Lack of clarity about what can make you lose your kids

General chat area for anything that doesn't fit in elsewhere.

Moderators: family_man, LindaJM

Lysander
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2015 8:15 pm

Lack of clarity about what can make you lose your kids

Postby Lysander » Sat Aug 29, 2015 3:51 pm

People complain sometimes about how the government has volume after volume of statutes and regulations, so that you would have to become a legal scholar to understand all the intricacies of what's expected of you as a citizen. One thing that can be said in its favor, though, is that at least all these rules give us clarity about what's allowed and not allowed, for those who are willing to make the effort to read it all. I feel that the way the CPS and family court systems are set up, there's not a lot of clarity about what behaviors will or won't cause you to lose your kids. For example, they don't explicitly say that leaving your kids outside for 90 minutes is grounds for removal. So how do you know?

All that they give us are some vague criteria that judges and caseworkers will interpret and apply to our situations subjectively. The result is that we have to parent defensively (similarly to driving defensively), being almost paranoid that if we give our kids too much freedom to go where they want and do what they want, the government will put them in foster care. These days, I almost feel like an aspiring politician trying to maintain a pristine image, since I'm having to consider my every action and word and how it might, now or in the future, be twisted and used against me to show that I'm an unfit parent. It's like living in a totalitarian police state, is it not?

Since most people will want to be parents at some point, I guess it will be necessary for the majority of people to live their lives looking over their shoulders, considering who might be listening or watching, and bearing in mind how it might reflect someday on their suitability as parents. One might even wonder, what is the point of bringing children into a world where they are going to have to live under such restriction, and have so little freedom to say and do as they please? It's bad enough that kids can't do what they want (as long as it doesn't harm person or property), but now adults can't either. Even if you stay within the boundaries of the law, you can still be considered at risk of doing something bad later.

But of course, once one begins asking what is the point of bringing children into the world (and thereby replenishing and renewing the human race), the logical conclusion of that line of thinking is suicide. Rather than go there, it would be better to consider how to fix this system.

User avatar
family_man
Posts: 1138
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:02 am
Location: TX

Re: Lack of clarity about what can make you lose your kids

Postby family_man » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:04 pm

I agree to the point that we longer are living in a free society. The pressure to conform to societal norms is increasing, and not just in the realm of parenting. My political views, for example, are pretty far outside the mainstream. I feel I cannot discuss them in public, at my job or in my community for fear of reprisals: loss of job, reporting to authorities, etc. It's not quite as bad as it was in East Germany, for example, but it's moving in that direction. This is why I eschew Facebook, and prefer to post in more controlled environments, such as this forum.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice.


Return to “Round Table”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests