World Gets Crazier!
Wasn't sure what to post today, when I hopped over to Maidink's blog and she had a post on this story I had seen in last night's evening news.
It was about 11 children in Ohio, mentally or physically disabled, who were made to sleep in cages. They were adopted by this couple. What is wrong with the world?! I can't even think about this without getting teary. I had to flip the channel last night otherwise I would have started crying full out.
How can you do that to innocent children? Having worked in nurserys, I know kids can be a lot of work and they are not always little angels, but if you were in over your head, why adopt so many? Why not ask for help? There are so many people and groups in America, out there, who would have opened up their hearts and reached out.
Reading the story in the Washington Post, I don't know if the parents are totally evil as much as very misguided. I don't think they put those kids in cages out of malice as much as they thought they were doing the right thing and that is what is most scary. Made me think of my blog friend Pax - I don't know how you do it Pax, working in social services - you and your compatriots deserve mad applause, that is a tough tough job.
It makes my heart pang for all the children in the world who need to be loved.
All I want to do is hug those kids and hold them for a long long time (oh great now I'm weeping at my desk).
posted by Virginia Gal @ 8:48 AM
3 Comments:
VG,
Since I don't know the particulars of this story, I can't really say much (though simple common sense tells one not to lock a child in a cage!) -- This happens a lot. People adopt "special needs" kids as the state will give them a stipend for the care, they adopt more and more kids and have a nice little monthly income but they really don't want to care for the kids. Social Services are a mess in this country!
This was a very interesting statement that you made:
There are so many people and groups in America, out there, who would have opened up their hearts and reached out.
Yes, now that the light of day has shined upon this situation, there are probably lots of people coming out of the woodwork who would be glad to take care of these children, but my gut feeling is that on a normal day, most people who are looking to adopt are not looking for kids like these. (NOTE: I said MOST, not ALL, so I am fully aware that there are very kind, generous souls who do.)
I would hope this incident would bring a greater awareness of the number of special needs kids who need LOVING homes, just like Hurricane Katrina brought a spotlight on the poorer Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck, but also like those people, I have a feeling that once the news has moved on to the next big thing, all of this will be forgotten, and things will go back to the way they were before, hidden in plain sight.
My friend Pax is right. We see this often - child welfare agencies allowing multiple adoptions (more or less for profit) in one household.
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