BowTiedAgorist t1_itna1mu wrote on October 24, 2022 at 10:05 PM

Reply to comment by steelymouthtrout in Adam Montgomery charged with murdering his daughter, Harmony Montgomery by IamMikey1

My ex worked in CPS\Child Adoptions in MA.

Some of the horror stories I heard - alot of it is driven by trying to keep the child in the family and in their neighborhood vs displacing them in foster or putting them group homes.

scarletuba t1_itnvdoe wrote on October 25, 2022 at 12:45 AM

Yup, because the research indicates that most children have worse outcomes when separated from their family. It's pretty devastating... But frankly, we should use that evidence to provide more supports to those families, so they have more of a chance of getting better. I know the narrative is they don't "deserve" help, but their children do.

BowTiedAgorist t1_itnwr4m wrote on October 25, 2022 at 12:55 AM

I'm not interested in handing junkies more money for junk so they can neglect their kids... The real problem is we punish parents for being poor, having low standards of living, or mental health issues - they deserve slack and support and empathy. Honestly, the all or nothing approach our CPS\Court systems take... is absurd - takes a rational decision out of people who were once paid to make rational decisions.

Dope fiends can kindly fuckoff to back allies and waste their lives on their own dime.

occasional_cynic t1_itqf04h wrote on October 25, 2022 at 3:28 PM

> provide more supports to those families

Yes, just give them more and more. That will definitely solve the problem.

scarletuba t1_itrpay4 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 8:25 PM

Giving them less has never worked.

Times are freaking hard, the US' bootstrap approach only works large scale for people who already have tons of innate support and are comfortable letting children suffer for their parents' problems.

Anyone who thinks there's not a causal link between poverty, drug use, child abuse, and mental illnesses is absolutely deluded. You do not solve drug problems by depriving them of more. You do not solve child abuse by drug addicts by punishing the drug users.

I'm not excusing what happened to this poor little girl, I'm not okay with anyone hurting a child, but I am arguing that punishing the adults who are in crisis is the same as punishing the child, and I am never okay hurting a kid.