A Scottish couple were banned from helping their autistic son on to a bus in the morning, because they weren’t CRB checked. Their son was often distressed, so they helped him to fasten his seatbelt. Now the council says that only cleared adults will be allowed on to the bus. Currently the children are being given lessons in fastening their own seatbelts.
This shows that the CRB system is all about satisfying a bureaucracy, and nothing to do with helping children on the ground. Nobody could claim that this rule did anything to combat paedophilia – it’s all about protecting institutional backs.
Children are being denied the help and comfort they need from adults. In other cases, kids have been told to put plasters on their own legs if they hurt themselves at school; lifeguards are told that if a child in the changing room has trouble doing their shoes up, they should instruct rather than help. This paranoia particularly affects the weakest and youngest children who are most in need of adult support.