Child Protective Services, in Texas at least, is a joke...Every time one of these tragedies strikes, somehow or other it tracks back to a child's cry unanswered, the proverbial hole in the system. RESULT: A child left living in a nightmare until that child turns into the monster it tried so desperately to escape...Evil left where an innocent child once was.
Where do I get my facts? From my daughter, a very dedicated and wonderful elementary school teacher who has desperately tried during her fourteen years teaching in an at risk, Title I. public school in Texas to get help for hundreds of children caught in this cycle of terror. Teachers are our front line defense against this dark blemish effecting our society. They know VERY WELL which children are being abused and neglected. It is obvious in the child's actions, physical appearance and eyes. These children are begging for help from more than one direction and are being brushed aside by Child Protective Services (CPS).
In conjunction with her colleagues and school counselors, my daughter has fought to get CPS to intervene in case after case after case of obvious child abuse and neglect. In her classes alone, children have been so sexually abused they can't sit and suffer incontinence. Little ones beaten so badly from their ankles to their necks, the belt marks forced them to stand in their classroom...Others so filthy, with open sores, they are constantly sent home from school getting them behind on their work...5 to 8 year olds with severe emotional and learning disabilities forced into mainstream, overloaded classrooms where their frustrations mount because they cannot cope in that environment...A little kindergarten boy who constantly exposed himself to the other students and laughed as he drew pictures of gorillas raping boys and girls...The beautiful blond haired 5 year old little girl, obviously being sexually molested by her foster parents who were allowed to adopt her....Shall I continue? Each and every one of these poor children and their cases and hundreds more like them were and ARE BEING documented by my daughter, teachers and school's counselors everywhere at an alarming percentage. SHOCKINGLY...NOT ONCE IN FOURTEEN YEARS OF TEACHING HAS CPS REMOVED ANY OF HER STUDENTS FROM THE HORROR AND VIOLENCE BEING VISITED ON THEIR YOUNG LIVES...NOT ONCE...
The emotional toll this system takes on my daughter and other teachers is devastating. Having to watch the effects of this horror in a child's life on a daily basis and not being able to stop it causes nightmares, feelings of guilt and a helpless desire to rescue the child. The frustration is unbearable and the toll is huge. My daughter suffers from severe health issues all directly related to the stress of her job. Can you imagine an innocent child being torn down in the most horrendous ways, reaching out to you for help and not being able to do any more than love them in the hours they are in your care? What can you say to them? My heart breaks not only for the child but for my daughter...
I console her on a daily basis. It's part of her coping mechanism. Every year gets harder for her to go back, not because of the children, but because of the bureaucratic system and its callous and apathetic approach to public education. They ignore the Elephant in the Room effecting a child's ability to focus and learn. Instead of correcting neglect and abuse problems dominating the lives of a large population of young students, the powers that be constantly come up with other 'REASONS' test scores are down. Sadly, much of the blame falls on the teachers forced to function in a broken system, constricting their ability to use skills obtained by years of teaching experience.
In summary, CPS is allowing monsters to create monsters in our country. Their reasons are many, underpay, understaffed...burnout...etc. Elected officials stand by silent and useless while the teachers are utilizing ever tool at their disposal to help these children. My own daughter came very close to being the victim of violence involving irate parents who had been interviewed by CPS about the severe abuse of their daughter. Luckily, her locked door kept them at bay until the police arrived to deal with the situation. Although she was safe, the child came to school even more battered the next day. CPS again was called but never removed the kindergarten student from harms way. She slowly gave up saying the bruising was from falls, etc. Her grades plummeted and she became very quite. My daughter said the light just faded from her eyes.. Teachers report incidents like this daily, again and again. BUT NOTHING IS BEING DONE. Until this fact is no longer the status quo, there will always be more and more of the Newtown incidents. .
When our elected officials refuse to act on the critical information being forwarded by our teachers, these anguished cries for help will continue to be lost in the black hole we call CPS. The ELEPHANT WILL MAINTAIN ITS DEADLY PRESENSE, and more of these sad, lost children will turn up in the national media leaving rivers of blood as they end their life and the lives of others...How long will we allow the cycle to grow exponentially?
No comments:
Post a Comment