Child protection laws go too far, says think tank

Child protection laws and a general fear about paedophilia is turning us into a nation of adults afraid to interact or so much as touch children who aren't our own. That's the conclusion of the right-wing think tank Civitas which publishes a report today called Licensed to Hug. Written by Professor Frank Furedi, it claims that levels of vetting required by anyone coming into contact with children was putting people off volunteering their services.

'From Girl Guiders to football coaches, from Christmas-time Santas to parents helping out in schools, volunteers - once regarded as pillars of the community - have been transformed in the regulatory and public imagination into potential child abusers,' Furedi says, 'barred from any contact with children until the database gives them the green light.'

The report calls for the current rules which they say have 'succeeded in poisoning the relationship between the generations' to be relaxed. But a spokesperson for the Home Office said; 'There is no evidence employment checks are a barrier to either volunteering or damage trust between children and adults - in fact the number of CRB checks on volunteers has grown year-on-year.'

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