When the Authorities Cause More Harm than Good

There are times when the authorities cause more harm than is necessary. In, recent history there have been stories where children have been taken into custody and transported away from the place where their parents told them to be asin the case of the Metiv's children. Children undertheage of eight placed in hand-ifs like Patrick  and Selecia hear in Georgia. Even a nine year old arrested and taken into custody. We have gone liturgical and it is more than just people filing behaviorfrivolous lawsuits. It is the criminalization of normal childhood behavior. This is a major problem because in essence it points to the fact it is adult expectations which are the issue.

When I was growing up I was told policemen are the community helpers that help to protect us. If you have a problem you can go to them for help. I ask you after what happened tp them are these two children and many like them going to believe what I did as a child.

On this blog I have spoken a lot about aagencies whose responsibility it is to look out for child welfare overzealous attempts to protect children and actually causing more harm.

So, what needs to happen to improve these situations?

1.  We need to rrequire all public service employees (police, social workers, doctors) who may come into contact with chiodren to take a child development course.
2. School authorities should be required to take child focused conflict resolution training, every two years.
3. There needs to be a more discussions in the public discourse about proper expectations for children from ages three to seventeen.
4. We need to reverse the criminalization of children's behavior including tantrums, pranks, and immature behavior.

How does this effect parenting?

We are all in this together. Parents need to have as much knowledge and understanding about children and development as anyone.

1. Know what is acceptable for your child's age and ability level.

2. Be in monyhly contact with your child's teacher.

3. Speak up at city council meetings about police being trained on dealing with children.

Write op-ed pieces to your local paper regarding thisissues incolving school, officers, and others engaging children.

4. Create a support group for families who have been negatively affected by government interaction with children.

5. Get a local church to sponsor programs for officials to talk about any issues and suggest positive and doable solutions.

6. Encourage the increase and availability of PParent Education in your community.

7. Find a local parent educator willing to work with all to create viable options.

8. Stand up for yourself and other parents to fully and independently engage in effective parenting.

The authorities I believe mean well. However, they can see so much negative things happening in their sphere, they tend to forget the are seeinf the exceptions and not the norms. It is all of our job to remind them of this and to help them to remember.