Child development and any subsequent events in a child’s life which may cause disruption to that development, are hugely complex areas in which even cutting edge knowledge today is still not sophisticated enough to offer a clear pathway in these fields.

It is no surprise then, that in a system which is understaffed, under resourced and unable to offer its professionals the latest research in a fast and efficient way, mistakes about the cause of a child’s deteriorating mental health are made.

And whilst it can be the case that a child entering the care system has suffered terrible psychological damage as a result of their home environment, the care system itself can and does makes children’s mental health worse.

Former Liberal Democrat MP, John Hemming has recently highlighted this issue in a blog post, and offers research and data on the topic. What he effectively says, is that if we agree that there is a specific period within which children need to form attachments in order to avoid significant disruption to healthy development, then the data available suggests that a large proportion of children are being taken into care during these critical periods and suffering psychological damage as a result. John explains that the numbers don’t give any indication as to what is causing the damage during these critical blocks of time, but he does suggest that the system is either not responding to children’s needs efficiently or actively making things much worse by adding to any existing problems.

The post is worth a read to get a sense of the numbers and what the research says about the potential effects of taking children into care, particularly if systems are not properly set up to really support and nurture the children it takes in.

As Brexit anxiety continues to sweep the country, so too does the stupidity of politicians looking to find ways to boost the economy.

Dennis Parsons, a Liberal Democrat MP, is calling on schools to add prostitution to their careers advice agenda. The comment was made during a special session on sex work and he compared prostitution to accountancy, saying:

“The fact that we are asking “should we seek to prevent people entering sex work?” is part of the problem. You wouldn’t ask the question, should we prevent people becoming accountants?”

More bizarrely, perhaps, is Parsons next observation:

“We have had a chap suggest that one of the areas we need to be concerned about was families coercing people to go into the sex trade. Well, again, you wouldn’t protest at families urging and coercing people into becoming accountants.”

Prostitution itself, that is the exchange of sexual services for money, is not illegal in the UK, though some activities relating to it, are. 

Whilst the debate around the legalisation of prostitution and accompanying activities like running a brothel is ongoing, Parsons’ comments are less about liberal thinking, and more about economic gain. Delegates at the session were told that decriminalising prostitution would raise £1 billion a year for the Treasury in taxes. That’s a lot of money, at a time when it looks like the EU are set to punish the UK for severing ties, through the ending of trade agreements and free cross border movement.

Wherever you stand on prostitution, it is no secret that many of the men, women and children who work in this industry do so as a last resort, often under duress and are treated badly, both by clients and pimps. To then promote prostitution not just as an alternative to accounting, which does not suffer with the same levels of crime and violence, but as a way to boost our economy is ridiculous and yet another way of exploiting sex workers.

Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron has refused to address Parson’s comments, saying that he believes in free speech and the importance of being able to air views and then talk them out. Researching Reform does too, however Farron’s stance completely ignores the reality of Parsons’ agenda.

Many thanks to Dana for alerting us to this news item.

Researching Reform is thrilled to announce that our application to become a Member of the End Violence Against Children Global Partnership (EVAC) has been accepted.

EVAC’s Partnership project involves governments, UN agencies, civil society,
private sector organisations, academics and the Voice Of The Child in order to accomplish sustainable development goals which touch upon child welfare issues.

The Partnership’s aims include:

• Ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children
• Ending violence against women and girls
• Ending the economic exploitation of children
• Keeping children safe in schools and communities and;
• Promoting peace and non-violence

EVAC also produces excellent research on child welfare matters around the world, as well as informative videos for their End Violence campaign, which feature world leaders, celebrities, children’s rights activists and children as well.

If you’d like to follow the End Violence Campaign on social media, you can do so by connecting to their Twitter account or Facebook page.

Researching Reform feels incredibly honoured to be a part of this Global Partnership and we will continue to work hard to protect children’s rights and the welfare of children both here in the UK and around the world.