Thursday, May 01, 2008

1791 Watch More TV! Especially if you have kids.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Read this: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/COL04/804280375/1081.

"[I]f you ask Christopher Ratte and his wife how they lost custody of their 7-year-old son, the short version is that nobody in the Ratte family watches much television."
It's scary. There's so much wrong with the whole incident. (And I'm purposely being vague because I want you to read the article. It's short, and the link is safe.)

Why didn't the vendor make it clear what he was selling?

Why didn't the concerned citizen simply ask the father if he was aware what the child was holding before alerting security?

Why didn't the security officer and the cop at the hospital consider the father's intent before calling CPS?

Why didn't the medical people say "No harm done"?

Why didn't CPS wait for the aunt to get the hotel room before shuttling the child off to foster care?

Why didn't CPS consider the father's intent before saying that he had to stay away from home?

The answer to those questions is stupidity, love of power, unthinking bureaucrats following rules without concern for the effects. You can't convince me that they were really concerned for the welfare of the child. Could the father's social status have had anything to do with the way CPS responded? The actions of CPS hurt the child much more than the actions of the father. The incident with the aunt is the clincher there. They're just shoveling cases!

As for the father's mistake? The very fact that he didn't know what he bought says to me that he's probably a good father. I prefer that he not be familiar with the like.

The scariest part of all this is that it could happen to any of us who have children. How many times this week could you have lost your children if one of these stupid CPS people happened to see what goes on in your home?
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