Social Service System Suckage

[impqueen]

DFS, DFACS, CPS... Agencies that are called by various names in various places, but all have the same job description: To protect those who can't protect themselves. But too often it seems that those who most need protection get left with or returned to family members who abuse them further.

By the same token, often it seems that a child is removed from a home without provocation. To me, this is a lesser tragedy unless it results in the child being abused in foster care - as happens too often.

What is going on with our social service systems? Overwork, underpay, not enough foster homes, or just people who don't give a rat's ass?

[swivel]

DFS, DFACS, CPS... Agencies that are called by various names in various places, but all have the same job description: To protect those who can't protect themselves. But too often it seems that those who most need protection get left with or returned to family members who abuse them further.

By the same token, often it seems that a child is removed from a home without provocation. To me, this is a lesser tragedy unless it results in the child being abused in foster care - as happens too often.

What is going on with our social service systems? Overwork, underpay, not enough foster homes, or just people who don't give a rat's ass?

I'll let you in a little secret: Kids fucking suck.

Now, since this is clearly not advantageous for the survival of a species, the evolutionary solution is to chemically drug parents into loving their little beasts NO MATTER WHAT. These chemical drugs create a bond (moreso with the mothers) that makes the slime-covered shitbag the most beautiful thing in the world to them. It makes their screeching beautiful, and their babbling intelligible.

But, only to them. Everyone else on the planet will hate the child until it hits puberty and can be legally fucked. And this is just the way nature works. Other primate species have the same trends.

That's why it will never work to have kids raised by people that they don't genetically belong to. Because nobody else will ever truly give a fuck about them. They will hate them, in fact. Abuse them, even.

There is no point in fighting this. If a parent doesn't want a child, the most humane thing is to give it up for research and stop testing on chimps.

[Rotten Apple]

What is going on with our social service systems? Overwork, underpay, not enough foster homes, or just people who don't give a rat's ass?

I think it is all of the above. Eventually, when you feel you are not being treated fairly by the company you work for, you stop giving a shit and give the absolute minimum to stay employed.

The parents that are genuinely trying to care for their kids offer little resistance to social services, therefore making it easier to harass them. The ones that have something to hide will make the job of the social worker that much harder, making it not worth the trouble.


That's why it will never work to have kids raised by people that they don't genetically belong to. Because nobody else will ever truly give a fuck about them.

You know swivel, I don't know if you truly believe that or if you are trying to stir up some shit. I can tell you from personal experience that it just isn't true.

Some people just aren't made to be parents, biologically or otherwise. If we could just narrow it down to a gene and identify it at birth, we could have those fucktards automatically sterilized.

[Morbid]

I would like to know the ratio. I mean, we hear about these cases in which there are fuckups, but how many children did that particular CPS save? Seriously, if they are responsible for saving 1000 kids in a year, I can live with a couple screw ups. Can't win them all.

But if it a case in which a particular CPS is being reported on constantly, then just fire 'em or jail 'em. That should fix things really quick.

[swivel]

I would like to know the ratio. I mean, we hear about these cases in which there are fuckups, but how many children did that particular CPS save? Seriously, if they are responsible for saving 1000 kids in a year, I can live with a couple screw ups. Can't win them all.

I agree. Most abusive parents are smart enough to not get caught.

[MOGal]

"I would like to know the ratio. I mean, we hear about these cases in which there are fuckups, but how many children did that particular CPS save? Seriously, if they are responsible for saving 1000 kids in a year, I can live with a couple screw ups. Can't win them all."

I have real mixed feelings about this. I agree that in order to save a child from abusive parents the "system" must have enough power to act. Someone needs the power to take a kid out of the house now,.not wait 3 weeks for a court hearing or months for an investigation. I do realize that there are many situations that waiting has caused a child's death,.unacceptable. There seems to be a break down,.maybe DFS is doing their jobs but the courts are screwing up by trying to be sensitive to the rights of the parents and giving too many "second chances".

Perhaps if the process of selecting "foster homes" was better I might feel better about a child being taken from his family for a brief time then returned when the investigation reveals nothing. Perhaps I've become jaded from spending too much time here, and everything I see at work. Has anyone heard of "happy ending" with any of these kids? I mean is there ever a kid who is taken from his family, placed in "the system" and turned out a happy, well adjusted adult?

It seems that they are taken from one bad situation and placed in another. It seems as if every kid I see that is in "the system" is on a million medications, doing poorly in school, "has a lot of problems" according to their caretakers and eventually grows up to abuse their own child and the cycle starts all over again!

Obviously the answer isn't to just leave the kid with his parents until they kill him,..but geeeze,.you would think we could come up with a better answer, a system that is accountable for its actions and actually saves a kid.

I have had this discussion with many of my co worker (ER) and many of us are very frustrated. We are mandated reporters, but to be honest in all but the very obvious, horrible cases, we are often hesitant to report for fear of causing more harm than good! I had also thought it was better to be safe than sorry, better to over report than miss something,.then we get this 20yr old social worker in that has no children and lives in a fairy tale world where everyone has white picket fences and college degrees and when someone falls out of that very limited comfort zone of hers she takes a kid out of the home! There are so many cases where a little education and some financial assistance would go soooo far.

I won't rant on all day,..I don't know what the answer is,maybe we should all adopt an unwanted child. Maybe mandating birth control is the answer,.I don't know,.it just sucks as it is. I'm going to go hug my kids now,.I wanted them, planned for them and love them!

[swivel]

Sometimes your problem can be someone else's solution. Often, you combine two problems and they cancel each other out.

For instance, we have too many children here in the United States, and in Africa they have too many people malnurished, that can't find anything to eat...

[MOGal]

"For instance, we have too many children here in the United States, and in Africa they have too many people malnurished, that can't find anything to eat..."

are you suggesting we send our "extra" children to Africa to be eaten?

[ells9824]

I won't rant on all day,..I don't know what the answer is,maybe we should all adopt an unwanted child. Maybe mandating birth control is the answer,.I don't know,.it just sucks as it is. I'm going to go hug my kids now,.I wanted them, planned for them and love them!

I think a lot of the problem is you can't forfeit one person's rights to uphold those of another. So you have a little firecracker at school who is constantly bruised up with a black eye every other week.

The child could be an outdoor kid falling out of trees and off their bike, or the child could be abused. Do you take the Tomboy out of the house immediately when all the parents are guilty of is letting the child play outside?

I think if you talk to the kids and they say Mom makes me eat dog food and hits me every day, then yes, yank them immediately, but you can't just go take the kids out of the home for suspicion.

If you want to be able to do it to one family you have to be able to do it to both, then there would be thousands of kids removed daily, with no where to go, for really no reason. Its a real sucky Catch22.

[swivel]

"For instance, we have too many children here in the United States, and in Africa they have too many people malnurished, that can't find anything to eat..."

are you suggesting we send our "extra" children to Africa to be eaten?

It is a Modest Proposal...

[impqueen]

It is a Modest Proposal...

Swift of you, swivel.

[Pirelli Jones]

DFS, DFACS, CPS... Agencies that are called by various names in various places, but all have the same job description: To protect those who can't protect themselves.

I think your whole premise is biased by what you think their job description is vs. what it is. I will try and find the details from a state if you'd like but its ancillary to my response to your question.

My useful(?) contribution is this, 1) the sub-system you refer to works a 9-5 day and alot of the craziness that we read about is spawned in the off-hours where other representatives of "the system" come into contact with these people and thus there is a reliance on these 3rd parties to communicate adequately with all interested and supporting agencies (IE - Reference Damm-BPD contact prior to 2/28/07) and 2) The system is identifying problem issues and addressing them at its normal pace, offenders find court, victims find social or medical services, newspapers/blogs tell us about it, everybody goes home and gets drunk. The System Works!

Sorry to jump right in without a formal intro but just wondered in from the blogside and learning my way around.

[swivel]

I think your whole premise is biased by what you think their job description is vs. what it is. I will try and find the details from a state if you'd like but its ancillary to my response to your question.

My useful(?) contribution is this, 1) the sub-system you refer to works a 9-5 day and alot of the craziness that we read about is spawned in the off-hours where other representatives of "the system" come into contact with these people and thus there is a reliance on these 3rd parties to communicate adequately with all interested and supporting agencies (IE - Reference Damm-BPD contact prior to 2/28/07) and 2) The system is identifying problem issues and addressing them at its normal pace, offenders find court, victims find social or medical services, newspapers/blogs tell us about it, everybody goes home and gets drunk. The System Works!

Sorry to jump right in without a formal intro but just wondered in from the blogside and learning my way around.

Yeah. Hmmm.

Probably the best "first post" in a forum that I have ever seen. No better introduction possible. Welcome, and get comfortable.

[Rotten Apple]

My useful(?) contribution is this, 1) the sub-system you refer to works a 9-5 day and alot of the craziness that we read about is spawned in the off-hours where other representatives of "the system" come into contact with these people and thus there is a reliance on these 3rd parties to communicate adequately with all interested and supporting agencies (IE - Reference Damm-BPD contact prior to 2/28/07) and 2) The system is identifying problem issues and addressing them at its normal pace, offenders find court, victims find social or medical services, newspapers/blogs tell us about it, everybody goes home and gets drunk. The System Works!



Abusers will usually avoid all contact with third parties. They will hardly ever seek medical attention for a child until it is too late.

The issue I have is when there is no follow-up by social services when suspicions of abuse HAVE been reported by third parties. The lady that kept her dead kids in her house for weeks, even though she had been reported to social services more than once by a "third party." Rilya Wilson who was missing and no one at social services even realized it even though she was a foster child. Children that are returned to abusers even when third parties are recommending against it, only to end up dead.

[impqueen]

I think your whole premise is biased by what you think their job description is vs. what it is. I will try and find the details from a state if you'd like but its ancillary to my response to your question.

My useful(?) contribution is this, 1) the sub-system you refer to works a 9-5 day and alot of the craziness that we read about is spawned in the off-hours where other representatives of "the system" come into contact with these people and thus there is a reliance on these 3rd parties to communicate adequately with all interested and supporting agencies (IE - Reference Damm-BPD contact prior to 2/28/07) and 2) The system is identifying problem issues and addressing them at its normal pace, offenders find court, victims find social or medical services, newspapers/blogs tell us about it, everybody goes home and gets drunk. The System Works!

Sorry to jump right in without a formal intro but just wondered in from the blogside and learning my way around.

Welcome, Pirelli :)

Given that in no way did I post a comprehensive job description of any social services agency, I might not have given enough detail as to what I understand the job of a social service agency to be. Simply put, they're there to provide necessary services (generally including a safe place to live) for those who cannot do so on their own. Like children. Of course they're not the *only* agency with a mandate to protect.

That social services agencies work a 9-5 day is hardly a good reason to drop the ball. As a nurse, I often was the reporting party of suspected abuse due to legal mandate - but very rarely did I even get followup contact from a social worker. So I made sure that my notes were clear, that there was ample contact information, and usually I would follow up with the social services agency to find out who had the case and what was being done with it.

Perhaps the answer is more hours and more social workers. Or maybe the answer is better communication between social workers and intervening parties (police, medical professionals). Or maybe people need to get off their asses and give a damn about the cases they're working no matter who they are.

Or maybe the answer is to send all the kids to swivel's place. ;)

[Pirelli Jones]

Abusers will usually avoid all contact with third parties. They will hardly ever seek medical attention for a child until it is too late.

The issue I have is when there is no follow-up by social services when suspicions of abuse HAVE been reported by third parties.

Don't get me wrong any incident where someone had info and had failed to act in my mind is criminal. I think the protocols and procedures of any particular agency condone delayed action though, and it appears these are the loopholes that then excuse them for any appearances of "failure to act" because copy C was in basket X and would have been assigned to the next available resource, etc.

usually I would follow up with the social services agency to find out who had the case and what was being done with it.

I'm guessing this follow up isn't a legal mandate, I applaud you for your involvement though.

While I don't pretend to be anything more than some middle-aged American trying to get by it appears from the view me and the neighbors have while standing in front of my garbage cans that personal responsibility has been abandoned on both sides of the fence. The agency works at a pace and protects case workers who don't get there until its too late, criminals are to be alleviated of some degree of culpability because of the music they listened to or the clothes or their disaffected friends, ad nauseum.

[impqueen]

While I don't pretend to be anything more than some middle-aged American trying to get by it appears from the view me and the neighbors have while standing in front of my garbage cans that personal responsibility has been abandoned on both sides of the fence. The agency works at a pace and protects case workers who don't get there until its too late, criminals are to be alleviated of some degree of culpability because of the music they listened to or the clothes or their disaffected friends, ad nauseum.


Damn skippy, Pirelli, and well said. Of course, if the unwashed masses had any conception of personal responsibility, they wouldn't pop out kids and then get mad because said kids exist. You're a welcome addition to the boards - I hope you'll hang around awhile. :)

[Pirelli Jones]

Welcome, Pirelli :)

Given that in no way did I post a comprehensive job description of any social services agency, .... Of course they're not the *only* agency with a mandate to protect.

Thank you Impqueen, thank you all for the welcomes.

My sarcasm sometimes outpaces my use of emoticons. I was a tad tongue-in-cheek on this part of the reply. I know a burnt-out case worker who seems like the type to give 100% to the job and really bull-dog it, but the home life is a wreck I can't believe their kids weren't removed, somebody sets that bar and its not any of the individuals on the front line who are really just documenting observations to be reviewed in court later.