AND
YOU THOUGHT IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU
You
have just been accused of abusing or neglecting your
child.
You
have no idea where this accusation came from.
Your
first impulse is to cooperate with the social worker.
After all, you have nothing to hide. And so... the
nightmare begins. . .
Nobody
is safe from a false allegation of child abuse/neglect.
This is an issue which encompasses the entire spectrum of
American society, regardless of race, religion, political
persuasion, or socio-economic status. More than 3,000
children a day are removed from their homes, most of them
from non-abusive parents.
The
state makes a poor and indifferent parent. The government
is not equipped to provide each unique child with the
individual care and nurturing he needs to thrive and grow.
Parents bear children, not governments, and for good
reason. Unlike the state, we recognize that nobody is a
perfect parent, but we assert that the existing family
bonds of love, mutual concern and trust can overcome most
parental imperfections. To require parents to meet the
state's standard of parenting perfection is hypocritically
absurd.
Children
and parents share deep and enduring bonds which should not
be tampered with casually. The child's first best interest
is to be with his biological parents.
Child
abuse is a crime and it should be treated as a crime and
investigated by law enforcement professionals, not
caseworkers. The agency that provides the services to the
family cannot be the agency that investigates the
allegations - it is a conflict of interest.
The
family is an institution, which predates any government,
and as such, has inherent rights, which supersede any
state interests.
The
rights of the child cannot be artificially separated from
the rights of the parents without credible evidence of
abuse or neglect as defined in the statutes.
The
child has an inalienable right to the care, custody, love
and nurturing of his parents.
The
parents have the inalienable right to the care, custody
and control of their children, and the absolute right to
exercise non-abusive parental prerogatives without the
interference of the state.
The
child does not enter this world as a stand-alone entity
which can be plugged into whatever slot the state decides
is appropriate.
Whatever
the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation
can commit the least act of injustice against the
obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for
it. Henry David Thoreau
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