We need to help those charities that give our children a better life

THE amendment to the constitution proposed in the children’s rights referendum seems, by fairly widespread consent among those expressing informed opinions, to be at least reasonably well worded and most certainly well intentioned.

Restrictions placed on broadcasters require me to be impartial and therefore to express no opinion as to what way I might think people should vote — which is far enough — although the requirements for 50/50 balance on constitutional referenda issues are going to provide major problems for all broadcasters when debating the substance of this referendum.

But in many respects I’m more interested in how we intend to enforce the rights of children if the referendum is passed. We have many existing laws that are designed to protect children but how well are they implemented? We have many services that are designed to give children a better, or even adequate, standard of care and protection, but how many of those are delivered and how many are being curtailed or abandoned for financial reasons?