The following article is a piece of pro-CPS (Child Protective Services) propaganda that was put out by the Portland Press Herald this morning.
Since 2007, 18 children have been killed in Maine homes being monitored by the state
In the last 12 years, 18 children in Maine have been killed in homes where state child welfare officials knew that the children or their siblings were subjected to abuse or neglect, sometimes over a period of years.
Source >> https://www.pressherald.com/2019/06/26/since-2007-52-child-deaths-occurred-in-homes-where-abuse-or-neglect-was-documented/
This article is a great example of limited focus and narrow-mindedness. What's written in this PPH article is what is being talked about in the legislature where they are making "knee jerk reaction type" laws that effect everybody, to address the shortcomings of DHHS in regards to a very few recent cases, as well as approving millions of dollars in additional funding to support CPS growth opportunities, ie. more workers, training, services, foster care providers, removing more kids from their parents and making it harder to get them back, etc.
Those revelations raise questions about whether any of the deaths could have – or should have – been prevented.
This is also what is being thought about when normal people hold rallies in support of CPS doing more to protect children. This is what they are worried about happening to the child when they make that call to the Child Abuse Hotline no matter how frivolous the report may be. The normal person simply doesn't know any better. They think that they're doing the right thing.
Social Conditioning
Ultimately, the article is an attempt at social conditioning designed to convince people to support tax increases to fund growth opportunities for CPS. It's really quite sinister how it all works out. Let me explain.
The children who are mentioned in this article suffered horrible fates. Anybody with a heart should be outraged when this happens. However CPS tends to use these cases as springboards to promote policy changes that enable them to take more kids from their parents and increase revenue.
The problem is that these particular cases are the most extreme examples of child abuse and are relatively rare as compared to ALL the cases that CPS in Maine will handle which in 2017 alone reached over 19,500 referrals, making it maybe 1 in every 10,000 alleged cases being this extreme. However, because these particular cases are mentioned so often, analyzed so deeply and harped on so much by the media, this level of extremity then becomes normalized in the minds of the typical reader or television viewer who gets 99% of their education on child welfare issues from TV and the news papers.
In other words, these kinds of stories capture the attention of self-righteous hypocrite, diaper sniffing child worshipers who get all worked up and start thinking things like
"Oh my God!!! Every child is going to die!" Then when they simply hear the words "child abuse and neglect" these are the images that "POPS!" into their heads.
What these people fail to realize is that sooner or later it could happen to them. CPS could come knocking on their door. When that happens, that particular person suddenly tends sees the light and learns the truth about CPS and how horrible they can be. Until then, however, they won't know any better.
The media harps on these stories because they capture attention, sell papers, hook normal people in and increase the value of their advertising slots. Emotion junkies want to know more and more and more so they buy the paper the minute the headline captures their attention. At the same time, the so called "experts" who the author relies upon for information and "educated opinions" often have an agenda and use this as a platform and an opportunity raise awareness about that agenda, so that they can manufacture support for that agenda and move it forward. That agenda usually has something to do with more money for CPS and enlarging the programs they operate and contract with.
