RA>  >It would seem to be a
RA>  >common sense idea for social workers to routinely look to see if t
RA>  >are relatives willing to raise a child or even shelter a child
RA>  >temporarily, not to mention that in this money-conscious era, it w
RA>  >save a lot of taxpayer dollars.
RA>  SB>
RA>  SB> And, in many cases, it would place the child in a home where sh
RA>  SB> is already loved.
RA> And, provided that the child can reasonably be reassured that an abu
RA> (if that's why the child must be removed from his/her birth home) wi
RA> not be allowed access to him/her, being moved to a home and people t
RA> the child is already familiar with is much less disruptive
RA> psychologically than being placed with strangers.  After all, if the
RA> environment is such that the child has to be removed from it, the ch
RA> already has a full load of psychological disruption on his/her plate
RA> without adding the stress of a totally unknown environment.
And yet, at times, no relative *is* willing to take the little one, 
because the whole extended family system is overwhelmed.  In those 
cases, a good foster home is essential.  But, in such cases, parental 
rights should probably be terminated early, so the child can be adopted.
RA>  SB> I approve of open adoptions in cases where contact with the bir
RA>  SB> family would not be detrimental to the child.  In some cases (h
RA>  SB> drug abusers or pedophiles, for example), such contact has too
RA>  SB> possibility of damaging the growing youngster.
I have mixed feelings about open adoptions.  Several years ago, I was 
totally for them.  Now, I think it has to be looked at case by case; 
sometimes, for reasons other than abuse, one or more members of the 
triangle (birth parents, child, adoptive parents) cannot handle the 
situation well.  Sometimes it really is best to wait until the youngster 
has reached adulthood before putting him or her in contact with his or 
her birth parents.  
RA> This perhaps needs to be considered on a case by case basis.  Doroth
RA> who I mentioned in another message, discovered by accident that one
RA> her daughters was a drug addict and was neglecting her two daughters
RA> Dorothy didn't waste any time removing her granddaughters from her
RA> daughter's apartment, getting her daughter into a treatment program,
RA> getting legal custody of her granddaughters.  She was determined tha
RA> only contact her grandchildren would have in the future with their m
RA> would be strictly supervised.
There's a grandmother in my town who has her two little grenddaughters; 
their mother's boyfriend was sexually abusing them; and the mother 
wouldn't leave him.  The boyfriend is forbidden to have any contact with 
them.
RA> I feel that when a child has been sexually abused by a family member
RA> child should never, ever have to see the abuser again unless he or s
RA> decides to after he or she grows up.
I agree.  I find myself wondering how common sexual abuse by family 
members is in Indian families.  Considering how many Indian kids in 
boarding schools were sexually abused by teachers, principals, priests, 
etc. from a very young age (4 or 5 on), I suspect it is quite high.   I 
don't know what to do about it either.  But I think we need some sort of 
healing in native communities, so as to end this sort of behavior.  I 
think small Indian children in incestuous families must be protected; 
but the perpetrators must also be healed; or the cycle may keep moving 
through the generations.
 
RA>  SB> Some states are beginning to talk about changing that balance,
RA>  SB> and giving rewards to agencies and social workers who successfu
RA>  SB> place children for adoption.  New Jersey is one of those states
RA>  SB> it's only in the talk stage right now.
RA> It sounds like a good idea, but those that are working on drawing up
RA> legislation need to consider that common garden-variety greed is goi
RA> have some agencies and social workers placing children into wholly
RA> inappropriate and possibly dangerous situations just to get them pla
RA> so the agency/social worker can collect the reward.  I shudder to th
RA> of a child molester being allowed to adopt children so the social wo
RA> can get, say, a 25 cent an hour pay raise.
There is that angle.  perhaps if the money for keeping a child in the 
foster care system, the money for returning a child to the birth family, 
and the money for placing a child for adoption was the same; then the 
interests of the child would become priomary.  I wonder how one could 
word a law to create that effect.
                   Sondra
-*-
 þ MM 1.0b4 þ Unregistered þ MailMaker - Your Windows offline reader!
--- Opus-CBCS 1.7x via O_QWKer 1.7 
---------------