he walks on, doesn't look back...he pretends he can't hear her.
i think it's a bit ironic that we form 'coalitions'. and i think it's kind of crazy that we have 'task forces'. i think it's totally retarded that we sit around and waste our time (yes ~ that's usually what we're doing) sitting around a table...or in a big meeting room...discussing what problems we see in the places we work.
for instance...at the meeting today we discussed what a terrible problem child abuse is in our region. oh, and we also discussed the procedure that takes place when a report is made to child protection. what good is that doing to address the problem?
in the information given, we were provided with statistics of valid cases of child abuse that had been reported in the last year...broken down by parish. the statistic for the parish i work in was something like 40....while the neighboring parish was 120. both are rural parishes....so this doesn't make sense. this infuriates me. why? first off...because child abuse of any kind infuriates me. but secondly...because i don't think the cases in our parish are being taken as seriously as they should be and i don't feel like they are being investigated properly. i have addressed my concerns with the appropriate people, but i still don't feel any better about it.
...why not? because every night when i close my eyes i see their little faces. i see the ones that come to me crying because their mom pushed them down or burned them on the stove or with a lightbulb or slaped them across the face or did some other horrible thing to them...and none of them deserve it but they all think it's their fault. or i see the look in the 4 year old's eyes as he's telling me how his mother told him to 'never call her or call her house or come to her house because she never wants to see him ever again'. what can i say to these babies to make it better for them? i want to make it go away.
i want to do more than make it go away. i want them to never have to go through that in the first place. and yes...i know that meetings are the first step you have to take in order to get anything done, but i think that something productive needs to come out of these meetings. i'm sick of sitting around in our comfy new work clothes eating a catered lunch nodding our heads in agreement that there is a problem. i think we need to actually get out there and do something about it.
for instance...at the meeting today we discussed what a terrible problem child abuse is in our region. oh, and we also discussed the procedure that takes place when a report is made to child protection. what good is that doing to address the problem?
in the information given, we were provided with statistics of valid cases of child abuse that had been reported in the last year...broken down by parish. the statistic for the parish i work in was something like 40....while the neighboring parish was 120. both are rural parishes....so this doesn't make sense. this infuriates me. why? first off...because child abuse of any kind infuriates me. but secondly...because i don't think the cases in our parish are being taken as seriously as they should be and i don't feel like they are being investigated properly. i have addressed my concerns with the appropriate people, but i still don't feel any better about it.
...why not? because every night when i close my eyes i see their little faces. i see the ones that come to me crying because their mom pushed them down or burned them on the stove or with a lightbulb or slaped them across the face or did some other horrible thing to them...and none of them deserve it but they all think it's their fault. or i see the look in the 4 year old's eyes as he's telling me how his mother told him to 'never call her or call her house or come to her house because she never wants to see him ever again'. what can i say to these babies to make it better for them? i want to make it go away.
i want to do more than make it go away. i want them to never have to go through that in the first place. and yes...i know that meetings are the first step you have to take in order to get anything done, but i think that something productive needs to come out of these meetings. i'm sick of sitting around in our comfy new work clothes eating a catered lunch nodding our heads in agreement that there is a problem. i think we need to actually get out there and do something about it.
posted by agirlnamedbob. @ 11:56 PM
3 Comments:
At 2:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Right on. I'm telling you, I could start a business: I "claim" good kids with crappy parents, beat the parents senseless with a rod of righteous anger, and put the kids with a good family looking to adopt. Everybody wins.
You should have to be licensed to have kids, and if you have kids and fail, you should have to undergo mandatory "corrective" surgery.
At 2:58 PM,
The Paradoxical Pariah said…
It never goes away. No matter how much you want to save them. From experience, only God's love from the spiritual intervention of the Holy Spirit can heal the wounds that are inflicted. What you need to do is just be available to love them.
At 5:25 AM,
Anonymous said…
Bob, these are the kids that I get 10 years later, when they are teenagers. These are the kids that end up in treatment centers. Child abuse irritates me too, and I can totally feel your frustrations. Why can't parents be.... PARENTS???
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