SSRN-Stories Told and Untold: Confidentiality Laws and the Master Narrative of Child Welfare by Matthew Fraidin

SSRN-Stories Told and Untold: Confidentiality Laws and the Master Narrative of Child Welfare by Matthew Fraidin

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Matthew I. Fraidin
Georgetown University Law Center, mif4@law.georgetown.edu
Georgetown Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 11-17
This paper can be downloaded free of charge from:
http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/570
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1747803
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63 Me. L. Rev. 1-60 (2010)
STORIES TOLD AND UNTOLD: CONFIDENTIALITY
LAWS AND THE MASTER NARRATIVE OF CHILD
WELFARE
Matthew I. Fraidin
I. INTRODUCTION
II. STORIES OF CHILD WELFARE
A. The Master Narrative, Stories, and Agenda-Setting
B. The Master Narrative of Child Welfare: Deviance, Monsters, and
Abuse
1. History and Research
2. Framing and the Master Narrative of Child Welfare: An
Example
C. Another Story of Child Welfare
1. Foster Care is Populated by Children from Low-Income
Families Who Experience Neglect, Not Abuse
2. Many Children Suffer Greater Harm in Foster Care Than at
Home
III. CONFIDENTIALITY LAWS
A. The Law
B. The Law-in-Action: Silencing Youth and Suppressing Stories
1. Shawntaye Debrew: The Court Clamps Down
2. “Paul Getty”: “He Doesn’t Want to Talk to You”
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF CONFIDENTIALITY LAWS
A. Many Children are Placed in Foster Care Unnecessarily
B. Placements with Relatives are Discouraged
C. Lawyers, Social Workers, and Judges Ignore, Reject, and Silence
Parents
D. Black Children are Over-Represented in Foster Care and Receive
Worse Treatment in Foster Care than White Children
E. Throwaway People
1. Throwaway Agencies
2. Throwaway Children
V. CONCLUSION
A. Reframing the Debate
B. Untold Stories