Hi,

today in The Courier Mail ( around page 5 - 20.11.08) there is an article about clamping down on bad parents. It goes on about centrelink getting involved along with other agencies and linking it all up. Some man who was from some organisation (can't remember now as I didn't buy the paper just had a free read in the newsagent!) said that too much abuse is going on.

This article in The Courier Mail was basically saying too many bad parents and too many child abuse cases going on.

Yet just this same week we have a different picture painted by The Australian.
It was intimating that Child Protection is failing our children and close to collapse. In those articles it talks about how too many children are taken into care as the workers worry about if they get it wrong. They have the laws to back them up to put these children into care even if these CSO types are not fully convinced themselves that the children are at grave risk of harm.

The Australian (Monday 17.11.08 - page 7) states -
"Children who go into care at a very young age end up with attachment problems. Research has shown that their brains don't develop properly. They have difficulty trusting anyone."

Yes, think back to those developmental theorist - Errickson (?spelling?)
Trust versus Mistrust
Autonomoy versus shame and doubt

So by taking children out of their homes the government is exposing the children to developmental problems.

So whilst we are 'saving' these vulnerable children by removing them we are adding to any problems the child may face.

Remember docs give more attention to under 5 yo -
which could be interpreted that there is more of a chance these children will be removed from their homes.


So throwing more money at docs/ child protection services is NOT the answer.
Just last evening I was going through the statistics of how much funding docs is receiving each financial year. It is growing enormously.

but the assistance offerred to parents and care-givers does not have the same growth.

The prevention measures does not seem to be considered but rather more power to snatch and grab.

So all you people who just read The Courier please get a more complete picture of the complexities of this issues and read around the subject at hand.