When Neglect Isn’t Enough Part II by Rambling Raven
By Raven • Sep 21st, 2009 • Category: Rambling Raven •
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When Neglect Isn’t Enough Part II by Rambling Raven
Last week I discussed a young man in my class who was severely neglected by his mother. This week I would like to write an update regarding the progress we are having with the child. The boy came to school Wednesday, he was very quiet and he walked around the playground with a frown on his face. He did not say anything to anyone. He quietly lined up with the rest of the class and went to gym.
In gym class he remained quiet. The young men in the class started to play basketball. The boy was allowed on a team. The game began and the young boy wasn’t able to get the ball away from a few of the other guys during the game, so he began physically attacking them. The gym teacher had to pull him off one kid because he had the kid on the gym floor chocking him. Due to the unprovoked attacks, the young man was removed from class and security took him to the principal’s office. Upon questioning the boy about his actions he let it be known that he was angry because of several events that took place at home. First his mother was dragged away in the middle of the night by the police because she had an outstanding warrant against her. The boy’s grandmother told him that because his mother was no longer there she didn’t have the time or patience to deal with him. So, she threw him out of the apartment at midnight. The fifth grader rode his bike around the neighborhood for a few hours before going back to the apartment to beg the grandmother to let him in to sleep. She didn’t so he had to sleep in the hall of the apartment building until morning. Once again the Department of Children and Family Services was contacted. The social worker told the school that she would be out that day to investigate, she never came. The school had no choice but to contact an adult sister regarding the child. The sister told the school that she didn’t want to have anything to do with the boy or their mother and hung up on us. The police took the young man back to the grandmother’s.
The next day the school was surprised by the presence of a social worker. We were told that the department decided that the child needed to be placed in their custody. A few social workers finally visited the home and realized how severe the situation was. No one in the family wanted to take responsibility for the child. In fact, according to the social worker several family members told her that the best thing to do was to take the child because they didn’t want him either.
Looking into the boy’s face as we prepared him to leave with the social worker, I was relieved and heartbroken. I was relieved that finally someone was listening to what the school had been saying for nearly a year now. I was relieved that the child would be in the care of someone that night and not riding his bike around the dangerous streets of Chicago. However my heart broke because I could not imagine how a child his age could possibly feel knowing that no one in his immediate family cared enough to take him in. My parting words to the social worker were to please make sure that he gets professional counseling as soon as possible. I told her that he was violently angry for all that had been done to him by the adults in his family and he needed to find a positive way of letting out all that hatred and frustration.
We all know that the “system” can fail our children. We also know that many homes unwanted children are placed in continue to neglect them as well. However, the most maddening thing to me is how the very families of these children fail them first. May God bless this young man and help him to find a warm, loving and stable environment to thrive in.
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Raven is an educator with a B.A. in Psychology and a M.A. in Education. She has been an avid reader since childhood. Her favorite genres are mystery, suspense, and horror, although she will give any genre a try. She is a life long resident of Chicago. Her love of books opened her mind to people, places and events far beyond her Chicago home. Reading helped to shape her world and her opinion of the events that took place within it. No matter what demands her career requires of her, she has always found time to read and write in a journal. Along with reading and journaling, she loves to watch the sunset, and discuss hot topics with family and friends. She loves baseball, horror movies, mysteries, listening to music from every corner of the world and expressing her view of the latest books with the women of APOOO.
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Raven,
I’ve worked for DFCS for 11 years, not in child welfare, but close enough to know what’s happening in our communities and within the system. I pray for children every night, because the horror you describe in this story is common. It happens every single hour of every single day to some poor child. Families are not what they used to be and the agencies have never been sufficient to address the problem. The ever increasing caseloads, high burnout and turnover of staff, and shrinking funds have absolutely put neglect on the back burner. Drugs have increased physical and sexual abuse referrals a hundred fold. The state legislature has to care. Programs have to be funded and then leadership in DFCS has to be held accountable. Thank you for giving this child a voice. I will be praying for him.
Thanks for the prayers, Rhonda. And yes, it is so sad that neglect is at an all time high, along with physical and sexual abuse. I think it is difficult enough being a teacher and witnessing the neglect. I can’t image being an actual case worker for these children.
Hi Raven. Working in an area of a large city that is in the top 10 worst areas in the nation for murder, I see the neglect of children everyday. I am a teacher and the proverty rate is so low that some
Hi Raven. I tried to reply to your first story but it got too hard to do so. Doing so now isn’t really easy. I have been teaching for 33 years and I have seen it all. Two years ago, I had to move to a school in an area that has the lowest poverty rate and was on the top 10 list for murders rate area in the nation. I have seen it all and this is on the elementary level. Even with five year olds there is the physical violence and they can tell you more about sex than you know. All because they don’t have someone to watch them at night or there is an older sibling there that doesn’t pay attention to them.
In my school, we do have different counseling services working with too many children. Some counselors even take on the part of being parents in the evenings and on weekends. Here, a teacher can lose her job if they do not report a case of suspected child abuse. But just like you said, DFCS and social workers can just say that the child is not in that much danger and nothing is done until it is too late.
Yeah, Stephanie and it drives me nuts when you know a child is in danger but the agencies don’t see it as severe enough.
I’m praying for him….i see this all the time
I work in collaboration with the CFS here…I work with children like the young man you described above….it’s very disturbing and frustrating that it takes so much to get children the help they need. I provide high-fidelity wraparound for my clients…building that village spoken of…that, in itself, is VERY hard work.
It isn’t easy for social workers right now. Everywhere there are budget cuts, lay off’s, early buy-outs, unfair firings, program closures, etc…etc… One major thing that’s happened here recently is CFS cut their ENTIRE visitation department..sigh… So where are families able to spend time with their kids now? Who will get them there (transportation is gone too)? Who’s gonna oversee supervised visitation cases….and again…where?
I’m sure it’s hard for them to have to ‘prioritize’ cases when it’s apparent kids like these need help. But trust, they hurt too…the s.w’s…they’ve just had to say ‘no’, ‘hold on’, monitor…so much it begins to seem like they don’t care…but they do. They just can’t do anything about it.
But you all stood up and were persistent and did your part…blessings to all of you Raven. That’s exactly what I do on a day to day basis…it’s the core of my job.