MishpishHow neglected are Australia's children?
June 30th 2008 02:54
Australia's network of childcare protection services has faced a constant barrage of bad press over the past few years. Living in Sydney, regular news stories appear -- tragic stories -- highlighting abuse, neglect and death of children who were "known to DoCS" (the NSW government's Dept of Community Services). In the past week alone Austrlian's have witnessed a number of sad and tragic stories. The worse being the murder suicide of a father and his three young children. Earlier last week there were two cases of children being removed from their mothers due to neglect and malnourishment. Finally, there's the 13 year old who DoCS lost.
An article from the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the tragic murder suicide states that "caseworkers have confirmed with police an apprehended violence order had been taken out against a father who later killed himself and his three young children, but no specific concerns were raised about the youngsters, the NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) says."
Do the government departments charged with the task of protecting children deserve the bad rap? No doubt they are weighed under by a system that is out of date and overwhelmed. They are probably trying their best, but when they are understaffed and underfunded, that's probably not good enough.
Child protective services have to walk a high wire act, balancing the best interest of the child in each every situation. If, say, they get a call about a wife who is suffering from domestic violence, they probably wouldn't take away any children from that situation, if there is no evidence that the husband has ever hurt the children. Is this ideal? Maybe not, but what is worse? Taking a child from his loving mother and placing him in a home with strangers, or leave that child with his family, where they are exposed to violence? There are no easy answers.
The community itself has taken a step back. The village no longer raises the child. How many times have we seen stories on the news about child abuse cases, when the neighbours are interviewed saying "we knew something was wrong". Often these same people failed to call DoCS to express their concerns. No one wants to take responsibility in case we 'get it wrong' or offend someone.
So who's fault is it? It's really no one's fault, but it's all our responsibility.
An article from the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the tragic murder suicide states that "caseworkers have confirmed with police an apprehended violence order had been taken out against a father who later killed himself and his three young children, but no specific concerns were raised about the youngsters, the NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) says."
Do the government departments charged with the task of protecting children deserve the bad rap? No doubt they are weighed under by a system that is out of date and overwhelmed. They are probably trying their best, but when they are understaffed and underfunded, that's probably not good enough.
Child protective services have to walk a high wire act, balancing the best interest of the child in each every situation. If, say, they get a call about a wife who is suffering from domestic violence, they probably wouldn't take away any children from that situation, if there is no evidence that the husband has ever hurt the children. Is this ideal? Maybe not, but what is worse? Taking a child from his loving mother and placing him in a home with strangers, or leave that child with his family, where they are exposed to violence? There are no easy answers.
The community itself has taken a step back. The village no longer raises the child. How many times have we seen stories on the news about child abuse cases, when the neighbours are interviewed saying "we knew something was wrong". Often these same people failed to call DoCS to express their concerns. No one wants to take responsibility in case we 'get it wrong' or offend someone.
So who's fault is it? It's really no one's fault, but it's all our responsibility.
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