(no subject)
There is SOME justice in the world.
I wrote about my anger that was directed at Jetseta Gage's mother last year, when Roger Bentley was arrested.
Well, according to the last line in an article in the Des Moines Register this week... her two remaining children have been removed from her custody.
This is going to seem hard-hearted. After all, this mother has lost a child, under horrendous circumstances.
You know what? I don't care. I'm glad the children have been removed, and I can only pray they're actually in a foster home that's SAFE.
This feeds directly into my anger earlier this morning at the Department of Human Services and their completely fouled-up priorities. Children are removed from homes where they ARE cared for appropriately, for insipid reasons. Children are NOT removed from homes where they've already suffered abuse.
I know quite well how difficult the job of Child Protection Worker can be. I worked alongside CPWs for over two years, and I worked in a program for families at high risk of abuse for two years before that. I know there are good, conscientious social workers out there. I know, too, that there are power-mad people who enjoy the control they have over other people's lives.
The fault for the inconsistency lies within the bureaucracy, of course. It lies within the training of CPS workers, or rather their lack of training. The climate of DHS encourages control; control of people's lives, without adequate education about the long-term effects of these actions on children.
When I see the system work appropriately (as it eventually did in this case, and in the case of my cousin's girlfriend's children, who were finally removed from their mother's "care" late last year), I rejoice. But too often, I see children whose lives are disrupted and forever scarred by removal from homes where they WERE safe, and WERE cared for appropriately... while other children are left in an environment where they encounter daily abuse and neglect.
The favoritism and inconsistency that run rampant within this system need to be resolved, eradicated, before more children are handed lifelong scars as a result of "protective" services.
I wrote about my anger that was directed at Jetseta Gage's mother last year, when Roger Bentley was arrested.
Well, according to the last line in an article in the Des Moines Register this week... her two remaining children have been removed from her custody.
This is going to seem hard-hearted. After all, this mother has lost a child, under horrendous circumstances.
You know what? I don't care. I'm glad the children have been removed, and I can only pray they're actually in a foster home that's SAFE.
This feeds directly into my anger earlier this morning at the Department of Human Services and their completely fouled-up priorities. Children are removed from homes where they ARE cared for appropriately, for insipid reasons. Children are NOT removed from homes where they've already suffered abuse.
I know quite well how difficult the job of Child Protection Worker can be. I worked alongside CPWs for over two years, and I worked in a program for families at high risk of abuse for two years before that. I know there are good, conscientious social workers out there. I know, too, that there are power-mad people who enjoy the control they have over other people's lives.
The fault for the inconsistency lies within the bureaucracy, of course. It lies within the training of CPS workers, or rather their lack of training. The climate of DHS encourages control; control of people's lives, without adequate education about the long-term effects of these actions on children.
When I see the system work appropriately (as it eventually did in this case, and in the case of my cousin's girlfriend's children, who were finally removed from their mother's "care" late last year), I rejoice. But too often, I see children whose lives are disrupted and forever scarred by removal from homes where they WERE safe, and WERE cared for appropriately... while other children are left in an environment where they encounter daily abuse and neglect.
The favoritism and inconsistency that run rampant within this system need to be resolved, eradicated, before more children are handed lifelong scars as a result of "protective" services.