Her mother believes her, took her to the hospital, and reported the crimes. So not all of the story is awful. Almost all of it, yes.

She understood enough to accuse the brown people.

Thought processes following these things are always such a mixed bag.

I agree with you. I am all for programs to combat poverty, and I see that poverty exacerbates abuse, but rich people abuse their kids too, money won’t solve that. And though the cases mentioned where kids died are inexcusable, there is no way of telling how many kids were saved by being pulled from abusive homes…

Part of the problem I found was that, while the kids were in primary school, there were programs and support for them - after school care groups where they could do their homework with help from an adult, teachers who made steps to educate the kids and the parents about the importance of meals, brushing teeth etc,…

yes, I’m sure poor people who have kids sit down and have a reasonable discussion about the long term risks and benefits of having children, carefully considering each factor and ultimately reaching a logical conclusion and making a plan accordingly.

But.... BOOOTSTRAHPS!!!

On the other hand, my ex was found guilty of child abuse by CPS. He’s from money. He hired a hotshot criminal lawyer and a handful of “expert” witnesses and then a civil attorney who sued the department and the investigator specifically. They administratively overturned and closed his guilty verdict and never…

Having worked as an attorney in the field I would agree with that assessment. Foster parents weren't always great but that was more because they often had limited education and resources and supports too. The amount they get (in NYC at least) is very limited (somewhat more reasonable for special needs kids but they…

Something must be in the zeitgeist.

I’m not entirely sure why, but I’ve always been under the impression that it’s really difficult for foster parents to use kids as income because what they do get from the state is so abysmal that it barely covers the cost of feeding/clothing/housing the kid. I have no experience with child welfare, so I’ll totally…

I like the idea of more support and education for foster parents (and parents in general), but sometimes parents just need some time to get themselves together. Having horrible parents and being abused is not the only reason why children are removed from their homes. Some parents may suffer illness (physical or…

demonizing anyone who uses social services like food stamps, telling the rest of the privileged masses that these people on assistance are the ones robbing them blind, and not the downright evil people in power.

Aaaah, this. Poverty is a cycle. Sometimes it breaks people too badly to fix. But life is not a Horatio Alger novel, impoverished kids rarely get the opportunity to bootstraps! themselves into the middle class. Constant discrimination against the poor merely perpetuates this cycle.

Attorney here, working with families involved with child welfare. I represent parents and children, and all my clients are indigent. This is so incredibly spot-on. After six years of seeing addiction, domestic violence, neglect, all varieties of abuse, mental illness, and myriad other problems, it’s clear to me the…

If I was suddenly the parent of 8 kids, with all the medical and other expenses that entails, I might have been willing to sign on that dotted line too. Especially since the horrors of reality TV weren’t really known back then.

You know what? That is exactly the kind of thing that is bad for our society. All he said was “Hello” and the woman felt threatened? That is simply awful.

Yep. I’ve told this story before but I once was nice and gave a a guy directions as I walked home from trader joes. It was 4 pm on a Sunday. He then started following me. Asking me question after question. I wouldn’t answer anything but just kept saying (politely course-out of fear. I’m not going to answer that, I’m…

Yep. This.

I met a guy at a party recently. He kept striking up a conversation with me even though it was clear (to me) that I wasn’t interested. At first, he said “wow - you’re a tough nut to crack!”, then “you seem so reserved - it must be difficult to get to know you, but I want to try! Say, Tuesday night?” (I said no). A…