I am going to say a few words about the Named Person law and the response to criticisms. Because it is relevant and there are several lessons from it.
Just as with gender identity, many people in social work said it was completely misguided to oppose the Named Person. Their argument seemed to be that the intentions of government were benevolent. There was cross party support, and the education and social work establishment were all for it. the problem was that the Named Person law called for unprecedented levels of intrusion into families’ lives and unprecedented breaches of confidentiality, authorising information-sharing about families’ lives across agencies in great and unnecessary and detail without that family’s knowledge or consent.
Maggie Mellon (CQSW, MSc, Dip Child Protection) is a social worker with many years’ experience in both Scotland and England. She has been vice chair of the British Association of Social Workers since 2014, and also chairs the Association’s Ethics and Human Rights Committee. She was formerly Director of Services for Children 1st and Head of Public Policy for NCH Action for Children in Scotland. Chair of the Scottish Child Law Centre from 2009 -12. Currently non–executive Director of NHS Health Scotland and a member of the editorial Board of Scottish Justice Matters. Maggie now works independently as a consultant on social work practice and public policy.