The Educational Restructuring of Child Welfare

Oh dear, it seems there is much activity at the federal level on "amending" the current structures of the nation's child welfare philosophies.

Not since the introduction of the factory school model did we have any movement to invest in family and community to generate the best interests of society.

The factory school model is exactly what it is.  It is a model to give just enough education for a public school child (mainly designed for the inner city) to learn the basic skills to go and work in a factory.  It was the dumbing down of America.

The factory school model also came with a disciplinarian component.  Not corporal punishment of the child, but a discipline far more severe, moral discipline for the parent as a result of the removal of opportunity barriers and the enfranchisement for political participation.

Complete with the destruction of independent thought, the model was quickly adapted to form the child protection model.

During the 1960s and 1970s, these newly developing social service channels motivated the public to begin reporting suspected abuse. David Gil’s 1965 public opinion poll revealed that although only 23 percent of respondents said that they would report families they suspected of being involved in child maltreatment to the police, 45 percent said they would report such suspicions to social service agencies.⁹ The increase in formalized channels for reporting helped to build the field of child maltreatment prevention as a scientific and applied endeavor. It also advanced the professionalization of practitioners working with children and families affected by maltreatment. The focus of these systems, however, was on responding to reports of maltreatment, rather than on prevention.

And the State to make it first to the front of the uncapped federal funding handout line was...

Michigan, the automobile manufacturer of the world.

I could go on, but I already covered this in detail in my book.  

The interesting piece to this restructuring child welfare puzzle is not many people are catching the funding issues.  This is a Medicaid funded project.  This is the expansion of Medicaid, a singular funding source for community health.

S. 3769 To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to promote  family and community engage...