TWO stories in today's edition project a worrying theme for our community.
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Dubbo Local Court magistrate Andrew Eckhold spoke of his grave concerns about troubled teenagers left without adequate care, guidance and protection.
Meanwhile the NSW Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward has announced legislative moves to ensure parents are more responsible for their children.
Have an extended conversation with this city's taxi drivers about what they see at night while transporting their fares and they can tell you about gangs of young children, some of them would be only six to eight years old, walking around our streets late at night.
One wonders if their parents know where they are and we all must wonder if they care?
Some will argue our government is becoming more and more aligned with what is termed as a nanny state.
And to some degree they have a point.
However if parents are not prepared to be responsible for the actions of their children then others must step in, for the good of our community.
Take for example a statistic the minister quotes: in the financial year just completed there were 228,000 child protection reports concerning more than 99,000 children. Something must change or these social issues will continue through another generation.
Despite some beliefs there are many support services available and all it needs are people to make an effort.
And to take responsibility.