Be aware of possible bias in child welfare

Expert: Be aware of possible bias in child welfare
Kay Luna | Posted: Friday, May 13, 2011 9:54 am
Quad City TImes

To those who deal with reports of possible child abuse through the child welfare system: Be aware of your potential biases, and remember to have empathy for others.

That’s the advice of Alan Dettlaff, keynote speaker at St. Ambrose University’s 13th annual social justice conference, called “Disentangling Disproportionality: Race, Poverty and the Over-representation of Children of Color in the Child Welfare System,” held Thursday at the Davenport campus.

Presented by the School of Social Work, the conference was intended for social workers, social service providers, attorneys, criminal justice personnel, clergy and health-care professionals, who filled a room at the Rogalski Center. FULL STORY

I left a comment there-

Alan Dettlaff left a few critical items off of his list-

Develop some actual ethics.

Knock off the pompous arrogance, judgmentalism, officiousness.

Understand you are (not) nearly as smart and wise as you think you are.

Try being honest instead of making up charges against parents- especially when it's a cute, really adoptable baby.

If nothing bad happened and the parents have already learned their lesson, let a warning suffice, not total destruction of the family.

Perhaps try really living what the propaganda says- You are here to HELP families learn to parent, not send them off in pointless busy work "services" that have nothing whatsoever to do with this family.

(On that note, be aware that unless you are a parent yourself, you really have no clue what you are talking about and you are just reciting theory some other childless expert came up with).

Read the Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Those belong to the parents AND the kids, not YOU the Government agent.