Christopher Sorenson wrote a compelling piece in the Star Tribune about child protection and how only extreme cases of child abuse make the news or public awareness.
Speaking of under-appreciated social workers, Chris writes; “On a daily basis these folks see what none of us wants to see – children being destroyed by neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and …, Our dirty secret in Minnesota and in this country is the abuse and neglect of children that continues each and every day”.
He points out how hard social work is and how stressed employees in a high-pressure and overburdened system do very difficult work under tight deadlines for modest pay. I would add; and with far too resources to get the results needed for the children they are working with. Turnover in this field is high.
20,000 two-year olds were proscribed psychotropic medications in 2014 and millions of terribly abused 3-10 year old children took those drugs without adequate therapy and suffered greatly because of it. Drug companies were fined billions for selling these drugs to pediatricians for use on children. Millions more abused children were ignored after being reported to child protection services in this nation.
Overburdened child protection systems leave many children in toxic homes & ignores the mental health needs of traumatized children – feeding our communities a growing number of dysfunctional children that become parents with one more generation of kids unable to cope in school or adulthood as they age. This huge cost to our society makes life miserable for the children suffering and a great burden to most of the people they will interact with over many, many years.
Supporting daycare, early childhood education and mental health programs is the only way this cycle will be broken.
All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children
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KARA’S Traveling Child Abuse/Child Protection Exhibit
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