Referendum is key - Protection for at-risk minority

With less than two weeks to go before voting on the children’s rights referendum to amend the Constitution, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald was drawing attention to the rights of children over the weekend.

She suggested children should be entitled to an extra free year of pre-school childcare.

She noted Social Protection Minister Joan Burton had signalled at a recent pre-budget forum that the early childhood care and education (ECCE) scheme should be extended to a second year. Ms Fitzgerald explained that there was a need for a wider debate on the issues of child protection and welfare.

In the current economic climate, people are likely to be sceptical about politicians talking about getting anything for free. Discussing the ECCE scheme highlights children’s care, and thus helps to draw attention to the referendum itself.

There are predictions that referendum turnout could be under 30%, which would not be unprecedented. In 1978 and 1979, there were referendum turnouts of less than 29%. Such a low vote in this referendum would, in one way, be a very bad reflection on our society, because it could be interpreted as suggesting that the great majority do not care enough about the welfare of deserted or abandoned children to vote.

The reality, of course, is quite different. The issues surrounding the referendum are essentially limited in a way that does not affect most people. The overwhelming majority of children are cherished by their parents. Hence, the referendum is designed to have an impact on a tiny minority of unfortunates.

It aims at protecting that tiny minority of children who are abandoned, neglected, or abused. The existing provisions of the Constitution does not properly protect such children. Since 1970, 17 major reports have focused on child protection failures in Ireland.

Those reports highlighted the need for the rights of a child to be specifically recognised in the Constitution. Hitherto, the rights of children were very much secondary to the rights of their parents.

While the children of unmarried parents could be voluntarily adopted, the children of married parents could not be adopted. Hence, some of those children were further disadvantaged.

The proposed amendment would make provision for “any child” to be voluntarily adopted. Ms Fitzgerald stressed that adoptions of the children of married parents would happen only in “exceptional cases”.

The aim of the referendum is not to limit the rights of parents, but to ensure that the best interests of the child are the paramount consideration. In addition, the views of the child should henceforth be taken into consideration, if the child is sufficiently mature that this would be appropriate.

Public opinion surveys suggest that the overwhelming majority of people do care about the welfare of children, so it is important that people should inform themselves about the issues and demonstrate their concern by voting in the children’s rights referendum on Saturday, Nov 10.