I volunteered for a family court related organization when I lived in another town, and I was amazed at what a parent had to do before the court would even consider revoking parental rights. It takes some dramatically negligent and/or abusive behavior before these rights are revoked.

What brings this to mind today is a news story I saw this morning where a good samaritan woman in Houston Texas took in a woman and her FIVE children after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. Shortly after this family moved in with the good samaritan, the woman left and went back to New Orleans to be with her boyfriend, leaving all FIVE children with the good samaritan. For the next THREE YEARS the good samaritan woman raised these children providing 100% of their financial support and emotional support, while their mother was back in New Orleans doing God knows what.

The mother showed up the other day wanting her children, and the good samaritan had "kidnapped" them and was keeping them away from their mother. The daughter of the good samaritan said that the mother of these children has pulled a knife on the good samaritan woman before and threatened her life. There are numerous other stories of neglect and abusive behavior told by those who observed these behaviors by the mother of the children. The good samaritan says she left out of fear for her life after the mother of the children threatened her life because she told her she was going to call child protective services and report her neglect and abuse, and may start legal proceedings.

The media has reported this as a "abduction" and a "kidnapping", which is just ridiculous. The good samaritan has agreed to come back with the children if the authorities will protect her from the mother of the children.

To make things even more tasty for the idiotic news media, the children are African American and the good samaritan is a white woman. I am sure this will be, if it isn't already, a racial issue! Are there different standards of care expected out of white parents than black parents?

Anyway, it appears as though most states treat children as property, much like a car or a boat. The parents essentially own the children the way most of the laws are written. I believe strongly that this needs to change!

One of the media reports on the situation:

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stor....2236efff.html

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I agree to some extent. But on the other hand, terminating a parents' rights can end up just making things worse in the bulk of cases.
One of the terrible things is that child abuse, like any domestic abuse, is extremely hard to prove.
But since these kids know their mother, it might be counterproductive to completely terminate the mother's rights. At the very least the courts should provide some visitation. But first abuse must be proven in a court of law and the courts must really weigh the potential effects of any case.
These kinds of things get real complex.

But I do think blood is overrated in the parenting equation.

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And I do not need to know.

I think three years worth of abandonment, if proven to be the case, is more than enough proof.

Whaler, you were doing good until you get to the racial issue. Was that second question really necessary? And, what does skin color have to do with the issue anyway? I don't think race has any bearing on whether the mother is guilty of abandonment.

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"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." ---Albert Einstien

I certainly would never suggest terminating parental rights on a mere allegation of wrongdoing, but I have witnessed cases where there was a great deal of evidence of wrongdoing, neglect, and abuse, yet parental rights were not terminated. The rationale was that costody (Ownership) of the children was a constitutional right that was nearly impossible to take away.

This is just wrong, but it tracks with U.S. philosophy about abortion. The adult's "rights" are given more importance than a defenseless child's rights are.

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My point is raising that issue is that the media will almost certainly make that a component of this. I do not beleive that race should play any part in this. My experiences have shown that there is often a double standard with regard to what is expected of parents based on race. This is not speculation, but actual observation by me. But I will say again, I believe race should play no part in this. There should be only one standard by which parents are judged.

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it's a pretty tough decission to make. In the end i think a psychologist is needed to asses if taking the kid away does more harm then letting it stay. In the end it's about the well being of the kid.

Well it should be, but it isn't!
I do not believe that contact with an abusive or grossly negligent mother is in the best interest of the child regardless!

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It's tough because although kids do have rights under the law, the responsibility for those rights is handed off to the parents. A child cannot sign a legal contract without a parent or legal guardian, for example. And then when it's the parents or legal guardians themselves that are the problem, well how is the kid supposed to jump that political loophole without intervention? Child abuse and negligence cases I think have to be handled on a case-by-case basis and no overarching law can really be put into place that applies for all cases. It's probably too hard to do, but I wouldn't know.

Children are not property, thus you can't dump them on a neighbor's lawn and forget about them. That kind of negligence is unacceptable and the mother should not retain legal custody of her kids. She can have visitation rights, but only because she bothered to even return.

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you would be surprised how destructive removing a kid from their parents can be. That's why it is not up to the normal people to asses these things. They don't really have any idea of the consequences. Leave it to professionals who know what impact certain decisions have.

My kids are my proptery. There only role in their life is to get educated be very smart, mow lawns do chores and get high paying jobs so they can support Dad so i can retire early in style!!!!!