Sounds Good Doesn’t It?
Children are important to our country’s future. We need to protect and care for them and prepare them to become happy contributory citizens of tomorrow.
Nice words, not much behavior follow-up.
In 1863, an American diplomat in Russia was appalled by the treatment of horses and outright cruelty to them. He returned to his native state of New York and was further appalled by the treatment of horses and other animals in New York. After passionate pleas to the New York legislature in 1866, he was given a charter to establish the American Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The organization also had the authority to arrest and prosecute offenses. The charted stated that “All animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment and must be protected by the law”.
In 1874, a young child Mary Ellen Wilson was found by neighbors in her New York neighborhood near death from starvation and abuse. There were NO laws in New York at the time to protect this child. Since she was considered an “animal” albeit not the 4-legged kind, the ASPCA stepped in to provide protection and arrest her abusers. In 1875, the American Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to CHILDREN was established. A full nine years after the ASPCA was
The pattern continues today. We repeatedly refuse to act to protect kids and repeatedly defer to adult needs and wishes.
There are families waiting to adopt children from abusive homes or homes unable to provide for them because of drug addiction or other dysfunction. Yet these families cannot adopt unless the biological parents give up parental rights or the state asks courts to terminate those rights. The current common wisdom is that no matter how bad or dysfunctional a family is, the preference is for the child to be with the biological family. I know of an instance where a family and a child have been waiting six years for the privilege of adopting the child. Each time the termination of parental rights seems ready to happen, one of the parents shows up in court and mentions a recent treatment program that he or she is about to enter and, therefore, wants to sustain parental rights. Each time the judge has deferred to these parents and the child remains in limbo. The girl is now in her early teens. The child plans to seek her own emancipation when she turns 18 if the situation has not been resolved by then.
Teens, mostly girls, remain incarcerated for physical aggression against rapists, child traffickers and pimps. The young girls (and it is mostly girls) are incarcerated but the adults who are the perpetrators who created the antecedents to the girls’ violence are still free.
Over and over the issue comes down to children don’t vote. Pay attention to what I say but ignore what I do.
In the early 1900's we (White folks) began providing pensions to widows with children so they could stay home and care for their children, but only if they were "worthy" mothers. Guess who wasn't worthy? So the feds said: You (states) have to do something for the kids whose mothers aren't worthy (i.e., Black). So guess what the solution was? Take away their kids. That's the origin of foster care. The widows pensions evolved into TANF (welfare $) and taking Black families' kids away evolved into the child welfare system. (It is true that, nowadays, most recipients of TANF are Black. That's a legacy of slavery and racism.) Everyone would be MUCH better off if we provided supports and services--including $$--to strengthen families who need help. Parens with substance abuse issues are ill and need help. Children belong with their families. When children are adopted through involuntary parental relinquishment, we as a society have failed families. Being removed from ones parents is traumatic--even when the parents are abusive. Yes, adoption will probably continue to be necessary, but it is far from the best solution. All that said, I am certainly ready to agree that the child welfare system is a disaster.
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