Posted Fri 25 Jun 2010 07:17
in
Safeguarding, ISA and CRBs
»
Vetting and Barring changes
I think it is good that this particular step has been reversed, and one of the very few acts of the new government that I have welcomed. But the truth is we already have the 'atmosphere of suspicion, intrusiveness and guilty until proven innocent' alive and well. Even your website overstates child safety and protection. It should be a given in a list of things we should bear in mind all the time, not a banner headline at the top of every aganda. The number of times the first question I am asked as an artist is in effect, 'will you be abusing children?' is deeply deeply depressing. The people tasked with enforcing this regime do not make the connection that it is an offensive implication, but it really is, and to me it often really feels like that. I sometimes think the only criterion for the employment of an artist in school is the possession of a CRB check. Even the CRB people themselves say that they are needed only if someone will be in sustained unsupervised contact with children . The general state of paranoia is such that this is never happening anyway. We are always accompanied, discouraged from touching, encouraged to shrug off hugs, and generally seen as a risk.
It is all wildly out of proportion. Child abuse where it happens is a terrible thing, but so is instilling and perpetuating fear. I believe that as artists and as arts organisations we should be arguing against all of the measures which breed fear and suspicion in our work with children, and not colluding with these systems by competing to be more and more 'safe'. To get into a school in Birmingham nowadays, you often need to pass through a prison entry system, and present your passport or driving licence and your CRB document. This all happened in response to Dunblane first and then Soham. These are hugely rare terrible events, which arguably would not have been prevented by any of the measures that now exist. In response, we are encouraging everyone to trust nobody, and a great deal of damage is being done in the name of 'protection'. I wrote to the Arts Council to ask for the statistics of child abuse by visiting artists, and an indication that the problem was being helped by the current approach. I have as yet received no reply. Is this perhaps because it was not a problem and has never been? Whereas the way schools welcome visitors really is a big big problem, every day, here and now.
I would refer people to Frank Furedi's booklet about this [Licensed to Hug: How Child Protection Policies Are Poisoning the Relationship Between the Generations and Damaging the Voluntary Sector] and I would ask artists working in schools to think about questioning approaches which damage the relationship between children and adults so much.