But this story has me puzzled. Did Scotland just pass a law to assign a govt busybody social worker for every kid, whether there is an alleged need or not?

The Scottish Government has been accused of setting out to “fundamentally undermine” the role of Scotland’s parents by appointing a state guardian for every child under 18.

According to campaigners, the hugely controversial plan to appoint a so-called “named person” for ever child is about empowering a state employee to police the happiness of the country’s children.

An event is being held at Hamden Park in Glasgow on Saturday to help explain the controversial policy, and the legislation is due to come into force in August next year, although opponents are still pursuing a legal bid to stop it.

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, claims the scheme, affecting one million children, will help the vulnerable and families in need while campaigners say it breaches the human rights of parents.

“The named person policy is wrong because it fundamentally undermines the role of parents and families and because it gives monitoring power to the state.

“It also takes resources away from the most vulnerable children. The more parents find out about this policy the more they object to it because they see the extent of its intrusion into family life. ..." ...

She added: “You are talking about significant intervention into family life, looking at minutiae with regards to whether the child is achieving, whether it is nurtured enough, whether it is happy enough.

“It is totally unnecessary and is going to cost an enormous amount of money at a time when funding for children’s services is so pushed.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said tomorrow’s event was about engaging with parents while continuing to improve services for children and families in Scotland, and was not centred around the implementation of the named person service.

Someday all kids will be wards of the states, and parents will be reduced to babysitters.