A human rights lawyer has said that the SNP’s plans to appoint a state guardian for every child under 18 ‘may be unlawful’, it was reported on January 17.
Under Alex Salmond’s Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill 2013, children will have a ‘named person’– a state employee – who will monitor them and have powers that cut across the rights of their parents. QC Aidan O’Neill said that the SNP’s plans amounted to ‘unjustified interference’ and may fail to protect people from ‘arbitrary and oppressive’ governmental powers.
He said: ‘What is startling [about the proposal] is that it appears to be predicated on the idea that the proper primary relationship that children will have for their well-being and development, nurturing and education is with the state, rather than within their families and with their parents’.
