A Nation is ultimately judged on how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens.\u00a0 For most of my adult life, as a Social Worker and as a Politician, I have worked with, and campaigned for, the vulnerable in our Society. People with disability, the elderly, those living in poverty, have all been important challenges which I have addressed as best I could.\u00a0 Sadly, I often felt that I was armed with a sticking plaster to cure a cancer!<\/p>\n
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My bottom line, however, has always been to save the children.\u00a0 If that sounds trite or corny, I make no apology!\u00a0 Not only is it our duty to care for the children, it is the very future of our Society which is at stake.\u00a0 Too many of our children are \u201cBorn to Fail\u201d, and that is why I was so delighted to hear Nicola highlighting Child Care as a top priority in her recent Conference speech. \u00a0Theresa May talks about a fair society, while slashing benefits, Nicola takes action!<\/p>\n
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Scotland is a country facing a demographic deficit \u2013 too many of us \u201coldies\u201d and not enough young people!\u00a0 We must value and nurture all Scotland\u2019s young people.\u00a0 That is why I am so delighted that the Baby Box scheme is to be rolled out by the end of this year.\u00a0 In spite of the derision from the usual suspects, this is a splendid policy.\u00a0 If it was just about giving every new baby a layette to welcome them to the world, it would help many a poor family, but it is a proven package to reduce mortality in the first months of life.\u00a0 Cot deaths are not reserved to the poor or uncaring in our society.\u00a0 The fact is, however disturbing, that many infant deaths described as \u201ccot deaths\u201d are the result of the \u201cover-laying\u201d of a baby by a parent.\u00a0 This can be the result of a baby being placed in the parental bed and results in blocking the infant\u2019s airwaves.\u00a0 Another cause of cot death is the placing of a young infant in an unsafe cot, where they get entangled with the spars.\u00a0 This is where the baby box package comes into play. The box itself is designed to serve as a safe bed for the first 3 months of a baby\u2019s life.\u00a0 Guidelines to parents come with the package.\u00a0 Place baby on his\/her back, do not cover baby\u2019s head and do not allow the infant to get cold or overheat.\u00a0 The baby box scheme has been running in Finland for 80 years and that country has reduced its infant mortality rate from 10% to 0.2% – one of the lowest in the world!\u00a0 In my days as a social worker I worked with a few families who had experienced the loss of a baby through cot death.\u00a0 The sadness of the loss, combined with feelings of guilt, can last a life-time.\u00a0 It is to be hoped that these tragedies become rarer with the introduction of this initiative.<\/p>\n
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Good pre-school child care is an essential in our modern society, pre-school nurseries are not \u201cholding pens\u201d for children.\u00a0 They play a crucial part in a child\u2019s development.\u00a0 The Scottish Government has a policy which gives 16 hours a week, (Term Time) free nursery care to 3 and 4 year olds.\u00a0 Unfortunately this has not been the boon to parents and their children that was envisaged.\u00a0 As Local Authorities currently allocate the funding for these free hours, some of them have chosen to cut or refuse funding to private nurseries \u2013 offering Local Authority nursery places instead.\u00a0 This has resulted in some children missing out on their entitlement, as the places offered were miles from the parent\u2019s home or work and the hours offered, totally inflexible.\u00a0 Indeed, some small children have ended up in two different nurseries each week.\u00a0 Thank goodness the Scottish Government is reviewing this situation.\u00a0 In my opinion the best option is for parents to select a Nursery of their choice, and if this provider meets the required standard, then the Local Authority must provide the funding \u2013 in other words the funding follows the child.<\/p>\n
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I will close with a subject dear to my heart \u2013 that of the children in the care of the Local Authority (\u201clooked after children\u201d). These children can be being looked after in their own home with Social Work support, in Foster Care or in Children\u2019s Homes.\u00a0 Make no mistake \u2013 these are OUR children and we have the responsibility to care for them as if they were our own.\u00a0 In Children\u2019s Homes in particular we are sadly failing those children.\u00a0 The statistics are there for all of us to see, and it is indeed unhappy reading \u2013 only 6% of children in care go to University, almost half have mental health problems, and half the prison population is comprised of people who spent time in Care.\u00a0 When I worked in Child Care I thought of the placing of a child in a Children\u2019s Home as the least worst option!\u00a0 Not because the staff were not committed and caring, but because the \u201crules\u201d made it so difficult to give a child a much needed home environment with all the love, nurturing and guidance we give to children in\u00a0 our own homes.\u00a0 A wee example from my experience \u2013 a 13 year old boy spray-paints a wall in the neighbourhood.\u00a0 What would you do if it was your son?\u00a0 I would suggest a monetary punishment\/ removal of say, computer time, and of course, the miscreant would have to wash the graffiti off the said wall.\u00a0 On this occasion the Children\u2019s home called the Police.\u00a0 Just a little pen picture of the difference in the way OUR children in Care are treated!\u00a0 How pleased I was to hear Nicola announce a root and branch review in to the care of these, OUR young people.<\/p>\n
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In this piece I have spoken about the SNP Government\u2019s plans for improving the care and nurturing of all Scotland\u2019s children, and I salute them for this.\u00a0 However, I believe that all Scotland\u2019s politicians and we as a Society, must focus on the necessity to Save the Children.\u00a0 It is our future too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Nation is ultimately judged on how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens.\u00a0 For most of my adult life, as a Social Worker and as a Politician, I have worked with, and campaigned for, the vulnerable in our Society. People with disability, the elderly, those living in poverty, have all been important challenges which I have addressed as best I could.\u00a0 Sadly, I often felt that I was armed with a sticking plaster to cure a cancer! My bottom line, however, has always been to save the children.\u00a0 If that sounds trite or corny, I make no apology!\u00a0 Not only is it ourRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1541,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions\/1541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}