www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24772777 Would this do any good? I think that in this sooper-dooper risk averse day and age, it would just lead to extreme -covering, as everyone reports everyone else for being a possible kiddie fiddler, in fear that if they don't report them, they themselves may be accused of failing to report. Those reported will no doubt be subject to the usual witch burning, even if they are found to have done no wrong.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24772777 Would this do any good? I think that in this sooper-dooper risk averse day and age, it would just lead to extreme -covering, as everyone reports everyone else for being a possible kiddie fiddler, in fear that if they don't report them, they themselves may be accused of failing to report. Those reported will no doubt be subject to the usual witch burning, even if they are found to have done no wrong.

I think only in the most extreme and obvious of cases should it even be considered, but in most cases I'm very much against it.

How do you decide if a child is being abused?

Exactly.

I always thought, possibly erroneously it seems, that knowing that a crime (any crime) was being committed and failing to report it was tantamount to or possibly even (depending on circumstances) equal to aiding and abetting.
You live and learn.

Keir Starmer leaves his job as DPP on Friday and comes up with this today. Has he got ADHD?

My 4 year old niece has a nasty cut under her chin at the moment (she slipped and fell at the swimming baths) and is a hyper little sod. Always running around and climbing up things (if she didn't wear a pink Peppa Pig onesie half the time I'd swear she was a boy) and so from time to time falls off things, gets the odd cut or bruise, or just generally looks a bit dishevelled.

If you worded a report properly you could quite easily make a case that she appears to be being abused, yet nothing could be further from the truth. And such a report could create a whole heap of trouble for both her family and the nursery or school that made such a report.

As Him suggested, I thought that keeping knowledge of a crime secret was already a crime.

As also mentioned by posters here, I'd be very concerned by anything that encouraged even more paranoia and overreaction.

There is no obligation to report crime to the police, unless you believe that someone is preparing a terrorist act.

There's a huge difference between reporting known abuse and suspected abuse. I can see the thinking behind charging people who know that abuse is taking place, but how do you define suspected? Should the jury have to decide that given evidence that it was beyond all reasonable doubt that the defendant should have suspected a child was being abused? Does that evidence include the usual bumps and bruises that healthy active kids pick up? Is it dishevelled clothing and a looking of not having had a good meal that may be due to he poverty of the parents? Not something I would report unless I was really sure that a kid was being abused.

This is idea is just another in the long line of those that force new responsibilities onto people who are already very busy or even overworked.

My wife works in a nursery school as school secretary and the number of things that she is or other members of staff are potentially legally accountable for never seems to stop increasing. All for £12K a year in her case!

They are not detectives nor social workers!

It seems a stupid idea anyway. If a kid told a member of staff they were being sexually abused they would act on it now. If they are not told how is the member of staff supposed to know when often there are no outward signs?

What happens when a case of abuse is found that went undetected? Are all the child's teachers in school going to be slung in the clink for not spotting it? (I saw the suggested punishment did include prison).

In fact if I were a teacher and this law came in I'd have to seriously consider leaving the profession.

I think KS envisaged this applying to sports clubs as well so that is one sure fire way to get people from stopping to volunteer to run the junior RL teams.

Thankfully the government says it has no plans to bring it in. Lets hope it stays that way and Labour isn't daft enough to try and win a few votes on the back of it now the government has rejected the idea.

YOU don't, all you need to do is alert someone who can find out if they are.

Quote ="rover49"YOU don't, all you need to do is alert someone who can find out if they are.'" All you need to do is alert the Paedofinder General www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCywGhHQMEw

Quote ="rover49"YOU don't, all you need to do is alert someone who can find out if they are.'" All you need to do is alert the Paedofinder General www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCywGhHQMEw

Who? The Police? And I don't mean the band. It's an incredibly serious allegation/suspicion to raise that can lead to all sorts of problems for the family. Social services visits etc would they be nervous of taking their child to a doctor/hospital in the near future?

Raising a suspicion is pretty much the same as an allegation and would lead to the same consequences. How can teachers, sports coaches etc be in a position to judge in most cases when even experienced social workers don't spot cases?

I agree with everything DaveO says in his post.

If I suspected abuse, I would alert the police or social services, no question.

I am sure you would but that isn't the problem.

The problem is abuse occurred but someone will say you suspected or even knew of it and didn't report it.

The case here:

[urlhttp://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/17/professionals-failed-report-daniel-pelka[/url

is shocking but the report is written with hindsight. The teachers locked away other children's lunch boxes as the poor kid was stealing food. Does this mean in future any teacher who sees a kid steal food off another child must suspect the child is being starved?

I don't see how teachers could function in such an environment where behaviour or some medical condition has them running to send a report for fear of prosecution.

We have to hope teachers would spot it but sometimes they won't for all manner of reasons but with negligence not being one.

A case I know of personally brings to mind the point that if, say, parents do not realise that a child is being abused by a relative or close family acquaintance, will it be assumed that that cannot possibly have really been the case?

[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/how-hateful-is-britain-insulted-bullied-and-murdered--for-being-disabled-8929765.htmlDisability, the great peado panic and why this isn't as much of a civilised society as we might pretend[/url.

Horrible stuff.

Just to show this sort of thing isn't new, have a read of Uncle Ernest by Alan Sillitoe. Great short story, especially because he really subverted the whole paranoia issue by making the main character the victim - albeit willing.

I'd better not let my wife read that or she'd have a heart attack. As many on here know our youngest son is Autistic. He is now 16 and the future as an adult is the biggest concern for all parents of children in his position.

Mind you given financial support is an easy target for cuts and there is still such ignorance about the condition I have little hope we won't see things get worse not better.

I'll give you an example of the ignorance. Here in Cheshire there is "consultation document" out about transport for Autistic kids aged 16 and over to their special schools which are not of course on the doorstep. It's an hours journey for our son in a taxi shared by five other kids and a carer. In short they want the parents to start paying for it at a cost of £1200 a year.

Now one of the alternatives they put in the "consultation document" is the so called desire to encourage independent travel. What this means is if the child can be accompanied to a bus stop the idea is they can go to school on the bus.

This is idiotic. It will expose to kids to potential abuse on the journey. Some can easily be led astray as they are vulnerable in that way. What if the bus breaks down or is in an accident? What happens at the other end? Is the school going to have to have staff waiting for various buses as they arrive from various locations? Are there any direct services (no is the answer) so how do the kids cope changing buses? Even if they could is it practical to even consider the journey by bus?

We are of course gearing up for a fight against this but it wares you out. Anyway it's that stupid independent travel idea just shows how ignorant some people are of the issues and it's no wonder problems arise.