I wan to comment on that CPS director interview. Yes, they always hide behind privacy laws when a child is killed. Hey, Jhessye's dead! Whose privacy are you now protecting?
I think maybe what we should work on as a nation is changing those "privacy laws" so that it isn't a mantle CPS can hide behind when they fail to do their job. With these laws, there is zero oversight and zero accountability.
And, I like the idea of a nationwide system. Anyone who has had CPS contact should be tracked state to state and welfare checks should be mandatory whenever the family moves, both right after the move and six months later.
And I do believe that people on welfare should be subject to social services involvement. Yes, it is not only the poor who abuse their children, that is for sure. But there exists an inherent conflict of interest when parents who desire money can collect such money for children they neither love nor want, which is the case sometimes. The cash aid, etc., provides an incentive for abusers to keep their kids. So children receiving welfare may be especially vulnerable.
Also, there is no doubt that poverty increases stressors and often results from lack of education, etc. Often, that lack of education extends to parenting, child safety and so on.
IMO, if you are going to take money from the state, you should have to give up some control of your life to the state. Want aid for your kids? Mandatory parenting and nutrition classes. Mandatory meeting with a risk assessment team who will come to your home, speak with your kids, speak with you, ask you if you have any needs that aren't being met, if you need help of any kind, assess your needs and provide what it is you require, whether that be drug and alcohol treatment, crisis intervention, clothing, beds, help with utilities if need be, counseling, etc. Mandatory welfare checks every six months or every year, by social services and a pediatric nurse, making sure you live where you live, the kids are present and living there and everyone is doing fine.
Perhaps that seems like too much of an intrusion upon the rights of the poor. Well, I have fought for the rights of the poor for over a decade. The right to have medical care, an equal education, legal services free of charge, housing, to be treated with dignity and respect. But poor children have rights too and their rights should supercede those of their parents.
Of course, we need qualified people to oversee this, not people with an agenda, or people who want to take kids away from parents they just don't like, etc. We need people who go in homes with the determination to treat people with dignity and the attitude that they are there to serve that family, not to treat the family like criminals.
And if, in my system, welfare saw something wrong, or felt there was something wrong, there should be a blind reassessment (meaning, a new team goes out to assess the situation without any information, to see if they find the same thing), except in cases where the situation is clear, like a missing child or bruises all over or a kid revealing abuse. Then, LE is called.
I think that when we take something we have to give something. If that is a bit of privacy, well, that should be a fair price to pay. People with nothing to hide should not be troubled, I think.
I shudder to think of the other Jhessye's out there, being abused and hidden in a closet, or a basement or bathroom. I'm sick of it. And they cannot withstand it. We need to value our kids more than this.
