| Government-Sanctioned Family Separation Goes Beyond Immigration Enforcement
In these chaotic times when we are awash in videos documenting children used as bait in the ICE dragnet or swollen child detention centers filled with orphaned immigrant children, it’s hard to break through to get attention on routine state and local policies that are over-surveilling families and even unwisely and unnecessarily separating children from their parents.
Children First is actively connected with national organizations fighting to stop ICE and DHS deportation tactics from harming children. At the same time, we are hearing more and more from PA parents that they’ve come under scrutiny of the child welfare system not because they are abusing their children, but because they’re going through tough times.
Of course, if a child is being abused or severely neglected, every effort must be made to protect them from harm; that’s the core function of a reliable and expert child welfare system. In these circumstances, county Child Protective Services (CPS) steps in to rapidly investigate allegations of abuse and severe neglect.
But unlike any other state, PA also has statutory General Protective Services (GPS) powers which require counties to connect families with supportive services such as food banks, rental assistance, affordable child care, or parenting classes.
That sounds great in theory. But like any government policy, the devil is in the details. When the county agency steps into lives of families to assess a GPS report, families are still subjected to a formal investigation, which undoubtedly feels intrusive. Families are expected to accept GPS services, but it’s not exactly voluntary. Sure, a family could decline them, but think about it – when parents are face-to-face with a case worker who has the power to take their kid away, can they really say no?
To put it simply, families receiving GPS services are habitually at risk of their children being taken from them for failure to follow the direction of a case worker.
A stunning 40% of the nearly 100,000 GPS concerns last year didn’t involve abuse or serious neglect, but struggles affording to raise their children, or accessing substance use, child behavioral health, or intellectual disabilities services. All those needs can and must be addressed through community-based services outside of the surveillance of a threat-based child welfare system.
To be sure, the government should swear an oath to never harm children, and it must never turn a blind eye to an abused child. In fact, that’s a core reason that Children First is urging state and county leaders to reform the child welfare system so it can more intentionally focus on protecting the children who are at risk of or are being abused or neglected.
And at the same time, we are calling on leaders to reform the child welfare system by updating GPS to be supportive rather than punitive. Our advocacy here reinforces our commitment to stand with children and parents in the face of government action that needlessly removes children from their parents, or makes the lives of parents harder under the guise of helping children. |
