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Keeping you up to date on the progress of the Named Person scheme and the NO2NP campaign.
Fathers airbrushed out of named person guidance
Posted 10 years ago
The Scottish Daily Mail (26 February) has published a scathing editorial on the Named Person following revelations that the word ‘father’ is totally absent from the Scottish Government’s draft guidance accompanying the scheme.
The paper writes: “The trouble is that no matter the high-minded principles underpinning the idea, there comes a point where detailed plans must be drawn up – and it is there that the politically correct, with all their agendas, take over. So it is that the 110-page document setting out details of how the controversial proposal will work fails to mention the word ‘fathers’ once.
“So no matter what the SNP sets out to achieve, its plans have become anti-family and genuinely risk the nanny state being able to force its way into family homes where no intervention is necessary.
“That risks precious resources being targeted at totally the wrong people, leaving those most in need of protection the least likely to receive it. That would kick away the main plank of the SNP’s argument for the scheme and – tragically – defeat its main purpose: saving the vulnerable.”
Commenting on the story, NO2NP said: “The guidance mentions mothers only once. Fathers have been left out altogether. The state is airbrushing dads out of the picture. How can we encourage more young dads to take their responsibilities seriously when the Government doesn’t even acknowledge their existence?
“Most kids think mum and dad are the most important people in their lives. But our politicians seem to think they are irrelevant. We’d all be better off if politicians stuck to politics and left parenting to parents.
“In the not too distant future children might grow up asking these questions to their all-powerful named person: ‘What was a mum? What was a dad?’.”