For decades now I have watched adults in positions of political power betray children who need responsible care, if not by their parents, then by society. We as a species have a responsibility to step up and care for children whose parents are either unable or unwilling to take proper care of their progeny. This responsibility is not just a nice thing to do, it is fundamental to the survival of a healthy society. Government, regardless of your political persuasion, does have a role to play in the development of healthy people. That is the plexus of a society. While we argue politics, children suffer at the hands of the very people that are there to protect them. And as adults they will bear the scars, usually invisible, until they act out or act against themselves. This accounts for both the anti-social element as well as the physical and mental health component for the care of these children as adults. (A massive social and financial expense to society, not to mention the suffering of these individuals, often for a lifetime. See the ACE study, Gold into Lead, by Dr. Vincent Felitti, MD, Kaiser Preventative Health, San Diego.) Someone said that a measure of the dignity of a species is in the way they treat their young. As we go to the polls and elect our officials that represent us (we have a representative form of government; sometimes the politicians forget that) we need to think first–how does this person stand in this particular paradigm for posterity. After more than four decades of work in the field of child welfare, I’ve come to trust that if we can find a way to eliminate (I’m not an idealist, so …) or at least minimize the abuse of children in our world, most other problems will resolve themselves.
“There can be no greater betrayal than the betrayal of a child by their parent.” Fm the Preface to A Certain Fall
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