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To: sweetliberty

Oh my, I can see now that you took my question as an insult, which I never intended. By "mindset", I meant the political and governmental one. You seem to be the exception from the social workers I have known, in that you evidently believe that not every problem is solved by money or a toll free hotline.


6,779 posted on 07/08/2004 5:44:51 PM PDT by Conservababe
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To: Conservababe
No, I didn't take it as an insult, just maybe a misunderstanding. As far as the political mindset, well, yeah I guess so, but there needs to be exceptions, don't you think?

I realize that there are people who are disadvantaged in many ways and who need help. For example, I have a family on my caseload who have 5 kids....the oldest is 18 and no longer living at home. The youngest is almost 1 year. The others are 5, 7 and 15. The dad works hard and the mom stays home with the kids. The parents are committed to one another and to the children. The 5 year old is severely disabled and requires special attention and care 24/7. She will never exceed the capabilities of a toddler. She may never be able to be potty trained. The family really needs access to some resources for this little girl, but because dad works and the family has some very modest resources (they are not well off by any stretch of the imagination) , the child doesn't qualify for SSI. It's a long story, but this is the kind of situation where you really see unfairness come into play. Here you have a family who are doing all the right things, and they are penalized for it. Then you get a deadbeat mom and/or dad who can't or won't hold down a job and are strung out on drugs and the kids are neglected, and the state rolls out the red carpet for them and gives them access to virtually anything available.

Don't get me wrong. A lot of times these kinds of parents need help, too, or at least to learn to help themselves so they have to have some options, at least for a limited time, but there is just a fundamental injustice in a system which rewards bad behavior and punishes good. These are the kinds of issues that really frustrate me.

6,780 posted on 07/08/2004 6:01:26 PM PDT by sweetliberty
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