The Wonderful World of Polly

If you have heard about the Nebraska Safe Harbor Act and the recent dumping of preteen and teen age children at hospitals in Nebraska, you need to see tonights show. From the outside looking in...you maybe thinking "what kind of parent could do this"?

If I hadn't been exposed to children with profound behavior problems I would just assume that the parents of these children were monster's. The truth is that these parents have tried all the psychology/therapy/pills/charts and redirection theories that social workers and state agencies have to offer. Nothing worked. They aren't millionaire's and cannot afford residential care. Even if they could afford it the intake process for residential care is so restrictive that a child would almost have to have committed murder before they would even be considered. The sad fact is that once the child has committed murder they are more likely to be tried as an adult and sent to prison where their brain damage/mental health issue's are left to fester and grow even worse.


What do you do with a child that is physically or sexually abusive to family members? Here in Washington State the only option is for the parents to terminate Parental Responsibility. From there the child is placed in foster care with all the dangers that holds. Then after a period of some months the child is placed on the open adoption lists. Of course with the new medical privacy laws in place an adoptive family may not find out the child is dangerous until after the adoption is finalized and by then the child is no longer the states problem. Which is what I believe is the states plan to begin with.

When will something be done about this problem? When will the medical community and social services get the fact that some children cannot live in a family situation?