Replies

Do you KNOW that this family is relying only on "charities and volunteer groups", and not paying therapists? Do you KNOW what therapist or therapists they're using, and have you googled the names of those therapists or otherwise objectively researched them (or are the parents declining to share the names?)?

I didn't say that, I was talking about the relative integrity of the APA compared to other alternatives. I am sure that Mr. Johnson is paying a therapist, but there are also volunteer groups involved. So it's both.

Are you SURE that even though your direct contact with the parents reassures you that they only have their child's best interests in mind, that they haven't been taken in by someone who doesn't?

Like the public schools? Look, we disagree on one thing. I don't think it is government's purvey to determine how child rearing should be done in every case, particularly with significant unknown challenges such as FAS.

So, when one considers the balance, collectivist protection of individual children versus individual freedom to succeed or fail in raising a child, as long as there is no sign of physical abuse, I really don't think such constitutes probable cause for collective action.

There are people who think you should never even raise your voice to a dog when training it. OTOH, there are people who believe a pinch collar is more humane than constant struggle to get the dog's attention possibly resulting in an accident when a disobedient dog runs in front of a car. There are quantitiative studies supporting both positions.

Now I'm not saying that kids with deep developmental problems are dogs, but they aren't altogether the same as the rest of us either. It could well be possible that use of force to get their attention might work better. Unless someone succeeds or fails finding that out versus if we all adopt a standard system based upon what WE think is necessary, we'll never know. The ultimate accountability lies with the parents. The APA and the government have no accountability whatsoever.

These are parents who took the risk of adopting that child. We didn't. They are doing what they believe is best for him. Others say they don't have that right. The real question is: who gets to enforce that right. Do you really think it ought to be government? From what I can tell, they aren't doing so hot.

My wife ran the newborn nursery at Alexian Brothers Hospital. She could rarely get CPS to intervene in the case of poor families with drug and alcohol problems. OTOH, the number of instances where CPS has taken custody of middle and upper class kids for little cause are legion. There is a reason. CPS gets a substantial Federal grant for adopting a child quickly. Middle class kids are easy to adopt.Middle class kids are easy to adopt? Huh? It takes years...literally years to terminate parental rights for an adoption to go thru. The long delay, and ease of biological parents to challenge adoption proceedings has caused the raise in foreign adoptions. A child in CPS care would be in foster care for years while the legal system ground thru terminating the parental rights. It is not a slam dunk deal done in a a couple of days.

As to the Johnson family's situation, I think they made a huge mistake (or their lawyer did...malpractice if he/she recommended running) when mom and the kids went into hiding. That just raises all kinds of flags for me (sorry.) My guess, they were infact using some kind of tie down therapy (and when they recommended the CPS talk to the therapist that deepened the concern, and expedited the matter--ie., could CPS have possibly dealt with the 'therapist' before and were concerned with the methodology used? There seems to be some parts missing in the treatment of this boy...