ISPCC criticises abuse document

THE Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has accused the Department of, Health of spreading "disinformation…

THE Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has accused the Department of, Health of spreading "disinformation" in its discussion document on the `mandatory' reporting of child abuse.

The ISPCC said it was surprised and disturbed by the Department's document, Putting Children First, which it said was "strongly weighted" against mandatory reporting. It has published its own document, Another Brick From the Wall which argues for such reporting.

In its response to the Department, the ISPCC said it was "amazed" the Government had moved no further than having an "open mind" on mandatory reporting.

The notion being propagated that mandatory reporting is a media driven knee jerk response to the problem of child abuse, or a wrongly identified panacea for all the ills of children, is inaccurate and diversionary", it said.

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Since 1990 four major reports to Government by professional involved in child care all recommended its introduction.

These included the report of the Kilkenny Incest Inquiry in 1993 and the Kelly Fitzgerald report this year. "Mandatory reporting is the key recommendation of the Kilkenny report, which was accepted by Government at the time as the way forward."

The Department's document argues that mandatory reporting was either not necessary or detrimental to children, according to the ISPCC. "It fails, however, to advance or sustain a single child centred argument for not introducing mandatory reporting.

The society argued instead that Government and professional reluctance to act on the issue was part of the problem and "is symptomatic of a childcare culture which identifies adults rather than children as its primary clients, a system which is still in denial and operating in a defensive, ineffective and secretive way".