Child abuse statistics are egregiously skewed and perversely exist without any challenge.
Before indulging into these articles, here is a response to a poignant post on the social perceptions of parenting.
The things I have read in case law and from handling cases;
The parent is guilty of neglect because she took a shower while the infant napped in the crib.
The parent is guilty of neglect because the house is cluttered with too many books.
The parent is guilty of neglect because the family cat sleeps at the foot of the child's bed.
The parent is guilty of abuse because said parent insists that the teenage child clean her room.
The parent is guilty of neglect and abuse because said parent washes child, and changes child's pajamas and sheets after child wets bed.
The parent is too strict in that said parent insists that the children complete their homework before watching television or playing computer games.
Three days of dishes were left unwashed in the sink. Actually, it was THREE dishes. The social worker, being single, admitted that she used one dish a day. So to her, three dishes equated to three days worth of unwashed dishes.
And the list goes on and on and on.
Has Iowa become a hellhole of abuse? newspaper asks
An editorial in today’s Washington Times singles out Iowa in opining on how child abuse registries reflect “an imaginary tide of abuse.”
Just looking at statistics, it might appear that Iowa is one of America’s child-abuse hotbeds, the newspaper wrote.
“Iowa authorities have been forced to remove children from their homes at a rate twice the national average in recent years. Roughly 50,000 of the state’s 3 million residents have been placed on a ‘child abuse registry’ used to warn off some potential employers and focus state resources on protecting the victimized children.”
It goes on: “How has Iowa gone from heartland to hellhole? The answer is that it hasn’t. And the millions of Americans on such lists in 45 other states reflect the same imaginary tide of abuse.”
Click here to read the full editorial.
Just looking at statistics, it might appear that Iowa is one of America’s child-abuse hotbeds, the newspaper wrote.
“Iowa authorities have been forced to remove children from their homes at a rate twice the national average in recent years. Roughly 50,000 of the state’s 3 million residents have been placed on a ‘child abuse registry’ used to warn off some potential employers and focus state resources on protecting the victimized children.”
It goes on: “How has Iowa gone from heartland to hellhole? The answer is that it hasn’t. And the millions of Americans on such lists in 45 other states reflect the same imaginary tide of abuse.”
Click here to read the full editorial.
Assure people belong on child abuse registry
In July, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the state wrongly placed an Iowa City mother on the state's child abuse registry. The Iowa Attorney General's Office concluded the ruling could force the state to remove more than 25,000 other Iowans from the list, too. That concerned the Iowa Department of Human Services, which maintains the registry.
So the state asked the court to rehear the case. The court said no, but amended the ruling to clarify the impact out here in the real world. Instead of dropping thousands of names, the amended version may not result in DHS removing anyone other than the defendant in the case.
Jane Doe v. Iowa Department of Human Services
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: If the Iowa Attorney General's Office was forced to remove other Iowans from the Central Registry, that would, in effect, set the stage for civil litigation of due process violations and the potential and substantial increase in false claims filings. Remember, all this is paid for with taxpayer dollars.
HHS OIG Iowa Medicaid Payments for Targeted Case Management 2007
Hell, New York just shredded the requests to be removed from the Central Registry.
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