Ever wonder why we don't here stories about the child immigrants being reunited with their parents? Ever wonder why we aren't hearing anything about the custodian rights of the parents? Well, I think I found the answer for you tonight while I was reading the law.
Government, as government often is wont to do, created a process.
Government, as government often is wont to do, created a process.
Yes, that 2008 law Bush signed that we are hearing so much about might license the children to be here, but it also makes it a process before they can be reunited to their parents -- or placed in any foster home at all.
No such thing as whisking them right up the street to Mom and Dad.
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 says the child shall be turned over to Health and Human Services within 48 hours. You know that part.
But it is once Health and Human Services gets involved that the process gets involved. HHS must determine the suitability of the proposed custodian, even if the custodian is to be the parents. It suggests the parents might be "not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment or a similar basis."
Me? I like the idea of whisking them right up the street to Mom and Dad, first, and then judging whether the parents are worthy, afterwords. And, I don't like the idea of being too critical of Mom and Dad. If there is not clear reason to keep the children from their parents, they should be with them.
Maybe some of the children are quickly reunited with their folks. Maybe I am wrong in thinking they are not. But, from reading the law, it does appear to me it does not facilitate a quick reunion with Mom and Dad. In fact, the law questions whether the child should be reunited with the parents, at all.
Maybe there is other reason I've not heard (to my memory) about a child being reunited with its folks. After all, for as long as this has been going on, it does seem that even if there is a drawn-out process, some would be with their folks by now.
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/113178.htm
Maybe there is other reason I've not heard (to my memory) about a child being reunited with its folks. After all, for as long as this has been going on, it does seem that even if there is a drawn-out process, some would be with their folks by now.
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/113178.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment