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August 10, 2005, 12:49 am PDT
Law treats children as property
Quote From: artsydawn Why has our society allowed this to continue? How do these people get away with doing this to children? Everything these people are doing is ILLEGAL!! The question was asked on the show, however I dont believe there was a sufficient answer. Where are the police, children services,or our government??
This, along with other forms of child abuse, is allowed to continue because the government essentially treats children as property and does not give CPS enough power. If you read your own state's laws regarding children, you will be suprised as to how limited their rights are. I am a resident of Florida, and I must say that the state of FL does not do a good job of protecting children against abuse and treats children as property of their parents. I know this from experience. I was abused as a child and I was shuffled through the system. For example, when I was 17, I badly needed medical care for my hand, but my parents would not provide it even though they could financially afford to(they felt I should pay for it), so my doctor called DCF(Department of Children and Families, aka Child Protective Services), because in the state of FL, children cannot receive any medical care without the consent of parents. DCF told me they couldn't do anything because I was 17, even though the state statute makes it clear that they are supposed to protect all children until they are 18 and represent them. Further, medical neglect and other forms of child abuse are felonies. There are state laws dictating that if there is medical neglect, the DA(district attorney) must be notified and charges must be brought against the parents. Did this happen? No. I imagine a fax was sent along with hundreds of other children's cases to the DA, but DCF said they had no real power, and my caseworker said that their job was to "scare parents". She said there was nothing they could do legally, and told me to make a police report, because I was worried about my younger brother. They also did a house visit to make sure my brother was ok, but that is a procedure dictated by state law.
You'll here people say,"CPS just wants to reunite families", but this is not necessarily true. They make is very hard to get children the help they need. If someone calls a hotline to make a child abuse report, a caseworker is sent to the child's home. Unless the child either A. admits to being abused or B. has bruises on his/her face and arms, nothing happens further and the case is dropped. Further, the depth of the investigation is dependent on the individual caseworker. Yes, I believe some of the caseworkers really want to help, but the law limits their power way too much, to that point that DCF/CPS cannot do anything for a child unless that child is in a life or death situation. Plus, it is frightening to know that what happens to a child's future could be influenced by that ONE caseworker having a bad day. As harsh as this seems, it is what truly happens. Abuse happens every day, in every city, and every neighborhood, and I strongly believe that our society/government just turns away from the abuse the children in our country face.
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