Emma

Emma hated school.  At some point she got so far behind the other kids in class she knew she would never catch up.  Especially in math and science. She read reasonably well and enjoyed reading novels, but there were so many other things she struggled with, so much she didn't know.  School was just a struggle.  So she quit going.

Emma's parents were meth addicts.  Eventually her Dad got caught making and selling meth and went to prison.  Her mom had a myriad of health problems, some invented and some drug and lifestyle related.  She worked periodically as a dishwasher at a local restaurant, but had no health insurance and very little money.  When Emma quit going to school, her mom didn't have the strength to make her.  The truant officer would show up at the door and Emma would be home or over at a friend's house.  Emma would get grounded, but her mom couldn't make her stay home. She would get detention, but then she still wouldn't go to school.  As time went by Emma just got farther behind in school and school became less and less where she wanted to be.

Social Services (SRS) got involved.  They came to visit and talked to Emma's mom about how to make Emma go to school.  So Emma's mom drove her to school to make sure she arrived.  Emma went to school that day, but she didn't stay.  She was already back at home before her mom got back.  And what could Mom do?  What privileges could she withhold? They had so little.  What punishment could she enact?  She could yell at her, but Emma could yell and scream back and make Mom's life miserable.  Emma's was the stronger personality and as her mom had never established any discipline when she was small, she had no power to do so now.

So here's the conundrum.  The law requires that kids attend school until they are at least 16.  The responsibility rests with the parent to send their kids to school and make sure they attend.  What enforcement mechanism does the state have when a parent can not or does not meet that responsibility?  The only mechanism available to the state is to take the child away from the parents and place them in foster care.  But does that punish the parent or just traumatize the child?

In Emma's case, her mom was relieved to have Emma taken away.  She no longer had to deal with a difficult and confrontational child and she no longer had SRS and truant officers dropping by her house and criticizing her parenting.  She was also freed to complete her divorce from Emma's Father and pursue her relationship with someone new.

But for Emma it was the start of a miserable period in her life.  One without family nor stability.  Should the state be allowed to take a child from it's home when the state can not ensure that it will replace that home with one that is truly better?