Justice For Families

Paranoia in the playground
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... d-children

Listen to mayor Dorothy Thornhill. Her council has just banned parents from watching their own children at two council play areas in Watford. Quoted in the Watford Observer this evidently simple-minded woman says, "Sadly, in today's climate, you can't have adults walking around unchecked in a children's playground."

Instead of parents being able to watch and play with their own and other people's children at the Harwoods and Harebreaks recreation grounds, vetted council staff known as "play rangers" will be in charge. The mayor says that this enforces government policy.

Actually that's not true because no government policy has yet determined that parents may not supervise their own children in a playground. It seems possible that the mayor and her appalling council may be in breach of article 8 of the Human Rights Act – the right to family life. A mother of three named Rebekah Makinson was quoted by reporter Neil Skinner as saying: "Banning parents from an open access playground, I feel, is a breach of our personal freedom."

She is right. This is a fundamental breach of rights, but almost as serious is the offence to common sense. The council pretends that it is forced into this position to protect children under the new vetting and barring scheme but as parents point out, the number of kids using the play areas and the range of ages means that some parents want to keep on eye on the children. Makinson said: "We have used Harwoods since I was a child and my mother stayed with me. It has always had a fantastic community atmosphere. Even with the excellent staff employed it is ridiculous to assume that three staff members can safeguard the high volume of children that currently use the playground."

I had a free-range childhood with almost no supervision and I can see the point of allowing children to play away from overprotective parents. But the critical issue here is that parents' right are being trampled on by this new atmosphere of fear and suspicion, brought about by the Independent Safeguarding Authority, a government that increasingly thinks it knows better than parents and local authorities that are keen to use any new power offered to them, however mad or tyrannical its application.

When I called the council, the press officer made the usual allegation that the reporter had got his facts wrong but then could not detail a single inaccuracy. In fact it turned out that his story was pretty much spot on. The council spokeswoman was keen to point out that the policy meant that if no parents were allowed into the two play areas it reduced the risk of adults wandering into the playground.

If parents want to watch their children they should damned well be allowed to do so. No officially sanctioned "play ranger" should have supervisory rights over a child in a public "open access" playground that in any way tops the child's parents' rights.

Chip, chip, chipping away at rights - Way to go stupid morons!

You have to wonder where this is going.

If parents arent allowed in a playground anymore....

Who says the "vetted adults" are safe? So who's watching the vetted adults? Certainly not the council!

Can only say that its so sad, when the innocent joy of a playground for children, is to be seen as a place of danger by these morons
and parents are treated in this appalling manner.

there's that popular phrase 'in the current climate'or sadly or whatever, when ever you hear the word climate usually a bad decision follows

Current Climate, means global warming from all the hot air coming out of Council bureaucrats.

Political fallout from parents' playground 'ban' in Watford

9:43am Friday 6th November 2009


By Michael Pickard »


The political fallout from Watford Borough Council's decision to “ban” parents attending council-run play sessions with their children continued this week as it was blamed for turning the town into a national “laughing stock”.

Two Labour councillors claimed in today's printed edition of the Watford Observer that the Liberal Democrat-controlled council led a “public relations disaster” by blaming Government policy for restricting parental access to Harwoods Adventure Playground, in Harwoods Road.

A letter sent to parents claimed that “due to recently changed Ofsted regulations we have a responsibility to ensure that every authorised adult who enters our site is properly vetted and given a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check”.

The council has now admitted this “error” but has maintained that for the children who use the facility to be given the full attention of council-employed play workers, parents can no longer be allowed to remain on site.

Harwoods Adventure Playground and its sister site Harebreaks Adventure Playground in The Harebreaks host council-run play sessions where parents can leave their children, aged between five and 15, in the care of “properly vetted” council staff on weekday evenings and on Saturdays.

While the "no-parent" policy has been upheld at Harebreaks, at Harwoods the council said a minority of parents began to stay inside the enclosed area, often bringing children under five with them.

When the play workers felt they were unable to supervise the children properly, following a “number of incidents”, they decided to enforce the policy.

A letter was then sent out to about 300 homes on September 14 this year, informing parents they would no longer be allowed to stay on site with their children during the sessions, citing Ofsted regulations behind the decision.

Following complaints to the Watford Observer by furious parents last week, which led to the story receiving national attention across print and television news, Mayor Dorothy Thornhill publicised on her own website her unhappiness that the issue had been misrepresented following reports that parents had been “banned” from every park and playground in the town.

In a blog entry published on Wednesday, October 28, Mayor Thornhill said that because some parents “started to stay around for all the sessions, this increased to the extent that staff felt they were spending more time worrying about what the parents were up to rather than watching and supervising the children.

“They should not have been allowed to stay that’s never been the policy, so yes we were lax in allowing it and have now decided to tighten up.”

This entry was later removed but it reappeared the next day alongside a second blog entry in which she attempted to clarify the council's position. This second blog was also the content of an email sent out to residents to “reassure” them she had “not taken leave of her senses” and that the council had not banned parents from parks and playgrounds.

She wrote: “What has happened is that at Harwoods a handful of parents have been staying on, not just dropping their kids off. After a number of incidents, staff that run the facility felt that the presence of these parents was hampering their ability to supervise the kids properly.

“I'm not saying adults shouldn't be allowed on playgrounds – I'd go out and shoot myself if this was the case – only on these specialised play facilities. We have 40 other playgrounds elsewhere in the borough where parents are welcome to stay.”

Holywell ward councillor Nigel Bell writes in today's Watford Observer: “There is a tradition going back many years at Harwoods Road of parents and grandparents being on site and as far as I know there has never been a problem.

“This should have been handled in a more sensitive manner with a proper, open consultation.

“It has led to Watford being seen as a 'laughing stock' nationally at best and, at worst, as an example of 'unauthoritarianism'.”

Councillor Jagtar Singh Dhindsa, leader of the Watford Borough Council Labour Group, adds: “Of course, the Government's Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) stipulates by law that staff who work at adventure playgrounds have to be vetted.

“That does not apply to parents who turn up with their kids – the Mayor is simply wrong, confused and should apologise for misleading people.”

Meanwhile, Watford MP Claire Ward said she is “hopping mad” at council attempts to blame “Government legislation” for the move to ban parents from the play sessions.

She has now written to Mayor Thornhill, asking her to explain a “series of conflicting statements made to both parents and the media last week”.

Her letter said: “Whilst I am sure we can all understand the need to protect children, surely as a mother yourself you can see the absurdity in the reality of leaving a five year old to play with 15 year olds in an adventure playground and relying on three good but probably over stretched staff to keep a watchful eye on these activities. I think parents now need reassurance that common sense will be brought back into play at Watford Borough Council.”

In a statement, Ofsted said: “Ofsted would never seek to prevent parents and carers having access to their own children, or insist that each parent must have a member of staff with them at all times. Many settings operate very well with parents and young children settling somewhere new.”

Council representatives told the Watford Observer the Mayor's first blog was removed once it “became clear that at least some of the coverage implied these were public open accessible playgrounds” and not enclosed supervised facilities.

Cate Hall, executive director at Watford Borough Council, said: "There were media reports last week that we banned parents from all our public parks and playgrounds. To be 100 per cent clear – this was not the case.

“This is about one of our two supervised play facility sites registered with Ofsted and not a general public park. The Harwoods Adventure Playground is for unaccompanied children and is supervised by the council's qualified play workers.

“The parents of unaccompanied children expect our staff to give their full attention to the children and look after their safety and well-being. If we have adults on site, that distracts our staff from that purpose. Parents would expect that if adults are staying on site regularly, where they cannot always be with the staff, they go through some basic checks.

“As part of a wider operational review of how we manage play services, officers used best practice guidance to help shape our policy. There was however an error in the original letter we sent to parents when we said that the decision was due to recently changed Ofsted regulations. The letter was sent without checking the contents with senior management or the mayor and I very much regret that it contributed to the confusion.

“Of course, parents are very welcome to bring their children into the site and settle them in. We also welcome parents who want to become volunteers.

“During the play sessions at the facility this week, we have been there to help with any questions that parents might have. I'm pleased to say that there have not been any issues raised."

Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Watford, said the council had followed Government advice.

In a letter to Richard Harrington, the Conservative PPC, she said: “There is standard guidance from the Department of Children, Schools and Families to all local councils. This states that Adventure Playgrounds are environments in which children are expected to be independent from their parents, but that staff should be provided, to ensure that children remain safe.

“It is not dissimilar to the experience that many children have when they go to holiday play schemes, Scouts and other supervised voluntary groups. The two Adventure Playgrounds in Watford have followed this advice, but following some parents starting to attend, re-issued their advice. I suspect you will also find that most Conservative-controlled authorities also follow the same practice.”

Matt Hopkinson, of the Department of Children, Schools and Families confirmed that any volunteers staying on site would need “basic checks”, although this would not apply to parents dropping off or collecting their children from the playground.

He said: “It’s important to remember than this isn’t a general public park and is actually a registered childcare place where children are left for the day, under the supervision of qualified play workers.

"Parents would expect that if volunteers are staying on site regularly, where they may not always be with the staff, they go through some basic checks. This would be the same in a nursery school or other play setting where children are left in the care of others.

"However, common sense must always prevail and no parent needs to be checked just because they are picking up or dropping off their children or staying on the site occasionally in the presence of the staff.”


http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/4 ... und__ban_/

It still doesn't provide basic safety checks.

Most paedophiles work in childrens services, SS, foster carers to get access to kids.

So if one becomes "play ground patrol" and no parents are there as a witness, how will the kids stand up against this adult?

So the basic safety protocols are back at square one.

Open and transparent is the only way to go. With several adults around - who are NOT on the payroll of Watford council and will NOT lose their job if they act as whistleblower.

Has no one in council departments got any commons sense?