The new vetting and barring scheme brings unfortunate life to the old adage about children and animals. I’m against it mainly because it falls foul of the pointless screening argument: there are likely to be more false positives (people unfairly suspected of issues) created by the screening than there are potential problem adults.
However, there appears to be another very good reason in this article by a detective who worked on the Soham murders:
it wasn’t Huntley’s job that got him access to the children, it was his partner’s job. So the vetting and barring should really be extended to partners of people working with kids, and potentially to their friends / housemates. I’m kidding, of course (about the last bit).
Disclosure: I am not a parent.
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