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-211 |
CADRP-211 |
About you
Individual
— No
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
On behalf of my family. We thoroughly agree with the state aim of protecting children’s rights. So we are greatly
concerned by this legislative proposal as it has the potential to achieve the complete opposite.
This proposed legislation equates a smack by a parent with assaulting an adult. The child-parent
relationship is unique and entirely different to an adult-adult relationship. If we were to extrapolate
the logic behind this legislation, then we could say that a lot of parenting is abusive: choosing
what our children should wear, drink and eat, enforcing chores in the house, even telling them
what to think is right or wrong. In an adult-adult relationship this would indeed be considered
abusive. However, parents have a special authority towards their children that is there to not only
protect children as their mental, physical and emotional capacity grows sufficiently to deal with
the pressures of life, but to equip them with the tools to do well in life. If an adult were to behave
in this manner towards another adult, that could indeed be classed as abusive. So, whilst as an
organisation we welcome any attempt to protect children and their rights, and we work hard to
ensure that in all our dealings with children we maintain high levels of safety, we do question the
premise of your question that smacking, as a means of intentional correction, is assault and in
breach of a child’s rights in the first place.
Having said all that about the positive authority a parent can have towards a child, it is true that
not all parents use their authority well, including their current legal right to the reasonable defence
of punishment, i.e. - intentionally, without leaving a mark, not in anger, and to emphasise the
consequences of doing something wrong. As a church, many of our members, moved by faith
and compassion, are involved in work that deals with such abusive cases, where adults have physically abused their children. And we are grateful to the government, the emergency services and social services for all the hard work that goes in to protecting the children of Wales. However, we are very concerned that this legislation does leave loving parents, who have (currently legally) made an intentional choice to use a spank as a means of chastisement, exposed to legal repercussions.
The legislation is not clear. Whilst the proposal said that parents will not be criminalised, what will be the consequences of breaking the law? We are very concerned that parents will be left open to investigation from police and social services; that it releases fear into homes across our nation; that parents will be afraid to discipline their children; and in the extreme cases that children could be taken away from loving parents. Surely fear in homes, parents undermined by children who know they can threaten their parents with “telling on them”, or even cases of children “telling on their parents” for a joke, and potential social service involvement achieves precisely the opposite of that which this legislation is intended for, and puts children’s safety and happiness in a stable loving home at risk? That’s the extreme of the argument, but a possibility nonetheless with this legislation.
Especially as the government is not detailing what the consequences of breaking this law would be.
What are the powers of the government, the police, social services regarding this proposal? Will it expose parents to legal implications or to social services involvement in parenting? This could potentially add to the pressure on social services and policing, taking much needed resources away from those children who need them the most.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
Yes.
The legislation is not clear. Whilst the proposal said that parents will not be criminalised, what will be the consequences of breaking the law? We are very concerned that parents will be left open to investigation from police and social services; that it releases fear into homes across our nation; that parents will be afraid to discipline their children; and in the extreme cases that children could be taken away from loving parents. Surely fear in homes, parents undermined by children who know they can threaten their parents with “telling on them”, or even cases of children “telling on their parents” for a joke, and potential social service involvement achieves precisely the opposite of that which this legislation is intended for, and puts children’s safety and happiness in a stable loving home at risk? That’s the extreme of the argument, but a possibility nonetheless with this legislation.
Especially as the government is not detailing what the consequences of breaking this law would be.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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