Following on from the last post, around 2013 I was watching what was, at that time, a very popular nightly chat show on telly (Tonight With Vincent Browne) and the topic concerned children in care.
The panel consisted of a child protection worker, a rapporteur to the Government, a legal expert who had been involved in the enquiry into the investigation of the deaths of children in care and an academic.
It was a very positive programme in that all were well-meaning and had very good ideas about how to keep a child safe in a family under pressure and prevent the expensive option of care.
The child protection social worker commented on how children disappear into the morass of the legal system.
I think that this was a very good observation – as I have some experiences of children being harmed by the intransigence of both parties with little thought put into that side of it by the legal system.
There was a really good discussion as to how children can be scared in the courtroom environment – with all the formality and stiff atmosphere. In the discussion the talk was mostly about judges and legal matters and things that are cold and distant from the reality of family life. (During this discussion the always-provocative Vincent asked why all of us ordinary folk have rooms and judges have chambers)!
I felt, within the discussion, that the panel empathised with children as they spoke about making the court empowering and less threatening for them.
After some time the discussion began to turn towards neglect.
As most practitioners know, what is called neglect (mostly due to poverty and poor parenting skills, burn-out among parents, and general lack of family support) is a very common challenge in respect of children at risk.
Now most practitioners will also know that many such families respond very well, and are open to assistance offered in a non-threatening and easy to access manner. This is because they can see positive change in a relatively short time.
I tuned into this in particular because of reasons that will be clear in my summation at the end of this post.
It was stated that we now had a big opportunity in a new child and family agency, (TÚSLA) to fix, as they put it, what is broken within the system.
A number of things were identified as being broken, or at least, not fit for purpose.
Firstly, referrals needed to be timely and appropriate – inferring that they are not, at present.
There was some criticism of education officers who, it was felt, could do their job a bit better – and who sometimes, it was stated, turned a blind eye.
One participant said ‘we don’t want to mess around with families’ but I was unsure what point was being made, really.
Another said that ‘we need to be in the maternity hospitals because that’s where we can solve the problems – then invest in early intervention’ but it was not specified what early intervention meant. (I suspected that it was a bit like the early warning system of Experience A above).
One of the panellists said that he read over 500 files in the Report into children who died in care and stated that ‘the State did nothing’, and how unbelievably hard it was to get social workers or Gardaí to remove children from danger.
He obviously was passionate about children in danger.
At the end, the 2012 referendum that enshrined children’s rights into the Constitution was referred to as something that will be helpful in protecting children.
The conversation was high on aspirational stuff but very low on specifics – as, in fairness – might be expected in a short television programme.
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Summary
The reason why I give an account of this programme, and the previous one, was that at no time during either discussion was the potential of ordinary people in communities concerned about families and children mentioned.
I
thought that it would at least find its way into the ‘early warning system’, or the ‘accessing
families in communities’ discussions – but it didn’t. Neither was there any mention of friends,
concerned people, responsible members of extended families, etc., of which
there are a vast number in communities that are largely untapped.
No
– every action that was proposed was to be undertaken by people in ‘the
system’.
And
at no time did I hear words like love, warmth, trust, inspiration, hope,
belief, courage, creativity or autonomy mentioned.
No – the words that prevailed in the discussion were intervention, clarity of roles, assessment, interagency work, networking, referral pathways, legally accountable and such terms.
This is despite the existence of research – a lot of it recent – positing the power of local, extended family, non-professional, voluntary efforts in communities to alleviate suffering in others.
The substantial and very thorough research document that I mentioned in a previous Sub-Chapter which is entitled How Are Our Kids found that when parents look for advice about parenting, asking people in organisations falls far behind family, extended family, or friends/neighbours.
Also, tellingly, when children were asked with whom they would share something that is troubling them, it was a similar story. Professionals (e.g. teacher, youth worker, support worker) were well down the list.
If you do wish to click on the link How Are Our Kids to read the report, the relevant section/paragraph is 4.1.5 – the chart/histogram in that paragraph giving us a clear indicator of where someone in an organisation rates.
I have decided to include my recollections of the above TV programme (this post) and the radio programme (previous post) to illustrate how we are conditioned into thinking that the only shows in town are those that are favoured by the Pillars.
And of course there is nothing wrong with all plans, strategies etc. that are proposed. It’s just that, mostly, they focus on doing things for rather than with people.
And sad to say, things have not changed much since 2013.
Right up to the present I have listened to commentaries on high profile cases where well-meaning, sincere, hardworking practitioners express similar views on helping vulnerable children – neglecting to mention the wisdom, strength and commitment that abound in extended families and communities, or, indeed, the power of compassion, inspiration, connection or family love.
And after such discussions I always think about the waste of energy that goes into work that is trapped in a system that doesn’t work, and because of this, in Section Four I include an entire Chapter on Energy).
(If you have read the post on the hierarchy of helping – the subject matter of which is closely linked to this post and the previous one – you will be familiar with my thinking in this area already).