Going without

Sir Ian Hassall, the country’s first Commissioner for Children, has championed children’s rights since he qualified as a paediatrician in the 1970s. Nearly 25 years ago, he and others in the children’s movement launched an organisation called Children’s Agenda. Underpinning it was a plan to bring a fine-tooth comb to all legislation to gauge its effect on children. That was never adopted, and Children’s Agenda morphed into other advocacy organisations over the years. Hassall, now 78 and with seven grandchildren, has seen horrible things happen to children and has never given up the fight against child poverty, abuse and neglect. Steps forward have been made, yet nowhere near enough, he says.

What was the Children’s Agenda?

Hassall: A non-party-political movement made up of people from diverse backgrounds who, through education and policy reform, wanted to create a society that valued children.

What did it call for?

Top of the agenda was the development of a national policy that placed children at equal prominence with policies on trade, law and order, health, education and the economy. We also wanted a requirement that a child-impact statement accompany