Consultation on the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill
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Tystiolaeth i’r Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg ar gyfer craffu Cyfnod 1 Bil Plant (Diddymu Amddiffyniad Cosb Resymol) (Cymru) |
Evidence submitted to the Children, Young People and Education Committee for Stage 1 scrutiny of the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill |
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CADRP-75 |
CADRP-75 |
About you
Individual
— No
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
discipline is essential for children whilst growing up. knowing what the boundaries are, what's acceptable behaviour, what society will tolerate etc. Smacking is not child abuse, there is a difference between a 'smack' and actually physical harm which is violent and aggressive in nature.
what would the impact be on police/social services/child line etc if smacking were to be banned, how would these services cope as no doubt calls/reports would increase, even if the claims were untrue. and surely this would lead to missed cases of child abuse. will there be extra funding for these services if the ban were to be implemented, has there been a review in regard to increased requirements?
has child behaviour in schools been reviewed? I can see there is a considerable change in standards comparing now to when I was in school 35 years ago. if schools lack the ability to discipline children and also parents then what will the picture look like in another 35 years?
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
complete waste of time and public money. parents should be able to discipline their children, as they see fit without being made criminals themselves. obviously there is already legislation in place to protect children from violence, smacking is not violence. Children will provoke parents and sometimes it will be necessary to give them a smack, when they have really pushed the limits. but these are usually decent, hardworking, loving parents. imagine how that overtired parent would feel if they were pushed to the limits by an unruly child, ending up giving them a smack and then charged with child abuse? Imagine the knock on effect - child taken off them, plus other children at home. it would break up a loving stable home environment and damage the children for the rest of their lives, a family ruined because of a smack.
this bill would be the end to family life.
also what were the results of a poll in Wales in 2017 - 76% of parents were against criminalising smacking. who is pushing for this bill - it's completely ridiculous.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
has the impact on other childrens services been considered, health system, social services, enforcement etc - already all overstretched and grossly underfunded. the potential impact on these services will be huge and the real cases of child abuse will be missed.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
no - I really don't think that the 'bigger picture' has been considered here.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
if the bill were passed then there would be a focus on parents who take a Biblical stance on discipline. this would be totally unfair and prejudice towards them. Smacking is used as a last resort for many parents and now they would be deemed criminals, splitting up a loving family.
how on earth are children meant to be disciplined, look at the position in schools currently, how bad does it need to be before discipline can be used. I'm really concerned that this proposal has got this far, no wonder the country is in such a state!
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
yes, increased pressure and spend for public services, diversion of costs from other services to fund.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
has the bill considered protection for parents from violent children? or is abuse of a parent ok?