11-Year-Old Boy Played in His Yard. CPS Took Him, Felony Charge for Parents

I like alternate media picking up on buried stories, I just wish they could do it without lying but perhaps this is why the stories are not picked up, they are more complicated than reason.com's simple tales.

I tend to agree with your general theme though, that what we're seeing is the result of system systems that have been funded, and now are doing what they were created to do.

Skenazy doesn't even need to be biased or dishonest for this story not to be the whole truth (or true at all); she just has to not fact-check it.

I'd be curious if anyone came up with a way to independent corroborate any part of this story.

1. (Defendant)

a. [willfully] [by culpable negligence] failed or omitted to provide (victim) with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain (victim’s) physical or mental health.

b. failed to make a reasonable effort to protect (victim) from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person.

2. (Defendant) was a caregiver for (victim).

3. (Victim) was under the age of 18 years.

Florida jury instructions.

I'm going to go a bit off topic, but I want to comment on this snippet:

> [The kids had been eating] [o]nly cereal, for the past few days. That's not going to kill anyone, obviously. But if you're arresting parents for not supervising their kids for 90 minutes, it's more than a little hypocritical.

There's probably a good reason for that: the foster parents couldn't get the kids to eat anything else! Perhaps they were really nervous and uncomfortable? When I'm nervous, it's hard to eat other foods like vegetables and meats. Sometimes cereal is all I can stomach. I could only imagine how those poor, confused kids felt.

We were trained to feed the kids what they would eat. That means if they want a hot dog every night, you give them a freaking hot dog every night. Sometimes keeping the kid within whatever is left of their comfort zone is more important than good nutrition. As time goes on, you start mixing things up and start giving them better food. But out the gate, the most important thing is to help the kids feel comfortable.

People like the author of this article seem to love to paint foster parents in a bad light. They have this weird mentality I don't understand. They don't care about the facts, they're just looking for anything to make everyone from the state to look like incompetent scum. Look even at this quote:

> The kids are attending "play" therapy.

Maybe it's because the whole article is horribly negative and lacking any kind of reference (even all the names are made up to "protect the innocent" or whatever), but I feel like that is sarcasm. And the sarcasm in that sentence demonstrates how much the author doesn't know. "Play" therapy is a real thing, and it really helps the kids. It's not some crazy witchcraft the state thought up. The kids might've been "normal" before this all happened, but it's important to get kids in this situation (even the ones that weren't abused/neglected/etc, like the children in the article) to make sure they're getting the help that they need to cope with the CURRENT situation. We always try to get our foster kids in play therapy, even if they act completely "normal" and understanding of everything. The thing I don't want is to think the kid is okay and then find out they've been holding it all back.