Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
•••
I entered the field of counseling in the mid-1970s. The first five years I worked primarily with children and adolescents in inpatient mental health treatment. The following six years I worked in a community mental health center, some of the time as head of the children's program.
It was heart-wrenching work, as I often witnessed some of the most devastating effects of abuse and neglect on the part of parents. I also witnessed many stories of redemption, parents working very hard to become the parent their child needed them to be.
I am so glad the Star Tribune is reporting on this issue ("In harm's way," Nov. 3 and thereafter). It deserves all the attention possible.
What was in place years ago was a system of inpatient treatment that gave abused and neglected children safety, consistent caregivers and a team of people devoted to their well-being. There were wonderful results. Many children thrived and stabilized; some were able to return to parents who also had stabilized.
Unfortunately, some parents cannot find a way to that stability. Some people cannot maintain constancy because they are adults who were terribly mistreated themselves as children. Or they are addicts, or they are poor, overwhelmed and terrified, or they have neurological issues such as fetal alcohol syndrome that makes it impossible to stabilize. There are so many variables operating in these situations. Sometimes all of these issues exist in one person, compounded by other family members also struggling with some of the same issues.
Somewhere in the 1990s, the state changed course and decided the priority was to return children to their families. I understand that sentiment, but obviously it was not only naive but grossly underfunded.
