ecoTrain Question Of The Week: Lawful kidnapping by the State (Child Protection, Social Services) is a symptom of a modern day crisis. What are the issues that lay behind the increasing trend of State taking children away from their parents, and ...

Lawful kidnapping by the State (Child Protection, Social Services) is a symptom of a modern day crisis. What are the issues that lay behind the increasing trend of State taking children away from their parents, and what can be done to prevent abhorrent injustice?

Child protection services provide a necessary role in identifying cases of child abuse, and intervening to protect the welfare of a child. It is clear that there are many cases when a parent is simply unable to care for their child, or has been abusive. In these cases, a child's life is in danger, and their removal from a dangerous and toxic environment is needed and very justified. This is not the question that I want to address today. Nor do I want to address the issue of social services making mistakes and removing children from very capable parents over issues that get misrepresented or taken out of context.

People like Anna (@canadian-coconut is sharing her personal story) who have suffered this kind of loss at the hands of an overzealous system have my utmost sympathy, and I want to dig deeper to really understand the underlying issues so that we can see what changes are needed to prevent more injustices happening. There are millions of investigations happening every year to investigate child abuse cases. That is a huge number, and one has to ask, why are there so many child abuse cases happening in the first place? And why are many countries like USA taking a more authoritarian and militaristic attitude toward its citizens? Just who or what are they protecting? Do they even care about us?

Poverty & Injustice

Injustice is a word that many around the world have learned to live with. It means so many things to so many different people, but the theme is the same. People are punished for being victims of a system in a world that cares more about the letter of the law than it does the reality of the situation. When we decide to judge and punish people based on superficial events and a disconnected perspective, we enter a world where those who fall in the cracks of the system can be stuck and with no recourse or action that can be taken to improve or alleviate the situation. When punishment means losing a family member, the horror of the situation can be one of hardest things a parent could ever have to bare.

In some ways we can say our world has changed a lot in the last 100 years. Most of us know the story of Oliver Twist, the poor boy who escaped from a workhouse (orphanage) to become a thief. In the days of Oliver Twist, child labour was normal, and working was more important than going to school! Child abuse and slave labour was rampant and an entrenched part of society. A policeman could give a child a good clip around the ear with no repercussions. A headmaster could beat and whip a child for simply misbehaving, and he would have the full consent of the parents and society.

Inequality was ever prevalent in the 1800's, but did being poor then mean even harsher circumstances than it does mean today?

Today many things have changed, but mostly on the surface. A policeman cannot hit a child today, and nor can a headmaster, but someone who is rich or powerful can. The Social Services can easily remove a child from a poor and vulnerable family without much justification, but just watch them try to remove a child from an abuser with power and connections! The times have changed, and the story has shifted a little bit, but the theme is the same.

There is grave injustice and inequality in our world that is becoming even more polarized. The rich are becoming ever more rich and powerful, and the poor are becoming larger in numbers and even poorer. People weren't able to get into debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars back in the old days. Being poor meant having nothing, but you could survive because no one was trying to take your home and belongings away. Today being poor means having less than nothing, by being in huge dept, and that is a pressure that is hard to avoid when you are stuck in the lower strata of the social system.

Poverty has to be one of the worst symptoms of the free market capitalistic system. There are SO many repercussions to poverty that are not immediately obvious, and the ramifications of them have led to where we are today. The whole issue of needing child protection services can be boiled down to issues relating to poverty in most cases.

• Abuse is 14 times more common in poor families.
• Neglect is 44 times more common in poor families.

We Live in A Disconnected World!

The people who make the laws and the people who enforce the law have had to disconnect their feelings in order to do their job. We live in a world where our leaders have had an emotional heart by pass. The system requires that they do so, and our culture rewards and gives its total consent to people who support and enforce the law (especially in USA and many European countries). In fact, the whole system is disconnected at every stage of the process of governance.

Those who make the laws are totally disconnect from those who enforce the laws. There is no dialog or channel of recourse for people to engage with, because the system is controlled by a tiny number of people who are not even able to understand the roots level issues from their secure locations. Those at the top echelons of power have very limited and focused agendas that supersede everything else, namely making money and holding onto their power. Unfortunately, poverty is a necessary outcome of free market capitalism, and note that free market capitalism is quite different from democracy, which we have also long left behind. "They simply don't care about us"... Michael Jackson sang it well! Here are some example to illustrate how they don't care

• In Akron, Ohio, a grandmother raises her 11-year-old granddaughter despite being confined to a wheelchair with a lung disease. Federal budget cuts cause her to lose housekeeping help. The house becomes filthy. Instead of helping with the housekeeping, child protective services takes the granddaughter away and throws her in foster care for a month. The child still talks about how lonely and terrified she was and about the time her foster parent took her picture and put it in a photo album under the heading: "filthy conditions."
  
  
• In Orange County, California, an impoverished single mother can't find someone to watch her children while she works at night, tending a ride at a theme park. So she leaves her eight-, six-, and four-year-old children alone in the motel room that is the only housing they can't afford. Someone calls child protective services. Instead of helping her with babysitting or daycare, they take away the children on the spot.

 

When we start to look at the cases studies of Social Services removing children we can see a very clear trend. Although there are MANY reasons for removing a child, nearly all of them stem from a single issue. That issue is poverty, and a second symptom which is depression. Most people who are poor in USA or Europe are depressed and also suffer from mental illness. This is hardly surprising considering the kind of daily and relentless pressures put on people from almost every angle.

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Here are some interesting statistics that demonstrate the link between child abuse and symptoms of poverty:

The federal government's Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3) compared families with an annual income of under $15,000 to families with an annual income over $30,000. Their findings:

• Abuse is 14 times more common in poor families.
• Neglect is 44 times more common in poor families

Imagine that you are an impoverished single mother with an eight-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. The four-year-old is ill with a fever and you need to get him medicine. But you have no car, it's very cold, pouring rain, and it will take at least an hour to get to and from the pharmacy. You don't know most of your neighbors and those you know you have good reason not to trust. What do you do? Go without the medicine? That's "medical neglect." The child savers can take away your children for medical neglect. Bundle up the feverish four-year-old in the only, threadbare coat he's got and take him out in the cold and rain? That's "physical neglect." The child savers can take away your children for physical neglect. Leave the eight-year-old to care for the four-year-old and try desperately to get back home as soon as you can? That's "lack of supervision." The child savers can take away your children for lack of supervision

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The world today has pushed people into a unhealthy lifestyle, mostly as a result of free market capitalism allowing people to be fed with poison, and hypnotized into trying to find happiness through consumerism. This 'American Dream' type of Zeitgeist is one that puts the nail in the coffin for most people who are trying to get out of poverty or mental illness.

The system has failed itself for allowing things to descend to the point that its citizens are of no relevance, beyond what can be extracted from them. With no ethical concerns, debate or boundaries, the physical and mental health of the people are totally ignored. I see great poverty in India on a daily basis, but I see FAR less depression and mental illness (although it is rising now!), even amongst the poorest of people. They have almost nothing, but they manage to keep their hearts open and they keep on smiling. Why is that?

The Great Hypocrisy

Let me jump to the point now! How can a system expect parents to care of their child properly, when they do not care of their citizens properly!? What hypocrisy is that? Our governments leave poor people dying on the streets because they can't afford health-care. They prioritize weapons over food. They not only allow, but even promote inequality and poverty by passing unethical laws with no regard of consequences past their own personal gains. The simple truth of our centralized systems is that all the money and power accumulate at the top, and it is taken from the rest of society who live and remain at the bottom. Therefore rampant poverty is an inevitable result, and those in power know that there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. Therefore, as our cities grow and become over populated and poor, our Governments have responded in the way that they do. This IS the real problem and thankfully there are some real solutions! I would like to present a few!

What Can We Do To Help?

1. Create Support Groups for poor, depressed and vulnerable parent(s)
People live in a lonely world in the cities, and family structures and harmony have almost completely eroded in poor areas. People are depressed and lonely and have no support whatsoever. Therefore we need to provide parental support to people so that they can be given the emotional care and acknowledgment that they need. Helping depression can be as easy as a day out with some good company and a nice cup of tea. Anyone who as been to AA meetings knows this. I have never been an alcoholic, but I have been to a few meetings with my x-wife. She used to go because she loved the support and community side of it, and just pretended to be an alcoholic! It was clear to me that these meetings helped these people beyond anything else I can suggest that is simple and accessible to all. If you are out there wondering WHAT you can do to help this cause, then maybe this is it! I am tingling as I write this, PLEASE consider starting a support group for people who are reaching the point where they MAY lose their child. As popular as AA is today, so should poverty support groups be.

2.Be a part of decentralized systems
Anyone reading this knows what I am talking about! We need a system change, and fast! Free Market Capitalism is finished because the tenants that it was created upon have long been lost. The solutions lie in decentralized power and social networks that operate outside of the main power systems.

3. Join or start an off-grid community
This connects to the previous point! We need to come back to communal living so that we have people in our lives who we know and trust. We need support and we need a healthy environment. There has never been a better time to start living in a more connected way, and I personally hope one day to create a community that would live within this system that we have today, but outside of its grasp. This is the reason why people still smile in India when they are poor! They have a closeness and community that gives them the energy and support they need to cope!

I hope this helps to being some light and useful ideas to those of you who are involved with this cause. It was @canadian-coconut who inspired me to present this question to the @ecoTrain, as I could feel the intensity and importance of this situation, but kept asking myself what can be done that can really make a difference. We all know that trying to fight the arms of the State will only bring even worse results, you will never win by fighting an oppressor.

So I am very happy that I am able to present something that I feel is invaluable to people who are stuck and suffering today, as well as to others who may not be in poverty but wonder what they can do to help this situation. Rather than trying to change the system overnight, we just need to give our energy and support to vulnerable people. Many of them just need a helping hand so that they can manage their daily challenge, and sometimes that simple thing is all it takes to make all the difference.

"Help Ever - Hurt Never"

We have to care for each other, and we have to take action to help others the moment we see the need. We shouldn't allow ourselves to have an emotional heart-by-pass because then we become a part of the problem. We all have to take responsibility for our actions, our inactions, and it all starts with being connected and honouring ourselves as Human Beings. When we all stop blaming our governments for the problems we see, and instead really do become a part of the solution, then we can make great progress toward a better civilization. The greatest myth of all is that our governments have the power. We have the power to make the changes we need, and when we start making them the world can become a different place overnight!

SOURCES
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&jsid=b6e4643d0f1d8b7c9e8c6c11ddba2b98&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010115232&u=oak30216&zid=282a5233fe6b607129a4d9d7fa193fa9

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This post is part of the ecoTrain Question of the Week

Keep an eye out this week on #ecotrain for what our other passengers write on the same question.
We hope to inspire and encourage positive change to help make this world a better place.

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