Blaming government for rotten parents

Donna says:

07:35am | 04/09/09

i was a young mum, at 16yrs and my partner was 17yrs old,  our oldest child is now 16 and yes we are stricked in some ways , our daughter 16yrs ran away just over a month ago, just for the simple fact we wouldnt let her do as she pleases, shopping centre on thurs nights, hang out with the wrong croud (she considered them friends) but a group of young teens sitting at school cutting there wrists to be cool and fit in, isnt what we as parents consider being good friend i think maybe most of you have it wrong as DOCS agree she should be home with us,,,
its the police that are telling her shes 16 and dont need to come home, and because she is 16 they dont need to tell us were she is,
what ever happened to parental rights???  if she does ant crimanal stuff it would be my right to pay though???

DOCS are good peaple and they can only go on what they no for facts not just what they hear, otherwise everyone would just ring welfare and get ur kids taken just cos they dont like you,,
i think more blame needs to go towards the higher rank dont you????????
we are still together

Anon says:

06:46am | 14/07/09

Well we wouldn’t want to make those who categorize themselves as ‘experts’ simply because they have a particular job actually accountable to the public and law for that claim would we?

What we need is specific legislation to make them unaccountable. Oh that’s right, the ‘experts’ have already made sure that is in place.

Just because you have a job does not make you an expert at it. The current affair TV programs constantly highlight individuals of various trades that are unethical in their approach and do not say what they actually mean.

We have laws to make people act professionally and accountable in their job across a wide range of professionals. This includes almost all health and welfare professionals except in the area of child abuse prevention.

Their unaccountability, and the fact they are the ones who are given most say in how the system should work, allows them to support a system which is primarily designed to suit the needs of the worker instead of the needs of the children.

Therefore they have no impetus to improve their performance or even use evidence based approaches to abuse prevention.

What is really strange is they it is them that constantly claim that you cannot constantly use more extreme forms of punishment to control behaviour in children. Yet this is exactly the approach they advocate to modify behaviour in adults.

My question to them is - what is the exact age that this switch to the opposite end of behaviour control takes place?

(Of course they actually do know that the threat of more jail time does not reduce the risk of abuse - it just highlights them above other crimes so appears to be more of a self importance thing).

June says:

11:28am | 10/07/09

Ok, so obviously the system is wrong. How do we fix it?

We obviosuly know better than the policy makers and experts who actually work in the feild and have done so for years. So go on people, what would we do?

Lets be proactive for a change and instead of pullign something down and stamping all over it when things go wrong lets fix it.

Any suggestions?

Anon says:

04:50pm | 08/07/09

Parents are already held accountable by the courts.

Public institutions need to be held accountable to the public that pay for them.

Apparently the only way to do that is by the media highlighting their incompetence.

What other method to you propose to give them the impetus to improve their decision making and performance? Making excuses for them will not do this.

A says:

12:38pm | 08/07/09

What an excuse for these so called ‘professionals’. Parents can never be expected to know everything and just because you do (or think you do) does not mean everyone does. It is the easiest thing in the world to judge others.

If your child has a medical problem, such as appendicitis, do you try to fix it yourself or do you get professional help? If the doctor told you to go away because they didn’t feel like helping you would you like it if the medical profession blamed you for not operating on the child correctly?

The fact is THEY are the people who are paid to make the correct ASSESSMENTS and the correct INTERVENTIONS.

In the case you mentioned the mother has a medical problem (simply because the problem is with the brain and not the appendix does not mean it is not a medical issue). The people the taxpayers pay to make the appropriate assessments and interventions failed to do so.

They also failed to do so when I went to them with medical reports and subsequently my children were hurt.

The public has no right to blame people with medical, learning or other difficulties for not knowing what to do. The public has every right to expect those we pay with our taxes to make the correct assessments and interventions and we also have the right to make them accountable if they do not. After all they use our resources (money) when making these errors.

We would hold hospitals accountable if they made mistakes that cost people their welfare or their lives and they are stressed and overburdened (why don’t you try to fix your own child’s medical issues next time instead of using my taxes to go to a hospital?). We expect medical professionals to make evidence based judgments.

Yet you appear to want to make excuses for DOCS when they fail in their duty to make evidence based judgments regarding the welfare of children.

I would get off the high morality line unless you think you are intelligent enough to know everything in the world. I, for one, know that DOCS can’t fix things when they are approached for help. With my children they made things worse.

shell says:

05:56pm | 26/06/09

docs are to blame. of course they are. the mother had a mental probleam and docs let the kids go back to her AFTER SHE HAD BEEN ISNTITUTIONALISED.  Like hello she has a problem! One set of rules for one one set of rules for another. And you are suggestiong abortion for a child? do you know what its like to have an abortion? you obviously aren’t pro life!

David says:

01:56pm | 26/06/09

Fair crack of the whip
If the man reported and did what he could then DoCS - you stuffed up again.  Maybe the man could have and should have done more but most of us fall in that catagory sometimes. The question is was he or DoCS grossly negligent.

Tiss tiss Tory Maguire, suggesting abortion.  That is another huge contravertial issue not really related to the story at hand.

Yes parents must be responsible and accountable. DoCS is a necissary evil in this world today. To step in and sadly often stuff things up more where parents have failed, but what about when parents are trying to do their best. Come on DoCS ... learn to let go. When is enough enough.

SM says:

03:16pm | 22/06/09

Okay, now that it has happened and we are all shocked lets focus on a) getting her and her situation on track and b) making sure it doesn’t happen again. Too often.

Gaye says:

01:40pm | 22/06/09

As a DOCS employee I say thank you:)  I’ve worked in welfare for about 20 years now and for the Department for about 4 and I have to say it’s been the hardest work I’ve done.  But without a doubt it’s been with the hardest working people.  I’ve been abused, threatened and harassed and seen children bashed, sexually assaulted, neglected…..  and if I had a magic wand I’d help them all but there is never going to be enough time or money to help everyone and its not until we take responsibility for ourselves, our families and our communities that children will be safe -

cathy says:

06:50pm | 21/06/09

How uninformed you remain OC
Justice Wood made it clear in his summation and report that one of the myriad of problems was wildly inconsistent rulings both within the same area and over the entire dept with over the top reactions removing children for little or no reason, whilst leaving other children in severe circumstances to die.

The tired old meme? No, lets stick to the facts not the spin shall we?

Just because ordinary parental discipline (not neglect or abuse) doesn’t warrant intervention doesn’t mean it wont happen as numerous evidence at various locations by Wood was recorded, but you didn’t bother to read the actual transcripts, did you?

I did.

OC says:

03:22pm | 19/06/09

This is a tired old meme “parents aren’t allowed to discipline their kids anymore. Their rights have been taken away by do-gooders…”

Most child abusers are the child’s own parents. If people are getting away with treating their children abysmally, then surely they can “get away” with the occaional spank or, imagine, a naughty corner.

zj says:

11:43am | 19/06/09

Blaming a parent for being mentally ill is a great default position for the ethically challenged. Obviously DoCs failed the entire family. This so called brighter futures program that has been operating should have addressed the mental health issues the mother faced long before hand, yet it didn’t even address these persistent issues at all? Where was Mental Health? Where was the Education dept? Failures no 1, 2 & 3.

DoCS must have prepared a report to the Family Court before all of this happened, so the notion that they hadn’t looked at the serious problems the mother faced were adressed is neglect by DoCS and under Section 8 of ICAC corrupt conduct. Failure no 4&5.( though you can bet that this advice “disappears” into the shredder never to be mentioned again).

Not listening to the fathers urgent repeated pleas for assistance Failure no 6.

Yet blaming the father seems the only way to address this issue by many. The mother is very ill and consequently hospitalised, and although the situation wasn’t acceptable it seems that with your high standards of behaviour and yet so little compassion or understanding of either the rule of law you judge them past the actual real life ability in the circumstances to do more or better.

Just as you cant expect a one legged man to run you cant expect a mentally ill woman to be responsible for her actions. 

This is the purpose of these organisations to help where its not possible for the parent to do it alone, or more sensibly to place the child where good safe parenting is, which they failed spectacularly in doing.

DoCS shirks its responsibility yet again with a pile of excuses and yet a clamouring rush of “help” only once in the full glare of the media spotlight.

JW says:

11:15am | 19/06/09

Well at least the mother didn’t take the child into the Senate….

Jen says:

09:54am | 19/06/09

In response to A, isnt it DOCS responsibility to step in when parents are not taking care of their child or leaving them in a dangerous situation, if not why does the organisation exist. DOCS is suppose to protect the children.

Yes the mother is to blame but once DOCS was notified it is then their responsibility to investigate the allegations. I am sure the police are just as overworked as DOCS but they still have to investigate each report.

Sadly educating a parent doesnt stop some morons from breeding.

Jen says:

09:48am | 19/06/09

I totally blame the government, they have a right to protect the child and they didnt do that and then gave a pathetic reason why, now the child is pregnant they step in.

I have been through this with my husbands ex-wife allowing her 14 year old girl to share a bed with her boyfriend, we reported to Families SA and they sent her a letter instead of investigating. They did nothing to intervene except act on a false allegations by the ex-wife who claim two weeks after we reported the child sleeping with her boyfriend and violence towards her younger siblings.

Welfare agencies dont aim for the best interest of the child its too hard to actual work.

A says:

09:35am | 19/06/09

Blaming government, blaming society, blaming media does nothing but alleviate the responsibility on parents…its time we raise our standards and put all the responsibility of parenting back with the parents. I work in DoCS and i can tell you that you will never find a bunch of people more dedicated to their work who are simply run OFF THEIR FEET and burdened with red tape and government beauracracy. Its an extremely rewarding job, becuase the majority of cases, DoCS does get it right , but noone reports the good.

The onis should be on parents full stop , we need to focus on educating the paretns more on how to BLOODY PARENT.

im says:

05:16pm | 18/06/09

Someone has to protect children from bad parenting. Like it or not, that role falls to the government.
My understanding of the father allowing the daughter to keep the child is that a) it’s not his decision to make and b) the pregnancy may have been advanced before he was made aware of it.

Suze says:

05:05pm | 18/06/09

From what I’ve read the mother of the girl was being abused by her current partner and has many children. I doubt any mother would even contemplate her 11 yr old would be having sex at this age.
There are many good responsible parents with mental health issues so blaming a “mentally ill welfare mother” does nothing but stigmatize ALL mothers who receive a welfare payment and anyone who has a mental health issue.
Children are immature and it does not surprise me that many children are having underaged sex, sextexting etc….most don’t even consider oral sex as “sex”. 
Much of this is unbeknown to parents who forget what primary school and high school were like. 
Kids from ALL socio-economic homes are doing things beyond their parents control.
It’s not just the poor families, the wealthy parents can afford very immediate and discreet medical intervention and lawyers.  They also have access to resources and are not socially isolated like poorer parents.
You only have to look at our celebrity “role models” to wonder what society we live in. Kids are being over sexualised and no-one is talking to them. Parents are under enormous stress. No parent is perfect. There is just not enough importance put on parenting. Mothers are made to work ridiculous hours and many can’t be around to supervise anymore because the welfare system HAS changed and its actually made it harder for parents especially mothers to care for their kids due to lower payments and participation requirements. Unfortunately DOCS does fail in so many ways because services like DoCS waste valuable time and resources making struggling good parents jump through hoops while not following through on serious cases.

Michael says:

04:06pm | 18/06/09

I am sorry but the father doesnt have to be the only one furious at the authorities. It is a government run institutionon that ultimately is accountable to the public. The public have th right to express that anger when the institution fails to act. And the public has the right to express that anger through the chain to where responsibility lies due to overwork, underpaid, neglectful duty of care etc. There is a major discrepency in society today with many headlines of people abusing the authorities when they fail to look after themselves. I quite agree there. But in this case, an instituion failed to render the mother unable to sufficiently look after her daughter (one avenue to express anger), DOCS failed to take the fathers case seriously (another avenue to express anger) and the government is failing to place enough resources into a department that rightly needs it (one more avenue to express anger).

Lauren says:

02:05pm | 18/06/09

Ben - “if parents are incapable of looking after their children, remove the children.” And put them where? Did you not read about the recent case of a toddler being removed from his drug addicted parents to be put with a 78 year old carer already taking care of three older children. He ended up dead. In DOCS care. Admittedly, leaving him with his neglectful parents was not an option but before making bald statements like “remove the children” remember that someone else then has to take responsibility.

Ben Payne says:

01:38pm | 18/06/09

Unfortunately, there is no license required to have a child, no rules to learn, no exams to pass, no registrations required – all you have to do is have sex.

The family law courts and DoCS, on the other hand, do have laws that they have to uphold, standards that they are expected to meet, and a legal duty of care to those under their ‘protection’.

In the real world, not all parents are good at being parents, and when issues such as mental health and drug addiction leave a parent incapable of being a parent, we expect action to be taken by DoCS immediately in the short term, and the courts in the long term, to deal with these parents who (whether deliberately or not) are abusing their children through neglect or other means.

If DoCS are overworked or understaffed, then hire more people.  If judges continue to make bad decisions, remove them. If parents are incapable of looking after their children, remove the children.  There is no excuse for allowing child abuse to continue in any form for any reason.

June says:

12:19pm | 18/06/09

It is still legal to smack your child in NSW. On an area of their body that is not their head with force that does not leave a mark on the child or result in anything more than short term discomfort.

A part of what DoCS actively encourages is effective discipline strategies such as time out or removal of privileges. I doubt you will get in trouble for taking away a child’s IPod. and depending on the limitations placed on locking your child in their room (ie not for weeks on end) that would be considered an effective management strategy as well.

What we are doing here and in all forums that talk about managing child discipline, is swinging wildly from people who say society is too lenient with children and their parents, to people who say agencies like DoCS should butt out and children are worse off with their involvement. What we need to do is find a middle ground, where people who are appropriately disciplining their children are free and encouraged to do so, and where people who are abusing or inappropriately disciplining their children should be taught more appropriate methods or when the child is at risk act appropriately.

Granted DoCS was aware of the situation and could have done more to prevent this from happening. The catchcry of DoCS being under funded and overworked is still relevant. There are thousands of reports received every day and less caseworkers to respond to them.

I also think it’s important to note that we seem to have two misconceptions regarding Government Departments. 1. We think there are responsible for everything and 2. We think they can fix everything. When confronted with a problem like this we seem to think that DoCS can just wave a magic wand and fix the problem. The reality is far less convenient.

Shannyn says:

12:15pm | 18/06/09

If all parents were responsible caregivers there would be no need for a child protection office.  Fact is all parents are not responsible for whatever their reasons, so there is a need for a protective and productive child protection system.  Docs were as much at fault as the mother, probably more, having knowledge of someones struggle and deeming other matters to be of more importance is the result of an underfunded system that has lost the will to care.  When i say DoCs is at fault i mean the department as a whole not the case workers as individuals.  Hopefully the new policy which means that DoCs will no longer be working alone but working in tandem with non-government organisations will reduce these types of problems.

david says:

11:55am | 18/06/09

its all very well to blame the mother , however , every time a strong willed parent ( mother or father ) tries to enforce a strict set of controls on their child , there is a government department telling you you cant smack your child , you cant take away their mobiles , ipods or computers , and you cant lock them in the family home and restrict their movements .  so at the end of the day . i think its time to give some authority back to the parents . if the government isnt willing to provide the services to fix the mess which has been the result of the failed social experiment of the current thinking of academics past and present , there needs to be a change . im perfectly willing to trade on this issue too . if the government will enact specific rights of a parent enabling and defining reasonable physical discipline , reasonable restriction of movement and reasonable control of environment , then i am happy to accept legal responsibility for the actions of my child . if not , then the government can hold itself legally and financially responsible for the juveniles who do this sort of thing , or enter into criminal behaviour .

Leah says:

11:23am | 18/06/09

There are two key parties to blame here.

Firstly, the mother. She’s obviously incompetent and is guilty of serious neglect here.

Secondly (and I usually don’t say this), but I do believe “the system” (various departments) is somewhat responsible here. Obviously the family courts awarded custody of the children to this incompetent mother. That was their first fault. Once they’ve screwed up a situation, then yes they had a responsibility to fix things. And when complained to by the girl’s father, they didn’t.

Anyone who tries to absolve the mother has their head stuck in the sand, but DOCS and other government departments can’t pretend that they didn’t contribute to the problem.

Darren Main says:

11:20am | 18/06/09

Prevention and early intervention is needed - before removal of a child from their family( unless child at serious risk or has been harmed)

DoCs DO NOT help families who come into their care - they spilt families apart, u ask for their help they fob you off or dont return your calls/emails.

Alot of these caseworkers are under 25yrs age with no experience and NO CHILDREN themselves to understand raising children can at times be challenging and when u ring to ask for some support they come in and think u are unstable, emotionally unavailable to care for your child,( when u are not) so they remove the child
Children under DoCs care are more “AT RISK OF HARM” than many of the families that the children have been removed from

Sk says:

10:09am | 18/06/09

Why blame DOC’s for a negelcting parent? Don’t parents have any responsibilities or do they just bear kids and think Government will look after them. Some parents nowadays are just too busy with their own sh.. maybe they should be put behind bars for leaving kids that reach this stage.

But maybe we should blame the government for handing our cash to parents who just go and spend it on themselves instead of children. Why cant they be handed out food and electricity vouchers instead. Stop handing out thousands of dollars for just having baby.

There are far too many children being neglected nowadays. Maybe we should find out what the underlying problem is ...why do things reach to this stage and fight that.

Isnt prevention better then cure!

SS says:

09:03am | 18/06/09

By and large I am sure that the majority of DoCS staff are hard working caring professionals who try to do their best for the families and children they work with.

Imagine having to make a decision every day of your working life about taking children away from their parents and families, maybe having to make that decision several times a day.

That is the ultimate decision any worker could ever make and we berate workers when they make that decision and then we berate them when they don’t remove the children.

Leave the poor overworked caseworkers out of the equation and look at the systemic issues facing our society.

Parents abdicate their responsibility to parent their children, blame their behaviour on alcohol, drugs, mental illness.
What happened to the extended family taking responsibility for the children as might have happened 30 years ago.

It seems far easier to blame a government department when parents and families and the community fail to protect their children.

Isn’t that a huge indictment on our society.

AP says:

08:52am | 18/06/09

A lot has already been said above.  What hasn’t been said ‘often’ is :  “What difference does it make if the boy lives in the same house as the girl?  What if, in another story, a boy needs a short-term safe shelter, and a girl’s mother offered it to him, out of kindness?  What if the mother happens to shelter many ‘lost’ kids because she is just that kind of person?”  So the issue doesn’t seem to be that the boy is sharing the same roof as the girl.  The issue is that the girl is sharing the same sheets and bed as the boy!  The mother SHOULD have set the rules.  She should have said “Sleep in different parts of the house.  You are simply too young for all of this!”  Failing that, the boy would have to leave the house altogether.  I have a 12 year old girl, and a hubby, and I’m certainly glad I don’t have those issues with my daughter.  My issues are:  Did you do your homework?  Did you clean your room?  But understandably, other families are not that fortunate.  We must remember others who have more problems than we do.  Maybe that particular family was in need of help for the last 5 years.  Was the community around to help?  I don’t know.  There is a saying “People in glass houses should not throw stones.”  And from the Good Book ... “Judge not that ye be not judged”  or   “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”  So let’s not judge, but let’s help that family pick up the pieces together, and go forward from there, as best as possible.

Inca says:

07:45am | 18/06/09

Thank you!
Its refreshing to see an article which is in support of us over worked, underpaid DoCS caseworkers.

This is not an easy job, yet we do it because we want to see good things happen for these kids. However, parents too much also accept responsibility for placing their children in such situations.

The number of times Im expected to walk into people’s homes and fix a situation which has been ongoing for years, yet Im suposed to fix it in months! thats totally unrealistic.

The mother also needs to accept responsbility of allowing her 11 year old child to have sex with the 15 year old. Why should DoCS accept blame for that.

And Bill Steamshovel, you might think we can cut through the red tape of the Family Law Court, but we can’t. We are subject to the same laws and policies as everyone else who makes an application to the family law court.

Don’t blame a government department, blame the parents for failing to take control of their children and for not acting like parents in the first place.

Peter Thornton says:

06:40am | 18/06/09

Christ I’m fed up with all these groovy mums wanting to be friends with their kids rather than doing what’s expected from them by their kids. Aside from what society or the community says , when did parenting become so bloody difficult?

kay says:

08:45pm | 17/06/09

It’s too late for the currently dysfunctional adolescents and their parental generation as described here.The babies they will produce will end up the same unless they go back to high pressure pushes to have adoptions for underage parents. like no benefits whatsoever to any carer of an infant born to a female under 15 years of age for 7 years. Then mostly these babies would end up with functional adoptive parents or the most responsible resourceful natural families. As percentages go, the worst odds are where families are so incompetent that their babies are giving birth to babies.
The saddest life stories of issues from an era of persuasive pressured adoptions don’t match the outcomes of children born in multi generational dysfunctional families.

Kate says:

08:40pm | 17/06/09

I’m not a fan of DOCS because they harassed me over a vindictive false report by an ex-friend (which would have been great if I actually was bashing my children), BUT, in this case, it’s not their fault. The complete blame lies on the mother, and only the mother. I would guess that this young girl is confusing sex with love, and she’s obviously not getting any love from her mother so she’s getting the next best thing. This woman should be ashamed of herself. I have a 14 year old daughter, and there isn’t a chance in hell that I would let a boy sleep over, boyfriend or friend. I also have a 16 year old son who asked if his 15 year old girlfriend could sleep over. I said no, because if I was her mother I would be horrified to know she was sleeping at a boys house. I brought my kids up with morals, because I was brought up with those same morals. It’s not that hard to do really.

** On a second note though, Peter (post above me) does have a point. The government has taken our parental rights away, the schools have gone soft, and the kids are running the asylum, with the help of those idiot do-gooders. It has to change, but the only way it can be done is to give us parents back some power, and let the kids know that they are not the boss.

Paul says:

08:23pm | 17/06/09

Please explain to me how on earth the father is actually going to STOP her having the child? I don’t believe you can force anyone-even a 12 year old to have an invasive medical procedure. I would not use that as an excuse to question his concern for is daughters well being.

Mark says:

08:19pm | 17/06/09

I have four daughters, from sixteen to nine. The issues they are dealing with are homework, hair styles, a continual change of group membership, missed orthodontic appointments, netball games lost and won, and the WII steering wheel that the boy next door has not returned.
I am demanding, judgemental and moralistic according to all I read. If the police or DOCS intruded, they would say that what I was doing was completely unacceptable, because I was breaching my children’s rights.

Unfortunately, the do-gooders have changed the laws so that the poorest and the most underprivileged are condemned to remain in this state, and to perpetuate the cycle, and DOCs is an additional tool of Government which enforces this.
Intergenerational dysfunctionality is funded by and encouraged by our laws and social security system.
My wife comes from a country where this dysfunctionality could not exist, and it is considered Third World.

Peter says:

06:57pm | 17/06/09

I am sick & tired of its always the parents fault. Yes in many cases that may well be true but not in all cases. The law has taken away the parents & schools power to instill or dish out dicipline. If a parent forces a child to do something the kids don’t like, watch out parents, the law is against you. Call for government help and no one has power to do anything. Young kids go to the doctors, some with sexually transmitted diseases & the doctor can’t legally tell the parent. Why have we let this happen..!! Our society is falling apart from the so called do gooders of this world. Governments have let down families by taking away parents responsibility to be in charge and the UN is the biggest criminal by passing international law forcing countries to change their laws for ones that don’t work.

Karen says:

05:08pm | 17/06/09

I am not condoning the behaviour of the children involved but it is ridiculous to expect a Government Department to be able to breach all the laws in place just because we want them to, because we know whats best.  Do we know because we were there? do we know because we have all the facts before us or because someone put a biased view forward and told us all what we should think.  The father has a right to be angry and he needs to target someone who cant fight back but what did he think DoCS could do to stop his daughter behaving in a manner that he as the father could not.  Again we cannot expect a society where we infringe upon the personal rights of the few so that we can all feel better about ourselves.  One law for one is the law for all! 

TD says:

04:56pm | 17/06/09

Spot on!! Overworked, underpaid caseworker’s like myself thank you for standing up for the fact that parents need to actually take repsonsiblitity for their children, and that DoCS was busy actually saving children from life and death situations!!

You made my day!

Suzanne Layne says:

03:12pm | 17/06/09

In reading all the comments about it’s out of DOCS control,what about all the the other traggic cases where DOCS have failed to follow up serious child abuse & the child has died!! Just go over the history of DOCS failing to protect children & you will die of shock!! We need to urgently take action as child abuse has gone through the roof!!

HCM says:

02:52pm | 17/06/09

Oh spot on. Well said. Expecting DOCs to pick up the pieces from bad judgments bythe Family Court is like expecting my six year old to clean up her bedroom. Fabulous in theory and highly unlikely! As a long term full time foster parent, I deal with DOCs regularly. There are many things they manage quite acceptably. This case, if anyone had a real good think about it, actually highlights the issues with our Family Law system, not DOCs. I know many instances where a non-custodial parent is concerned about their child’s welfare, and either can’t get action or is actively dissuaded from doing so by the cost of going back to court. DOCs bashing by the uninformed is becoming quite a sport.

jack says:

02:44pm | 17/06/09

I can recall screaming at my SMH one morning about ten years ago, “DOCS doesn’t kill kids, parents do”.

It’s the old Hilary saw, It takes a village to raise a child.

The problem is when things become everyone’s responsibility, they become no-one’s.

Shinsengumi says:

02:15pm | 17/06/09

I don’t see the point in blaming the father for failing to parent his daughter; he was prevented by Law from doing so.  If he’d intervened, you can bet legal action would have been taken against him.
This girl isn’t an isolated case. My cousin currently in yr 9, knows at least 30% of the girls in her class have been sexually active since grade 8.  A girl I knew in Castle Hill (12 years ago) had 3 abortions by yr 11.

Bill Steamshovel says:

11:33am | 17/06/09

The father is right to blame DOCS. He doesn’t waste time blaming the Family Court because the Family Court had already failed by awarding custody to the mother. Given the glacial pace at which courts work in general and their reflection of society’s inherent bias against fathers, trying again with the Family Court would have been akin to beating his head against a brick wall.

DOCS is a government organisation which can cut through the red tape of the Family Court and take action when it is in the best interests of the child. I’m genuinely surprised that given that DOCS received recommendations from not only the father, but independent third parties such as doctors and the police, that no action was taken. The father also has a right to expect that if DOCS agrees with him that the children would be better off with him, that they would take action to help this eventuate.

There is something seriously wrong when society wants to apportion blame to the parents, yet has actively set up systems to deny responsible parents from being just that.

Leigh Bennett says:

10:30am | 17/06/09

Thank-you Tory, that was a great piece and its information that people out in the community need to think about. What could have DoCS possibly done about this case? Put a condom on the 15 year old before they had sex? Make up some new court order to prevent their contact (like that would work even if it were possible).

From what I can see, their hands were tied in this situation and although I have heard Linda Burney has back stabbed her own department in her comments regarding this case.

DoCS are at fault at times, no doubt, but not on this occasion, LInda Burney should have been praising the Dubbo CSC on saving the lives of other children while acknowledging there was little they could do for this girl.

alfo says:

10:11am | 17/06/09

We blame government because to blame the parent is to set too higher standard for our own conduct.

We blame the schools for discipline problems because to teach and control our kids means less time for our own indulgence.

We blame TV adverts for making kids lazy and fat because to blame the parent would mean altering our own greedy lazy ways.

In fact we blame everything that is wrong with society on something or someone ELSE.  This way we don’t need to take responsibility and be held accountable for our actions.

Mat says:

09:22am | 17/06/09

I couldn’t agree more. Why is it DOCS fault? And more broadly, why, every time something goes wrong, do we blame the government?

It’s not the government’s fault your life is crap - get of your a*se and do something about it. I’m fat and unhappy. What’s the government going to do about it. I’m stupid and make dumb choices. What’s the government going to do about it? I’m lazy and can’t be bothered working for what I want. What’s the government going to do about it?

And the problem is this line of thinking leads to a self-perpetuating spiral of dependence and blame. 12 year old gets pregnant. People blame DOCS. Government, reacting to media and public criticism, increases DOCS’ oversight of 12 year old girls. Community comes to expect the government has a responsibility to look after said 12 year olds. 12 year old gets pregnant. People blame DOCS… and so on and so on.

Sad.

Evan says:

09:15am | 17/06/09

I am glad to see someone in the media sticking up for DOCS - DOCS is an overworked understaffed system that has to deal with parental stupidity on a daily basis - doing things that parents and guardians SHOULD be doing. Really we should have no need for a body like DOCS to exist and it is sad that we do need them. Also it is interesting to note that, to my understanding of the story, that the POLICE could do nothing under the letter of the law - now if they couldn’t do anything what is DOCS supposed to do ?
And secondly about the father and the custody issue I believe he only got custody when the mother went in for treatment for her mental illness why didn’t the father already have custody due to, as the media has reported it, the mothers continuing and on going mental illness.

David says:

08:58am | 17/06/09

Us oldies always say that there is nothing new under the sun and that applies mainly to human behavior . The management of human behavior in general must start with appropriate early schooling and parenting appropriate to the ethnic origins in all societies . Sure , there will be bad eggs in every batch involving mental problems and basic individual human behavior traits and this is where the authorities come in to help .
Governments cannot make laws to change peoples basic personalities e.g sociopaths etc but they can put them out of harms way .
Humans are only higher thinking and organized animals anway and still possess the ‘’ fight and flight ‘’ reaction . Can this be bred out of humanity by evolutionary process ?
God , sitting on high , was observing the Earth dotted with explosions , wars , murder etc etc and stated ‘’ NEXT TIME , NO
HUMANS .”