Yesterday's Suggestions for Regaining Trust will be available tomorrow.An Anonymous writer on August 23, 2010 at 9:09 PM wrote the following interesting comment.
Anonymous said...
“Social workers do not only remove children as a last resort. That is ridiculous and very untrue. Over the last seven years I have heard case after case where children were removed when other measures could have been put in place. Cases where more than one family member offered to care for the children but MCFD wouldn't even do the home studies. Cases where the children could have stayed with the parent if certain things were put in place but 'no funding' for that! Several situations where the children didn't even need to be removed. I think, if life is so bad for a child that they must be removed, there better be proof and I don't mean proof without evidence. I mean proof. Why screw up a child's future forever based on a few comments made by a neighbor or an angry ex spouse? And, when children are removed, parents should be told their rights just as it is when a person is charged with a crime because, in reality, what's the difference. Everything a parent says to a social worker will be used against them in court so why don't social workers tell parents that? Why don't social workers take statements from parents that are signed so that no statement can be later twisted and used against them?”
Among the points made were:- Kinship and Friend care should be prioritized when a removal is required during an investigation.
- Child Removal should truly be the last resort not merely on paper and in theory but in practice.
- A judge should never grant the Ministry a care order without substantial evidence.
- Something like U.S. Miranda rights should be required to read to parents before conversation, interrogation or investigation so incriminating statements or subjectively recorded entries cannot be used.
- Any statement from parent(s) to be filed should require parent(s)' signature.
