This is about our journey as Parent Advocates.  This area will contain little true stories about our encounters in the strange world of Child Welfare where we often find ourselves alone fighting an uphill battle to change people's hearts and minds towards parents who usually just need some compassion and understanding.  They receive the worst descriptive adjectives parents can hear about themselves-abusive and neglectful!  But what we've found on our journey is a warm, loving, misunderstood, caring, compassionate, giving, hurting, and wonderful group of people who we strive to serve and advocate for in a Child Welfare System that is out of control and upside-down.  It is a place where policies, professionals, and politicians prefer to spend money on removing kids from their families instead of trying to prevent this tragedy.  It's a place where poverty is mistaken for neglect while real abuse goes undetected.  This arena is where we seek to both help the parents suffering in the System with good information and guidance while also trying to bring the others back to the reality of what's going on so it can be changed.  

A CAPITOL CONVERSATION

The coolest thing about the Capitol in Austin is the Rotunda.  It’s a several story high room that is round where each floor houses the official paintings of our Texas Governors.  It echoes when you talk and is the focal point of any visit.  It’s always crowded with tourists and this was the place that I had an interesting conversation with one of my supposed colleagues.  I use the term lightly because we are not actually on the same page in many respects.  With pleasure, I granted this man the temporary esteem of my opinion.  (Hey, he asked.)  I attempt to give my opinion when and where it will do the most good in a small effort to not cast my pearls before swine; however, on this day, in the Rotunda of the Capitol, with all the tourists snapping their pictures and herding their children, I had this most enlightening adventure. 

Mr. Smith, as I’ll call him, wanted to know why I opposed the privatization of the Child Welfare System in Texas.  Now, this is a very loaded question, and I’m no fool.  Given the fact that this man had heard, for an entire year, month after month, my reasons why I thought it was not beneficial to families for the system to be privatized, I skeptically looked shocked and quite simply told him, “Children are not a commodity.”  Of course, this did not satisfy him.  He dug deeper, not to listen to me and see my side, but instead to know my game.  He wanted to know my next move.  What was I going to DO about it?  He’s quite a debater.  He crafted question after question trying to bait me.  He even used some of my words from the past year.  Nice touch.  He tried the “we’re all on the same team” approach to convince me.  He pulled out the old “bait and switch” attempting to agree with me.  What?  I’m so convincing that after 15 minutes of heated debate, echoing in the Rotunda, he now did a complete turn-around and did NOT think privatization was good??  As I was checking my pulse to make sure I hadn’t actually had a heart attack, he corrected himself to say it was better than what we had before, maybe not ideal, but we should try it.  Oh.  Whew.  I thought I was in the Twilight Zone for a moment.  I reminded him of the actual failures of other states who had privatized and how it really cost more and did less for families.  The way I guage whether a system or policy is good for families is by asking these questions:  Are LESS kids getting removed from their parents? (prevention!)  Are MORE kids going home? (reunification!)  And, when kids have to be taken, are they REALLY safer in foster care? (accountability!)

What I find most interesting is that Mr. Smith must feel threatened in some way by someone who does not believe in the privatization of Child Welfare-something for which he fought so hard.  When I started this "advocacy thing," a wise ad litem attorney for parents and children in the System told me, "If they hate you, then you must be doing something right."  I wonder if Mr. Smith hates me?  I sure hope so.