Children are our future — we can't give up on them

Children in Scotland today are facing unprecedented challenges in their daily lives. The scourge of alcohol abuse and illegal drug use, the culture of joblessness, welfare dependency and poor parenting skills are just some of the serious problems that so many children are facing in our communities. The Children’s Reporter Administration has seen a large rise in the number of children referred to us over the previous 12 months. We have now reached the astonishing figure of one in 20 of all children in Scotland being referred to their local Reporter. This surely cannot continue. In my experience, some children are simply born on the wrong side of the opportunity gap. Born to parents who are ill-equipped to provide 24-hour care for their children, parents who may have their own drug and alcohol addiction to contend with, born into poverty and a culture of crime. Breaking the cycle that inexorably leads such children towards the same traps is one of the greatest challenges facing society today. Scotland is unique in its approach to these issues. We are one of the few countries in the world that has an integrated, single system for both care and justice for young people. At face value, it may seem strange to unite the disparate needs of youth justice (prosecuting and reforming young offenders) and social care (protecting children from harm). But time and again we see that these two problems are inextricably linked. Children in trouble are also troubled children.

When I explain to people that I am involved in the Children’s Hearings System there can be two interesting responses. The first is: “But don’t you feel that you are alone in holding back the tide of all these thousands of troubled children?”; the second is: “Oh I remember the Children’s Panel; it was the making of me!” These reactions typify, firstly, the man in the street’s view, that there is an inevitable and unstoppable slide towards crime and anti-social behaviour and, secondly, that on an individual level, timely intervention is the secret to rehabilitation for many children faltering on a knife-edge. We can and do make the difference that transforms young lives.

If one examines the root causes that contribute to young people becoming young offenders, there are several common patterns. Concentrating solely on persistent offenders, we analysed a small sample who had committed 20 or more offences — the “hard core” young criminals. We found that there was an alarming progression up the scale from their first encounter with the Children’s Reporter to subsequent referrals. Forty-one per cent of the group were first referred for a care and protection issue — their welfare was a cause for concern — and on average this happened at the age of five; 35 per cent were first referred for an offence, at an average age of nine; and finally by the grand old age of ten, 22 per cent were considered “beyond control” by their parents and teachers. These are the same children, spiralling out of control. Our challenge is to react in such a way when the first warning signs emerge, that they never progress to a life of crime and misery. In 1991, the number of children we dealt with was less than 30,000, and it was a roughly 50-50 split between children offending and children requiring care. Today we are seeing 47,000 children. But much more worrying than even this bald statistic is the fact that two-thirds of these children are now referred for their own protection. We know that it is these children who are statistically likely to become the next generation of criminals — and the next generation of parents. The warning sign is that there may be an explosion of youth crime over the next ten years. We have the means to help these children and to help stop the rot blighting many of our communities. We need consistent, clear messages from the Scottish Executive and from local authorities on the use of “soft” drugs, and tough action of the supply and use of “hard” drugs. We need to stop our children becoming involved in the drug culture in the first place. These are serious issues not just for child care professionals. We seem as a nation to be imagining our future at the moment. We cannot consider our future without considering our children. We cannot as a nation give up on one, far less one in 20. The demographic trends have profound implications for the availability of our workforce and tax base.

We have a real challenge if we are to break these cycles and convert children who are socialised into anti-social behaviour into the committed citizens and skilled workforce that Scotland needs. There are solutions to the problems we face, but the clock is ticking.

Douglas Bulloch
9 February 2005

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=146532005

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