Alfie's law could undo decades of progress on children's rights | Carolyne Willow

Campaigners are calling for new legislation to ‘re-empower’ parents, but we have moved a long way from the concept of children as chattel

There can be few parents unable to imagine going to the ends of the earth to save the life of a deeply loved child. But can this love know no bounds? Last month, former Ukip leadership challenger Steven Woolfe MEP and Parliament Street thinktank launched a national campaign for Alfie’s law to “re-empower parents”. Many decades of progress in establishing the rights of children – as human beings with individual worth and integrity – could be undone were such a call to be taken seriously.

Alfie Evans’ tragically short life has been framed by Woolfe, the Christian Legal Centre and others as a parents-v-state battle. Hours before Alfie’s death, standing near the Houses of Parliament, Woolfe spoke of his goal that “no more is the state regarded as the champion of the child, when it’s the parents who should be the champion of the child”. Leaving aside the fact that it was the courts – not the state – that had the task of painstakingly considering what would be in Alfie’s best interests, Woolfe appeared to be arguing that parents should (once again) be able to exercise unfettered power over their children, including when decisions and actions run counter to the child’s human dignity.

It is only when intractable conflict occurs between parents and doctors that courts are invited to arbitrate on what is best for the child

His core dilemma, from which he struggles to escape, is that whilst he recognises and understands fully that the weight of the evidence spells out the futility of Alfie’s situation, he is, as a father, unable to relinquish hope. This is to my mind entirely understandable.

Related: Why mediation training should be offered in hospitals

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2G3b1cW