Our society is a stew of multicultural families. The stew is a natural bi-product of immigration and with each family introduced into British Columbia is a fresh interpretation of family practices and expectations. Personal experience of family affects the way we develop our own families, the way we parent and what we expect of our children.
I know that MCFD wants to keep its case work professional,objective, clinical and separate from personal life, but is it not possible for love to be used to define the Ministry response? Can that not be introduced as a value in the social worker's education? Is that far too homespun, grassroots, elementary and foolish to be considered? Would love as an integral factor in casework make a difference? I am only guessing that it would.
It would require that caseworkers would journey down a path of loving the clients regardless of the animosity they exhibit for having their lives invaded by outsiders. It means upholding the law but stretching to teach and to provide help and to share life knowledge. It means treating clients like fellow travellers in this world who may need a little direction or a bit of encouragement or some professional help to keep going and to succeed with their home and family lives.
As you may know, I pastored churches for 35 years and served as a denominational executive for hundreds of churches for a half dozen more years. My comments may reflect that service orientation. Yet I can remember going to conferences and seminars to build my skills and being instructed by a renowned cleric to treat the people we counsel and help as books on the shelf. When we go home at night we should simply put the book back on the shelf and leave it behind. Candidly, that did not work for me. It was a style which I could not adopt, could not make my own. I tended to take the book home with me. I believe that it made me a more responsible and more effective pastor. And perhaps that is why although the Baynes were out of my life for at least eight years because I left the church where they worshipped and where I had pastored, when I learned about them one year ago and the issues they have with MCFD, I took up their cause. I believe that when social workers inject genuine compassion born of love for people, they infuse hope to their clients.
Thank God and thank goodness that you did take up the Bayne's cause, Ron.
ReplyDeleteI really can't see how this problem can be solved as long as government and MCFD has so much power. Government is too big and powerful, that is the bottom line. There is no accountability. If more, many, many more, people were involved, it might make a difference, but the way things are it is beyond a David and Goliath scenario. We desperately need to cut back on the size and power of government.
Two big news stories recently show the power of government to do harm:
the Ashley Smith story (and she too was adopted, and spent time in foster housing);
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/content/2010/01/out-of-control.html
the Ivan Henry story (found not guilty of rape after 26 years in jail, and numerous appeals which were rejected).
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Ivan+Henry+1982+police+lineup+photo+released/1185248/story.html
As a interviewee stated on CBC radio recently, the government is more corrupt than organized crime. And think about it - how many of us know victims of organized crime, versus victims of the government? And if gov't had been doing its job, organized crime wouldn't be what it is today.
Ron, reading the comments on the post, "SAFE AND RISK FREE / Part 351 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne" makes me think that there are indeed high levels of government that are working madly to generate publicity that will lessen sympathy for people such as the Baynes. For example, there is a media blitz on right now - which appears to have gone viral - knitting baby caps supposely to support the cause of preventing shaken baby syndrome.
ReplyDeleteIf you just type in "knitting" and "shaken baby syndrome" into Google, you'll see what I mean. MCFD, or whoever is behind this (and it appears to be a number of groups, including BC Children's Hospital, working together) has done an excellent job of making the idea of saving shaken babies go viral. This appears to be a homespun - started with one social worker idea - but it is actually very sophisticated, time consuming and costly - this kind of marketing doesn't come cheap, no matter how grassroots they want to make it appear.
PS - My apologies to Anon for the earlier faux pas
ReplyDeleteHappy Hallowe'en!
ReplyDeleteThis would be the fourth such family event the Baynes would have without their children, let's hope it is the last!
Love is all well and good, but this evening I think is the appropriate day to spread good cheer and love to our special public servants by redistributing recycled eggs and used toiletry products.