Advocating for children is simple in the abstract. But when individuals learn that friends have been reported to child protection they almost invariably believe the parents’ story, even when facts emerge to the contrary.
We would not believe this ourselves had we not experienced it consistently over time.
On a political level, this phenomenon manifests itself for example in the movement to abolish child protection and in Family Assessment the “child protection light” program. These initiatives assume that children will be ok if we support their parents, which ignores the obvious fact that the interests of adults and children don’t always align.
We do not expect these observations to be accepted uncritically, but simply ask our readers to consider them if they encounter individual child protection situations or child welfare initiatives, because this pro-parent bias presents serious barriers to justice for children.