|
Seeing as how I have no children, I don't work with children, and I often go months on end without interacting with a child, I don't particularly feel qualified to address this topic. I wouldn't play a role in any policiy decisions that revolve around the topic. But I still have an opinion.
There are clear cases of neglect and abuse which should be dealt with on the community level. A neighbor who observes children living in a feces-encrusted, malnourished state should not allow the behavior to go unchecked. In an ideal world, the problem would be addressed by friends and family stepping in to take care of the child when a parent is not mentally stable or adequately educated. But with the state of poverty in America, where entire city sectors of zombie-like hoardes are trapped in a drug/acohol enduced, filthy, illiterate, crime-ridden haze... no one is present with the means to step in and make a better community. Those who care about their future get out of these hell-holes as soon as they can, opting for more promising city sectors with gates, locks, and a lack of public transportation. Those with the wherewithal to remain find themselves victimized and living in fear, unwilling to allow their children to socialize with the neighborhood kids, trapping them instead indoors with video games and the internet as their only social outlet. They are home-schooled or driven across town to a mroe well-to-do academy so they have no opportunity to interact with the children of their zombie-neighbors - effectively reducing the hope of the children of these zombies to see another side of life, one where they are not abused and neglected.
Since we are unwilling to live as united communities, our government steps in to assign people the responsibility of looking out for our neighbors. These social workers are over-worked, underpaid, and dealing with all of the negative harsh realities of grim poverty on a daily basis. What could have been a simple job for a group of concerned neighbors has morphed into a thankless living nightmare for a relative few well-intentioned government employees. Over time they grow immune to the tears and find themselves jumping in to solve the most difficult of social problems. Yet in their enthusiasm for improving the lives of young people, they occasionally jump to conclusions. A child with brittle bone syndrome is taken away from parents with language barriers who cannot communicate their child's medical needs with authorities. A child with haemophilia who bruises easily is taken from gentle, loving single parent who, in their rush to get to work, forgot to explain her child's medical condition to a new daycare provider. A premature infant is taken away from her petite parents because she was below the growth chart's suggested weight three times in a row during her regular WIC checkups. The list goes on. These outlying situations force well-intentioned and loving parents to step in and take a stand to regain custody of their offspring. Usually the battles are expensive and frustrating, but they are eventually met with apology and proper placement back into the child's rightful home.
If all funding were cut to state and federal child services, I don't think that non-profits, community churches, and others would be able to stand up to the formidable task before them. More children would fall through the cracks.
__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq
"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy
|