Something horrible happened in New Jersey (sorry for being redundant).
A father posted a picture on Facebook of his son holding his new rifle. GASP. HORROR. I mean, I can’t believe these people could be so reckless. A child isn’t old enough to hold a gun! Eleven year olds should be doing things that NORMAL adolescents do in modern America. You know, like watching raunchy sitcoms about bigamy and fornication. And if these parents want to buy an age appropriate gift, they ought to be out at Target shopping for makeup and bikinis for their 6th grade daughter. That’s how we do things in this enlightened country. We teach our kids how to debase themselves, not defend themselves. Amiright?
In any case, some concerned “friend” saw the photo and reported the parents to Child Protective Services. Within hours, social workers and law enforcement were raiding the parents’ house and threatening to kidnap their children.
OK, a few things here:
1) If you report someone to a social worker because they simply have a different parenting style than you, you are a disgusting, traitorous sociopath. The law will never charge you with it, but morally you are guilty of attempted child abduction and I have no doubt that you will answer for your despicable sins come Judgement Day. I write this without even the slightest hint of irony or sarcasm. I’m serious. People who, on a whim and for no justifiable reason, attempt to have someone’s children taken from them, are the lowest of the low. May God have mercy on their souls for they are filled with unspeakable darkness. Amen.
2) Very few people want to challenge Child Protective Services because they’re called “Child Protective Services”, which, according to current logic, clearly means they do nothing but protect children. But the truth is that they are an agency which operates entirely unrestrained by the constitution. All it takes is one “report” from an anonymous source about some vague “sign of child abuse” that could be interpreted 4000 different ways, and a bureaucrat will be at your door threatening to take your child away if you don’t let them come in and interrogate the whole family. How in the hell are we so OK with this? A police officer can’t throw you in jail without cause or evidence, but a non-law enforcement pencil pusher can barge into your home and threaten to kidnap your children? Do you realize the State has to jump through more hoops to repossess your car than they do to repossess your child? I say “re”-possess because the working premise appears to be that the government exercises ultimate jurisdiction over your children and your parental authority is finite and temporary.
Obviously there are cases of criminal abuse of children. The people who commit those crimes ought to be thrown in a cage like a dog for the rest of their lives. But those situations should be handled by professional law enforcement. Most of what we get from CPS is harassment of low income families and unconstitutional meddling into private affairs.
3) Why don’t you ever see social workers rolling up in rich neighborhoods? What about the wealthy parents who choose to leave their kids alone in a 6 bedroom house with an elderly woman from Guatemala? What about these moms and dads who put material possessions over everything to the point of allowing their children to be raised by a stranger? That’s child neglect and it has a PERMANENT impact on those kids. Do you know how many young boys and girls have been utterly emotionally ruined by this sort of thing? But that’s OK, I guess, because the parents have money and the kids get to sit on leather furniture in front of sweet flat screen TVs and play video games all day. Meanwhile, a dad in a two bedroom townhouse gets a visit from a social worker because someone said they heard him yell at his son yesterday.
And then to cap it all off, when a case of real, actual, criminal child abuse crops up, the last things you need is a damn bureaucracy to handle it. That’s when you need police on the scene, protecting and serving like they’re supposed to.
I know I open myself up to all sorts of attacks with this one — questioning, as I am, the sainted social workers. But maybe we all ought to do a little more questioning and a little less blind accepting.
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.