Consultation on the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill
Tystiolaeth i’r Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg ar gyfer craffu Cyfnod 1 Bil Plant (Diddymu Amddiffyniad Cosb Resymol) (Cymru) |
Evidence submitted to the Children, Young People and Education Committee for Stage 1 scrutiny of the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill |
CADRP-523 |
CADRP-523 |
About you
Individual
— No
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
I believe that there is still a place for a mild smack as a form of loving discipline in a healthy parenting relationship. Different children respond differently to various forms of correction, and there is a time and place where a light physical rebuke is the best form of correction for a certain child. This is very different from any sort of physical abuse or assault. Parents who use this form of discipline should not have to fear being criminalised for it. There is still a place for reasonable chastisement.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
No.
The current laws are sufficient and only need to be enforced to keep children safe from abuse.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
Yes.
Caring parents who are honestly doing their best to parent their children will be liable to be prosecuted for assault after only a mild smack. If this leads to greater stress for the parents, financial hardship or even removal of the children, this could result in real emotional harm to the child who was not previously at risk.
Enforcement of this will create 'busy work' for social services without helping at-risk children. Those children who are truly at risk from parents who would assault and abuse them will risk being lost in even higher caseloads for social workers who are already overstretched, and thus have even less protection from their abusers.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
Yes.
Enforcement of this will create unnecessary pressure on social services and policing, draining much needed resources from already over-stretched departments.
(we would be grateful if you could keep your answer to around 1000 words)
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