PDonna Burton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The San Ysidro border port of entry.
The secretary of homeland security has said the administration might start separating kids from parents at the border and putting those children in foster-care. A New York City child-welfare expert weighs in.
In several recent sex trafficking busts, a large share of the children rescued have been involved in the foster-care system. How can we prevent the sometimes necessary tool of foster care from become a fast-track to exploitation?
A third of the kids in foster care diagnosed with ADHD have been treated with off-label antipsychotic drugs. That’s too many children getting medicine we know too little about.
Poor parents are no more likely to hurt or neglect their kids, the author argues. They’re just more likely to be punished for failings both real and imagined.
A shortage of judges means some children and their families spend years in the system, exacerbating whatever problems brought them there in the first place.
Whether they are victims of child abuse or lose a parent to murder, kids in some neighborhoods get treated differently when faced with tragedy. Readers and viewers must demand better.
Despite alarming cases of abuse, the child welfare system still lacks strict safeguards to make sure parents who earn fees to care for children actually provide a nurturing home.
Child abuse and neglect aren’t the only ways parents can hurt children. In high-conflict custody cases, kids are often quiet victims.
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