In the name of child welfare

Three pending federal bills “call for increasing CPS [Child Protective Services] investigations of minor marks on children… The proposed bills should raise special concerns for families of children with rare medical conditions and disabilities” [Diane Redleaf] Argument: negotiations for kinship care in the shadow of threatened CPS proceedings amount to a parallel, hidden foster care system [Josh Gupta-Kagan, Stanford Law Review via Diane Redleaf] “Why Jailing Parents Who Can’t Pay Child Support Is Questionable Public Policy” [Hans Bader, FEE]

2 Comments

  • Or just kids who like to play outside, climb trees, play football, etc.

    There’s likely to be many more “false positives” here.

    • And some kids are just accident prone – I sure was! Makes me glad I grew up decades ago, on a military base. Even then, my parents got some suspicion, like when they took me in for a follow-up appointment to get stitches removed (cacti are not for hugging) and I had given myself a black eye by walking into a table in between the two events. Nope, not abuse, just a really clumsy toddler. Kid like I was, today, stateside? Wouldn’t stand a chance against modern CPS.