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DSS workers can remove a child from their home if they believe the child is at immediate risk of harm. However, DSS strives to keep families intact whenever possible and appropriate.
The agency has come under fire in recent years due to several high-profile abuse cases. Eleven-year-old Haleigh Poutre was beaten by her adoptive mother and stepfather and fell into a coma after DSS had received and dismissed at least 14 prior reports of suspected abuse. Four-year-old Rebecca Riley died of an overdose of psychiatric medications, allegedly given to her by her parents, six months after DSS dismissed a therapist’s concerns she was being overmedicated.
Although CAPTA requires states to preserve confidentiality, CAI and First Star maintain that the only way states can implement meaningful reforms to protect vulnerable children is through greater public disclosure.
“When abuse or neglect lead to a child’s death or near death, the state’s interest in confidentiality is secondary to the interests of the children who would be better protected and served by maximum transparency,” the report argues. “An open system is a better system, draws attention to failures, empowers advocates, and ultimately better protects children.”..............
Child advocate faces challenge
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The “challenge” with regards to Haleigh is for society to try to come to grips with just how we became so callous that we would sit by and allow a little girl to be executed AFTER the criminals who tried to kill her failed.
If you read about the troops who liberated the death camps at the end of WWII, they were horrified at what the Nazis had done, but they were even more outraged at the nearby townspeople who knew what was happening and chose to ignore it.
And crime of crimes, the GOP is the party that brought the Terry Schiavo case to a vote in Congress, thereby mixing church and state. I have my doubts that the Terry Schiavo case is an issue that will resonate at the moment with Jewish voters, given Iran's nuclear program nearing completion (Barack Obama says he'll talk to Ahmadinejad about it), economic worries (Barack Obama says the solution is to raise taxes and spend a lot more government money), and the war in Iraq (Barack Obama says get out now, and leave the locals to fend off Iran and al Qaeda)
As it turns out, Democrats in Congress from Illinois voted 4 to 2 for the Schiavo legislation. I really have no interest in how Barack Obama voted on the Schiavo case. I care about his views on Iran, Israel, Iraq, the economy. It turns out Obama was for the Schiavo legislation (voted for it), before being against it (shades of another Democratic presidential candidate I remember)...........
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