Rushing to destroy families

Spunky found another instance of social workers destroying a family. The FLDS case has shown that Texas CPS was more concerned about what the parents were teaching the children that an immediate worries about impending abuse.

There are real process issues in how social workers handled a case in Colorado. There were allegations of abuse, and so the social workers tore an eight year old son from his parents. I find this reprehensible:

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Melanie says social workers kept pushing her to say her husband molested their son, insinuating that such an admission would set Josh free. They suggested that Josh having once kissed his cousins on the lips — as is the norm in his parents' culture — was a sign that he had been molested. As social workers saw it, Michael's habit of buying his son toys and taking him to the movies was "grooming" to cover up sexual abuse.
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A judge finally ordered the social workers to return Josh to his family. Two months later Josh still has nightmares.

One of the arguments against capital punishment is that in executing a hundred criminals we might kill an innocent man. It seems like social workers have this reversed. I don't know what the statistics are, but from recent news it seems like they'll destroy five or ten families to save one children.

Janine and I are foster care parents. We understand there are some situations where it may make sense to take a child away from his parents, but it should not be done willy-nilly, on some vague allegation.

Head Mistress is right, this is something as parents we need to start working to correct.


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Technorati tags: Child, Protective, Services, abuse