Child Abuse, Removal

So for the past week the story of Nixzmary Brown, a seven year old child, and her death and abuse (see today's New York Times article) at the hands of her stepfather has been all over the papers in New York; on the cover of each one this past week. It is a tragic story, a story made more terrible the more you read about it. It has people up in arms over the child protective services, and even the mayor spoke out against the state system for failing to protect this child. Some of this attention may result in positive change, but there is also a likely result of encouraging social workers to pull children from their homes prematurely. Which is also a hard concept. On one hand, if it may prevent death and abuse like in the case of Nixzmary Brown, how can one not take a child from a home? On the other, abuse is not always easy to prove, not always cut and dry, and to take children from homes which may not, in the end, be considered abusive, can be far more traumatic than allowing them to live at home, with ongoing services.

It should be recognized that taking a child away from their home is perhaps the most incredibly violent well-intentioned act that exists. Imagine you are five years old, sitting around watching T.V. with your mom, and some person walks into your home, tells you to pack a suitcase and grab your favorite teddy bear, and leave for an undetermined amount of time. You are five and have no idea when you will see your mom again, and no one will give you any answers for the million questions you are too confused or afraid to ask. A social worker can rip a child away from every single thing they know and have ever known: their parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, neighbors, pets, possessions, culture, daily routines, school. Then, when the child is taken out of the home, there is no magic place to bring them. Foster homes may be hard to come by, may be temporary, may be terrifying and strange. A lot of times children that have been removed bounce around, to eventually land back where they started.

Child protective services (ACS, as they are called in New York) did fail Nixzmary Brown; child protective services in an inherently flawed system. Having worked in a similar child protective state system, reading the various details of the case provokes odd realizations of understanding, resignation, fear, disgust, and anger. I have been the worker that could not get access to a home in which there was abuse going on. Firing a few people involved and hiring a few more is not, unfortunately, the solution.