Adults scared to work with kids

Regulations governing the protection of children have become so extreme that adults are afraid to work with young people for fear of being accused of sexual abuse, Scotland's children's commissioner has warned. Professor Kathleen Marshall said draconian vetting procedures mean children are now "too hot to handle". Marshall, appointed by Jack McConnell to oversee the Scottish executive's national youth strategy, said society was creating a generation of "cotton wool kids", fearful of risk-taking, who will grow into "inactive, socially inept adults". She warned that changes in legislation may be needed because too many people were put off working with children by extensive background checks. "We are not only wrapping children in cotton wool, we are surrounding them with barbed wire and warning signs," she said. "Children have become pariahs of modern society, too hot to handle."

source: 'Adults scared to work with kids, claims czar' by Jim McBeth; www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2148223,00.html; The Sunday Times - Scotland; 23 April 2006