Keep Child Victims off Office Floors

Let’s pretend. You are a child, which is another way of saying your brain is not fully developed.

As a matter of physiology, you cannot discern, comprehend, evaluate, or make sense of highly complex realities. 

You had to be removed from your home because your life was at risk — social services had no choice. In all 50 states, a child whose guardian's neglect or abuse can kill the child, directly or indirectly, requires the child be removed. 

(I realize the word kill is strong, but I'm certain we must not diminish the reality. And that reality is that CPS exists effectively to remove the risk of children being killed.)

The removal of a child from the home is always a traumatizing event, even in cases where the child endured severe neglect or abuse. Children want to be with their family.

But, again, we are talking about saving the child's life in most cases. 

Yes, children sometimes find safe and peaceful foster homes. I've been in those homes and have met the amazing foster parents. While the child remains traumatized in such homes, they also feel a deep sense of safety and peace. 

But studies conclusively show that all children long to live with their biological parent, or parents, or grandparent. 

After that, a loving foster parent. 

But never in offices.

Earlier this month a Louisville Courier Journal investigation found some unplaced children in Kentucky's foster care system are sleeping on office floors with apparently nowhere else to go. 

Cabinet officials determined there's more space for foster child placement across Kentucky, which is only at about half capacity. The problem is that the handful of children without a home to stay in are some of the most challenging to care for, due to extreme behavioral issues or other traumas.

This happens around the country — children living in offices, sometimes sleeping on floors.

There are no easy answers. 

But we all know, children of severe abuse do not have "behavioral issues." 

They are victims. 

We must do better.

At Child Rights Foundation, we are just getting started in looking for real solutions. 

Feel free to contact Paul Martin and paul@paulmartin.org to get involved.