During the late nineteenth century there was a case that sparked American interest, the story of a little girl called Mary Ellen, so abused by her mother that New York's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had to step in and protect her. By all accounts this little girl was severely abused and mistreated. There were still bruises on her face the day she testified in court against her mother. As the result of the Mary Ellen case, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded, what many now believe to be the birth of Child Protective Services.
This story is still used today to show just cause for the intrusion into family's perpetrated by CPS. The part of the story that is now forgotten is that the mother this little girl refers to, was a foster mother. Mary Ellen was place by the Department of Charities in care of one Mary Connolly. Who was convicted of felonious assault and sent to prison.
In the twentieth century, the same crime is being allowed to continue, all in "the best interest of the children". One would think that over 100 years later we would have learned from our past mistakes. CPS is a bureaucracy that has been allowed to go unwatched for decades. We have left the fate of our children in their hands and no one has bothered to look over their shoulders. I am sure that you have seen the statistics of child abuse in America, just as I have. The out cry is great to protect the children from abusive parents, as well it should be, however, those statistics fail to show how many of those children were abused at the hands of their foster parents.
Whose responsibility is it to make sure that the homes these children are being placed in are safe? That is the job of social workers. Social Workers are hired by the state to make a
judgment call on whether a parent is abusive or not. If the finding is that the parent is abusing the child, social workers must find a home for the child. Where do these children go? Foster homes, group homes and sometimes institutions. Foster children are moved to an average 3.4 different foster homes. In many cases a foster child will have lived in over ten homes before they age out of the system or are returned home. Many foster homes have 3 t0 6 other foster children in their care.
Most social workers are required to have a four-year degree, in rare cases some have only a high school education, They are not required to have any coursework in the field of children's studies. Many social workers are single, and childless. They can have on average more than forty cases at one time. With little or no education in the field of children's studies, over forty cases at one time and no hands on experience with raising children, it is no wonder that mistakes are being made left and right. With any other job mistakes would be correctable, however when dealing with people's lives these mistakes take on the form of tragedies.
