Welcome back and thanks for joining us for this in-depth look at the social phenomenon that is foster care panic. As we described in the intro, foster care panic is what happens whenever a child who was taken from their home by CPS, is sent back home and then dies. The ensuing outcry and backlash against family preservation is referred to as foster care panic, and the results can be extremely harmful!
There are numerous documented instances of this happening throughout the US, including here in Michigan. We’d like to share some of this information with you, as it helps to support the idea that a single tragic instance should never be used to justify state-wide family destruction. Ready? Let’s go…
Foster care panic in Illinois
In April of 1993, in Illinois, three-year-old Joseph Wallace was tragically killed by his mother. Because Joseph was “known to the system,” both the media and politicians attacked family preservation and blamed it for the death of the little boy.
In the ensuing scandal and media frenzy, the state’s child welfare system came under increasing pressure to remove children from their homes during any investigation of abuse allegations. The problem with this approach, however, is that it was doomed to fail. The state wasn’t able to handle the sudden influx of children being removed from their homes. There weren’t enough places to put them.
So what happened in Illinois?
Instead of a decrease in child abuse related deaths, Illinois saw an increase. Foster care homes became overwhelmed. Children were placed into homes where the parents had not been subjected to sufficient scrutiny. Reports of abuse and neglect increased significantly over the next few years. CPS workers become overloaded with cases and couldn’t keep up. Children slipped through the cracks. Even more children died. It was a total disaster!
Foster care panic has happened again and again…
This is only one of the many scenarios that have occurred over the last few years. 1995 in New York. 1999 in Florida. In each instance a child “known to the system” died in the care of their parents. And in each case, a backlash against family preservation occurred. And tragically, in each case the number of child abuse instances and child death reports increased dramatically. All because of one horrific exception to the rule.
Concern over foster care panic has become so widespread, that in the wake of child deaths among families where CPS was involved, people immediately step up and warn against it! Case in point, in the wake of Brook Stagles’s tragic death in Monroe County, USA Today published an opinion piece begging Michigan not to engage in a foster care panic!
Join us next time as we discuss this difficult subject further, and look at alternatives for Michigan in the wake of some of our own horrific exceptions. Until then, if you or a loved one have been contacted by CPS, or accused of abusing a child, call The Kronzek Firm immediately at 866 766 5245! The only way to get CPS out of your life and protect your family from being unnecessarily torn apart is to get a skilled CPS defense attorney on board immediately! Don’t wait! Your family’s future is hanging in the balance.