Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has called for the roll-out of the Scottish Government's named person scheme to be "paused", claiming the policy is an "absolute mess".
Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has also urged the SNP to ''press the pause button'' on the scheme.
The named person legislation was passed at Holyrood in 2014, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats joining the SNP in backing it while Tory MSPs abstained.
Ms Dugdale said a full review of the policy is now needed so that concerns of parents can be addressed.
She said: "This entire process has been an absolute mess and it has caused a lot of anxiety for parents. Parents have lost confidence in the named person scheme.
"We support the principle behind this policy, which is that the children at risk of falling through the cracks get the support they need.
"But the introduction of the policy has been botched by the SNP - from the communication of this policy to parents to the way the legislation has been presented to Parliament."
She added: "A Labour government will pause the process and ask the Children's Commissioner to carry out a full review, so that the concerns of parents can be addressed.
"If improvements are recommended, then they will be implemented.
"The introduction of the named person scheme has been a shambles by the SNP and, as a result of that, what we are forgetting is that we need to make sure children who need extra support get that. That should be the priority."
The scheme, brought in as part of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act, will see every youngster under the age of 18 assigned a single point of contact, such as a teacher or health visitor, to look out for their welfare.
The Scottish Government said the service will act as a safety net to help families and children if they need it while opponents argue the move breaches the human rights of parents.
A poll conducted earlier this month found almost half of people in Scotland opposed the plan while less than a third supported it.
When asked if she would end the the named person legislation, Ruth Davidson told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland: "Yes, it was in our manifesto for last year's election, it will be in our manifesto for this year's election.
"We think the named person legislation is flawed, we want the Scottish Government to pause on it, so it does not introduce it to every family in Scotland from August, and to reassess this.
"We've opposed this at almost every turn."
Commenting on Ms Dugdale's position, Ms Davidson added: "This is a screeching U-turn from Labour, who can't seem to find consistency on anything at the moment.
"Only yesterday, they abandoned their ludicrous scheme to force the low-paid to queue up for a tax rebate, and now their leader has radically changed her mind on named person.
"You only have to look at the gushing quotes from Labour less than four months ago praising the named person scheme in the Scottish Parliament.
"Kezia Dugdale herself even said there was 'ignorance' surrounding many of the objections.
"But now she's decided it was a mess from the start."
An SNP spokesman said: "This policy is aimed at protecting children's wellbeing and is about supporting, not diminishing, the role of parents.
"It is widely supported by leading children's charities and welfare organisations, as well as by the Scottish Police Federation who say it will 'help keep children safer', and has also been upheld by the highest court in Scotland, including a ruling which said the policy had 'no effect whatsoever on the legal, moral or social relationships within the family'.
"The legislation was passed by 103 votes to zero by the Scottish Parliament, which exposes the utter hypocrisy on this issue from Labour, who voted for the scheme, and the Tories, who abstained.
"The people who should be named and shamed on this issue are Kezia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson for their blatant opportunism and a shameful attempt to play politics with an issue which at its heart is about child safety."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie offered his "cautious support" to the named person policy.
Speaking on a visit to Canine Concern Scotland in Edinburgh, he said: "We want to make sure that it is implemented properly.
"We need to remember that we trust social workers and teachers with the care of our children every day.
"They're not suddenly going to turn into monsters as a result of this legislation.
"But we do need to make sure that councils don't over stretch, don't overreach, don't use the powers too much.
"That's why we need to monitor the implementation of this to make sure we get it right."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel