The website News-Leader.com posted an article about the
Greene County child welfare system making the decision to remove six children
from a Springfield home. Greene County became involved with this family earlier
this year when one child was hospitalized for treatment of multiple injuries
and signs of starvation.
It was reported to Greene County child welfare that the
child was being kept in a cage and was not being fed. The family is reportedly
fighting the allegations about the child abuse with a lawyers help. This
article explains in great detail how children services make the decision about removal
of children. It explains in detail the steps that have to be followed.
The parents and their lawyer are fighting the accusations
and reporting that the child has an illness. After reading this article I found
another article related to this topic stating that children services went too
far when they removed the children from them home. Everyone will have to read the article and
decide for themselves what to believe. I am sure there would be an even larger
debate on this topic if Greene County had not removed and it was found out that
the allegations were true.
In this case, per the article, the Child Welfare investigators began their process in November. The preschool child's condition as diagnosed by medical personnel December 26 must have raised a level of concern to merit police to take her into protective custody from the hospital. The other children are also given protection until the custody hearing. I was not familiar with the process until I began to read this posted article. I think better to error on the side of precaution between that which has allegedly happened or what appears to be at imminent risk of happening.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the greater concern in the process is that "there is no formula to determine if a child's statement is worth more or less than adults." I take comfort that case by case, professionals are assessing the credibility of statements made regardless of the person's age. Children need to be heard. Children need to be protected.
I don't think there is enough information provided to determine whether it was justified to take custody of the children. As the article states, there needs to be evidence of imminent harm or something serious have already happened. As Bonnie said, there has been involvement with the agency for some time. It would be hard to say that it was right or wrong to take custody without knowing more details about the family and about the case.
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