Is a child born bad or do they become so?

Is a child born bad or do they become so?

It has been asked, "Is a child born bad or do they become so?"

Is it nature or nurture?

I, myself, do not believe a child is born bad, however I have seen things that have led me to question that position. On the other hand, I have witnessed a perfectly healthy child become bad, on a number of occasions through the interference of the CPS ( Child Protection System ).

There was a time when necessity was the mother of the invention; that of the Child Protection System.

However, be it through much better communications, more research performed by parents and about to become parents, and many standards that have been imposed by law, the necessity of the CPS has become less of a necessity and more of an anxiety, in our society today.

If a child is beaten, starved of food, clothing, a decent place to live and sleep, I believe such things are within the purview and necessity of the Child Protection System, and indeed they should act. However, when superiors command their subordinates to find fault with a family over trivialities and invented causes, the entire system becomes counter productive to that for which it was originally founded.

Some claim it is a communist plot, with the State imposing itself to the extent that families live in fear of their mighty autocracy. Others claim they once had an extreme necessity in our midst, but that necessity has diminished but the system still grows to serve itself.

Whatever your opinion, it is a well based fact that the CPS in Canada, as well as in the United States is now exaggerating its' importance.

Reports have alleged that field agents of the CPS are overworked and have filled out fraudulent reports to cover themselves, because they claim to be overworked.

When their superiors hunker down and demand these workers spend a majority of their time chasing shadows rather than tending to real cases, it's no wonder these field agents find themselves so overworked.

Recently, a case has come across my desk, where a child in the kinship care of her grandmother accused grandmother of grabbing her coat collar. The workers panicked and sprung into action, removing the child from the grandmother's home, alleging an escalation of violence. When one person grabs another's coat collar, is that really child abuse? Can the grandmother really be charged with assault?

Further, the child has repeatedly lied to the CPS in the past. Can what she now claims be accepted, on its' face as truth? The CPS agent claims they investigated and further claim the grandmother did grab the child by the coat collar. Their investigative technique- "They asked the child if this happened". When the child repeated her tale, the worker claimed this was verification. So much for investigative technique.

Apparently this grandmother had kinship custody of her granddaughter, under a supervision order by the agency. So where was this supervision when this alleged attack took place? If this was evidence of growing tension and escalating events in the grandmother's household, then why didn't CPS step in and try to work with the grandmother and granddaughter to try and diffuse the situation?

Where were they and their high and mighty supervision?

In truth, in reality, and as a matter of fact, the CPS is no more than a glorified policing agency, least concerned with protecting children and moreover concerned with condemning parents. However, unlike other policing agencies, there seems insufficient oversight and control of this agency to grant the god given rights of every parent, as proclaimed in the United States Constitution and Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The CPS is a practical example of people doing all the wrong things for allegedly all the right reasons. But when the dust settles, at the end of the millennium, how will our children and our children's children fare in this very oppressive environment?

Through the use of perception, just about everything can be made to seem unlawful, unholy and even just plain wrong. I guess that's why there are so countless many law books in a lawyer's office. And a jaunt through the family courts can reveal the grand pomp and circumstance, displaying that which may seem like royalty, amidst the hallowed halls of great institutions. In Family Court, much of this is merely masquerade, to cover up a host of improprieties, indiscretions and the violation of even the most sacred of our tenets.

And so, with so many families being necessarily subjected to the onslaught of oppression, and so many children being funneled through the system, how many of them will turn out, "BAD", and how many of them will be able to attribute that to the mismanagement, mishandling and just plain old abuse of the system?

How many Jeffrey Dahmers, David Berkowitzs, Ted Bundies, and Charles Mansons will society have to deal with, in the future, because of indignations through the Child Protection System?

Charles Manson was quoted as saying, "The System made me what I am!"

Through the Child Protection System, this could be quite plausible.

What of the collateral damage to the friends and families of the victims as well as the perpetrators, who must suffer, as a result of this Child Protection System allegedly protecting children from abuse and neglect- where such abuse and neglect is more a matter of perception and perspective than a matter of fact?

And finally, what does it take to make it, as a caseworker for the Child Protection System?

Is there any special bread or qualification to become such a blight on our society?

If child protection workers find it necessary to lie, cheat, and manipulate their way through cases, just to substantiate their own existence, then what possible good can be derived from their very existence?

Sincerely,

Carolynn J. Middleton BA BSc
( Executive Secretary )
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THE COMMITTEE ( People - 4 - People )
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tp4pc@sympatico.ca
tp4pc@hotmail.com
tp4pc@yahoo.ca