Originally Posted by dEHmom:
For everyone saying that there are worst cases out there let me say this...
MAYBE SO! but that doesn't make it right. the kids who are silent, the kids are are verbally abused daily, the kids who are secretly beaten, punched, slapped, screamed at, there's no where for them to go? the ones who are too small to stand up for themselves have to just take it until one day mom/dad beats them in public and someone sees? Is it ONLY then that someone will step in and help these children? Is it only after they are dead that someone will care?
Yes there aren't as many resources as there needs to be. But it doesn't matter. There are people in jail cells because they robbed a store to feed their children, people who don't pay their taxes, people who tagged along or were involved in some way for a ridiculous crime, people who steal cars, all using up the system, wasting space. They deserve to be punished, but then there is no one to defend, no one to stand up for these little kids who are treated so badly and can't stand up for themselves, they put up with it, and may be part of a suicidal statistic one day, because their parents put on a happy face when a report was looked into or brushed over because they are fed, clothed and sheltered?????
Just so you know, it isn't that I agree that it should be this way...it just is what it is. Do I think that each and every one of us should stand up when we see a child mistreated...absolutely. I have made more than one phone call to CPS. One for a child whose Dad was drunk off his butt, on a boat with two of my daycare kids. The police met him at the dock, he blew a .17 and guess what...he didn't even get a BUI. This same Dad was in court another time for throwing his child up against a wall at the Target Center. Mom has had him in and out of court several times. Nothing. Zip. Zero.
Another time I had a daycare parent tell me that she lost her temper with her dd and threw the remote at her. It left a mark, the child was 2.5, I called CPS...guess what...nada...
Another time I saw a man pushing his child in to the car, screaming at him that the child was stupid, reaching in and smacking the kid around. I pulled up behind him in the parking lot and called 911. The police called me back later and said that there was no evidence of physical injury and...you got it...thank you for my time, but nothing can be done.
I am not unsympathetic, but I think it is important to understand the difference between abuse and poor parenting. It is also very important to realize the limited role the CPS actually plays in the welfare of children outside of the extreme cases.
Do I wish it were different? Absolutely. Does it infuriate me? Yes. I'm just giving the reality of the situation from my personal experience.