Posted on 10/10/2009 2:15:46 PM PDT by Saije
Miguel Padilla ran away from a licensed group home in April 2008, but he didn't go far.
Unknown to anyone at the time, the 17-year-old amputee made his way to a stand of trees near the main driveway. Using his one arm, he climbed into the branches, tied a makeshift noose to a limb and hanged himself.
Nine days passed before a staffer found his body at the sprawling LeRoy Haynes Center in LaVerne, coroner's records show -- and then only by chance.
"To our knowledge there was no search by LeRoy's or any other authority," said Dave Rentz, the boy's minister...
At least 268 children who had passed through the child welfare system died from January 2008 through early August, according to internal county records obtained by The Times. They show that 213 were by unnatural or undetermined causes, including 76 homicides, 35 accidents and 16 suicides.
Eighteen of the fatalities were deemed the direct result of abuse or neglect by a caregiver, subjecting them to public disclosure under a recent state law aimed at prevention.
But Miguel and many others perished all but invisibly, their deaths attracting little or no public scrutiny.
Through interviews and previously confidential records, the newspaper examined his death and that of Lazhanae Harris, a 13-year-old girl slain in March. Both underscore systemic failings, particularly the risks of losing track of abused kids as they commit crimes and "cross over" to the justice system, or as they move through multiple state-licensed homes.
Together, they also illustrate the range of flaws in a system where choices sometimes boil down to leaving children with families that can't or won't care for them, or placing them in foster homes that are no better -- and are sometimes worse.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“Maybe there’s just no good answer.”
Sad but true. Life liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness...that’s all we are supposed get...
“Life liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness...that’s all we are supposed get...”
All of which are a little tough for a 17 year old amputee living in a group home to acquire on his own.
This should cheer Obama up!
You avoid the cost of an abortion and the kid hangs himself. With Obama’s deathcare, more people will be hanging themselves - for “free”.
“Maybe there’s just no good answer.”
There is; it is called responsible parents.
These kids don’t know what that means. It is outside their worldly experiences. How sad that the lacking on the part of parents is visited with such devastation on their children.
The solution is to reopen orphanages. The Catholic Church ran many orphanages in the late 19th and early 20th century where children grew up quite successfully, and a number of them liked it so much they later became members of the order. Many of these kids were not orphans but had been abandoned by parents who couldn’t support them or by one parent after the death of the other.
HOWEVER, the orphanages have to be privately funded, and the government has to stop harrassing them. When I worked in a state-run group home for retarded adults, they objected when we took the residents to church but wanted employees to take them to sex shows in a nearby city.
One of the problems that all churches have now with running orphanages or foster programs is that they accept government money, and this means they cannot teach any moral values to the kids and also that the people they hire have absolutely no interest in these children.
It’s PARENT(S) that need to STEP UP!
All the money in the world in these useless social programs will NOT change what is truly needed and denied. Often these “social owrkers” are sicker than those they want to “care” for.
“Maybe there’s just no good answer.”
There is; it is called responsible parents.
These kids don’t know what that means. It is outside their worldly experiences. How sad that the lacking on the part of parents is visited with such devastation on their children.
EXACTLY RIGHT!
How about reducing the government role and letting it go back to churches and other community groups? This will do several things:
1. Allow tort liability to affect behavior. As we know the Kings are exempt from that.
2. Lead to more efficient care by the care givers as they will not be exempt from firing.
Sure a few fell through the cracks of the more private system, but we see some maybe more fall through the crack of a government system and their is little recourse. And there is a lesson in government takes overs in this situation that applies to health insurance/care.
Their example doesn’t illustrate their contention. If you don’t want someone to hang themselves, you’re going to have to supervise them continuously, and I doubt that’s the intent with which a “group home” is set up.
“Life liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness...that’s all we are supposed get...”
All of which are a little tough for a 17 year old amputee living in a group home to acquire on his own.
Yep. Sad. Time to dust off an old volume of Candide.
All of which are a little tough for a 17 year old amputee living in a group home to acquire on his own.
How so, exactly? I know of no price tags or any assistance required to benefit from any of those things...
The good answer is to aggressively push policies to reduce childbearing by people who are unequipped and/or unwilling to care for children. As long as there’s this huge steady flow of unwanted children being pumped into the system, the system will remain overwhelmed, and will continue to pump up out young adults who just repeat the cycle.
Start with absolutely mandatory Norplant or IUD for any woman who is receiving *any* kind of public assistance. If you can’t support yourself, you obviously can’t support yourself plus children. No need to force anybody — just present it as a choice — you want the assistance, you get passive contraception installed — you don’t want passive contraception installed, you don’t get the assistance.
I know government hospital staff workers.......
( the future for medicine in America )
I agree about orphanages or large homes. I also worked at a 150 bed home for mr children. There are a lot of caregivers, workers, and children, and it is hard to hide abuse for long. With a small 8 or 9 resident ‘group home’ with 2 or 3 staff, there are fewer eyes to see abuse or neglect.
Bam bam and his Czars would like to assist in their suicides. Maybe the social workers need to learn death counseling to assist these down trodden young people make the right choice.
I remember reading for a time in the 90’s, liberals in classrooms were talking to kids about death and dying and suicide. I remember one teacher got into trouble for taking kids on a field trip to the local cemetary and having them lay down on grave sites.
That’s horrendous!
And if they want housing, put them in hostels, not new apartments of their own.
Yep, barracks-style.
Hehe, yeah. Each day will be a new workout routine and the kids will get supervised and then the mothers take over. They’ll spend the day taking skills lessons to learn marketable skills and resume building.
Then give all the welfare perks to those who are responsible. Let the responsible kids enjoy gas money for thier car to go to school, free housing, and other amenities.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.