CHILDHOOD IS a precious time. As a society, we must do everything possible to protect the welfare of young people and ensure they are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. Yet, successive reports over recent years have highlighted shocking evidence of neglect, abuse and mistreatment of children.
This week Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald acknowledged many of these failures. But she also made a series of bold pledges to help ensure children in Ireland will have the best start in life available anywhere in the world. This will involve, she said, improving child protection services and responding quickly to the needs of vulnerable children and families. Children’s health, education and welfare will be developed with systems bending to their needs, rather than the other way around. And a referendum will finally be held to strengthen the rights of children.
Making this rhetoric a reality will be an uphill task. The harsh truth is that the State is continuing to fail miserably in protecting the welfare of thousands of vulnerable children. Social workers are being forced to ignore hundreds of cases of suspected abuse or neglect due to the dysfunctional nature of child protection services. Tens of thousands of children with mental health problems are left waiting months – and in some cases years – for simple assessments. Far too many children are still leaving school early with serious literacy problems at a time when we are pledging to build a ‘knowledge’ economy.
The latest round of spending cuts will only make matters worse. Reductions in supports such as special needs assistants in classrooms are already threatening to cause a crisis in the education system. Fresh delays in the planned recruitment of social workers are placing child protection services under additional strain.
Ms Fitzgerald’s ambition is admirable. But if we are serious about making Ireland a better place for children, it will need much more than rhetoric and good intentions. It will require sustained political leadership and a commitment to protect children from the harshest budget cuts. A strongly worded referendum on children’s rights, which changes the way politicians, public servants and judges think about children’s rights, is also vital. Above all, it will need a serious engagement with children themselves. If the past has taught us anything, it is that we have repeatedly failed to listen to the voices of young people. The voice of a new generation of vulnerable children cannot be ignored any longer.