Displaced Children

My girlfriend, Sheri, writes for the Indianapolis Star News in the In Touch section. She has several entries in the News Online Blog section and often gets picked for entries in the actual paper. I am so proud of her and think that she is a brilliant writer. She is very good at making one think about an issue and seeing different points of view. This is exciting for all of us Sheri fans as we have been reading her personal blog for a couple of years. You can catch her writings at:

www.IndyStar.com/intouch
www.livingwiththeoldies.blogspot.com

In late November, she wrote a piece about Safe Havens, referring to the recent news regarding the parents dumping their children without consequences on a law passed to original past to protect newborns.

I find this all very interesting. I want to share my thoughts with you. This was my comment to her post:

My prospective is different. I think that we should have a system in place for every state that a "Safe Haven" be available. A child, regardless to being 1 day or 17 years, needs to have a safe place to live. They are not capable to provide life skills before adulthood. Grant it, many must develop the skills sooner, but you would think that in this great country we could at least take care of our own.

I have worked in environments that are not traditional homes for children. I had the pleasure of working both at the Indiana School for the Deaf, as well as DAMAR. Some came from strong loving families trying to provide a better environment for the child's needs. Some were placed there after difficult circumstances.

I have known children that truly had no self worth left. I have known children that have never felt love. I have seen countless children abused beyond belief. Some had mental challenges that made living with them difficult for a parent to handle and cause them to harm these children. Children with cigarette burns up and down their bodies. Broken bones, scars, and broken spirits. Some gave themselves self inflected wounds. Many had been sexually abused as well. I knew a teen that spent years performing sexual acts with animals not knowing any better as his mother put him through this to make money.

I am not trying to get off the subject. I realize that the bulk of this topic is the fact that parents were running off to Nebraska to drop off kids for different reasons.

So be it. The child is better off in the system than in an unloving or poverty stricken home. A child should have meals, shelter, and love. If it can not be provided in the home, the child is better off with a chance of survival.

It is not a perfect world out there.

Our children should not have to suffer so deeply in our society with resources that are available to better there lives. We provide this kind of care for foreign need, why not in our own backyard?

My two cents for what it's worth.