Child Welfare
One thing that Melissa Carter mentioned that surprised me was the fact that the first goal of the child welfare system is reunification return children back to their families as soon as possible. I guess I just assumed that if the child was being abused and neglected why would this be the first option to place the child back into the home. This made me think that possibly the process should change a little to maybe help prevent reoccurring neglect/abuse and more-so death among these children. I just feel as though the other options should override wanting to place the child back in the home as soon as possible because parents or guardians can do whatever is necessary to show a false representation that they have changed things at the home and it is now safe. This just did not sit well with me.
Melissa brought to our attention that the child welfare system only receives a lot of press when something tragic happens. This made me realize that this is absolutely true just how most news stations only present the negative this is the same scenario. Melissa notated that these tragedies only happen at a very small rate even though they could have been preventable but we as the public do not seek out the positive aspects of the system when we only hear about the negatives.
I definitely believe social policy plays up on these tragic stories to create some buzz which is ultimately for some underlying motive of a bill that might not even have the true intentions to making change in the system or even addressing or tackling the problems head on. Just how Melissa mentioned the recent stories of the children’s death and their faces being posted all around the capital only was for “show” and these children were being exploited which is really lowdown and sad that politicians play so dirty. It did not help either that this years legislative session was so short all due to the fact of campaigning purposes gives you clear signs right there that little concern was taken and none of these bills (except the GA budget bill) in the end had to be passed.
I believe the single most important thing as citizens that we can do is talk to our senators. Exercise our rights to be heard. We should not be letting up on the issue that child welfare does not receive the proper attention that it needs come legislative session times. Just how Melissa is coming out university classroom to speak with future social workers I believe it starts with us as well as future leaders to participate in lobbying and not letting up with being heard. Making enough noise and putting up a fight is bound to create change if we are demanding it in numbers by the masses of people. We also need more dedicated people like Melissa who have a passion for advocating for child safety. We as adults have a duty to protect innocent children from harm and I think us Americans have lost our moral values when it comes to this subject. Many Americans now choose to butt out of other people’s situations but when it comes to a child’s safety they cannot depend on no one else but us adults to keep them safe out of harms way.
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