Taking Children Away from High-Risked Condition Parents: Solutions or Concerns?

Disclaimer: This article was written as a requirement for ELC093 (Academic Writing for Foundation Studies) of both authors, Elisa Shafiqah and Hifzhan Hafiy. This article is published for the general public for educational purposes. The citation of this article can be made as follow: Elisa Shafiqah & Hifzhan Hafiy. (2020) Taking Children Away from High-Risked Condition Parents: Solutions or Concerns? Retrieved from https://elisashafiqahacade.wixsite.com/fromelisasdesk/post/taking-children-away-from-high-risked-condition-parents-solutions-or-concerns

The romanticisation of hardship and gender roles that are indoctrinated into society marks the start of an evolution of society being more materialistic. Many fall short and remain oppressed in this system. Subsequently, the failure of parents committing their responsibilities towards their offspring is evident. According to Frick, Barry & Kamphaus (2010), these adults, categorised as high-risked, will affect the development of their child. Correspondingly, the solution for it is by forcefully taking children away from high-risked condition parents because it serves as an act of intervention, parental neglect hinders the development of the child and the failure of parents to supervise accordingly towards the needs of the child.

Firstly, children should be taken away from high-risked condition parents forcefully because it serves as a policy to curb social issues faced by society. Unfortunately, these issues viewed as unhealthy lifestyles such as abusing drugs are commonly indulged by the children who were raised by these high-risked condition parents. Factors namely being neglected at home or influences from their parents raises concerns as the children are not supervised which leads to 1559 cases of child abuse reported from 2013 to 2018 (New Straits Times, 2018). Thus, it is alarming as it affects their health and future. Nevertheless, many claimed that the policy itself is unfeasible to be executed because it requires collaboration between various organisations to enforce the policy. Moreover, the execution itself causes additional backlash like the neglect of the welfare of the child and the costly maintenance. For example, the foster care system in the United States which influences this model policy placed around 443,000 children (Children’s Rights, n.d.). Many claims that it is inefficient for the government to ensure the children will gain benefit from it. Gaille (2017) states that the government must pay up to hundreds to bear a child’s expenses for a year. The figure will rise to billions as it needs to take into account the number of children in the system until they reach 18 years old. Besides, the model stated acts as the mechanism of this policy and has been executed in various sectors mostly by private entities. To address the objection stated, a proper layout of the mechanism must be laid out for a better clarity towards the policy. Optimally, the policy uses a smaller budget by thorough planning with third-party institutions related to the execution of the policy. Overall, social issues faced by society can be curb with the effort of the government by taking children away from their high-risked condition parents.

Secondly, the development of the child in terms of mental, physical, emotional and social well-being be kept in mind when the policy of forcefully taking away the children from hazardous parents is implemented. All aspects aforementioned are hindered if the status quo remains as distressing parental figures are going to be influential throughout their childhood. Thus, it is reasonable to believe that the absence of parents leads to the child growing independent early on with the absence of biological parents. In contrast, the absence of a loving parental figure increases the likelihood of the child to suffer psychiatric symptoms, academic difficulties, and many other challenges. According to Dahake et al (2018), low academic achievement, drug use and mental health are 25% more prevalent in children with abusive and neglecting parents. In reverse, many believe that parental absence will disrupt the development of the child as one of the necessities is affection by the parents. For instance, Suchman, Rounsaville, DeCoste & Luthar (2007) outlines that the parental warmth in childhood was associated with the child’s internalizing problems, clinical maladjustment, personal adjustment and depression. Hence, the seeking of one’s filial comfort is especially powerful in childhood. It is vital for a child to be raised in a family which puts forth compassionate and loving values to ensure healthier growth. However, a proven harmful parent will be detrimental towards the child as most parents tend to disrupt the child’s emotional and physical health under the environment they create. It is noted that toxic love and affection affects the development of the child even more severely as compared with non-blood-related affection (Ducharme, 2018). Generally, the proposed policy will help to provide a platform in which the child’s growth is thoroughly provided for instead of abandoned by the parents.

In fact, the failure of the parent to cater for the children's welfare is another incentive to introduce this policy. This derives from claims that parents are too focused on their problems such as drinking excessively and dealing with mental issues which causes the child to be abandoned, physically and mentally. Many parents resort to violent behaviours directly towards their offsprings to cope with their problem. This is detrimental as children who are abused and neglected are 11 times more probable to be apprehended as a juvenile and 2.7 times more than the average adult. Violence towards the child is harder to locate and distinguish in a low socio-economic group of families (Dahake et al., 2018). Furthermore, children in lower-income households tend to be unhealthy and fare less in school (Homlong, Rosvold, Sagatun, Wentzel-Larsen & Haavet, 2015). Hence, the main contributor to the well-being of a family is the advent of financial resources and its insufficiency constrains their access to better facilities (Fernandez, 2013). This is because inadequate facilities for the underprivileged halts the child’s growth compared to his richer counterparts. In contrast, registering the child for foster care may be redundant because abuse and neglect still exist nonetheless. Dahake et al (2018) commented that step-parents, foster parents and relatives have a higher probability of physically abusing the child. Gaille (2017) supported by claiming that 5.1% of children out of 679,000 confirmed child maltreatment reports obtained in 2012 who were victims of abuse fall back into the cycle within 6 months. However, there are guaranteed preventive measures implemented in ensuring that these issues will not occur. Strict requirements one must fulfil to be a foster parent includes having no criminal records and passing the home study conducted by authorities. Thus, the direct harms of keeping these children in the guardianship of their parents outweigh the detriments of putting them into new custody.

Align with the Child Act 2001, any potential hazard that the parents impose on the child is unlawful regardless of its severity. Thus, the urgency of such an issue to be solved exists and failure will result in various repercussions towards the community. Hence, by introducing a policy to forcefully take away children from high-risk condition parents is needed as parents fail to supervise accordingly to the needs of their child, the neglect done by the parents disrupts the development of the child and this policy serves as a tool to prevent social issues to recur more. Therefore, this policy allows betterment for the children. References

Child Abuse: We Are Not Doing Enough About It (2018, October 7) New Straits Times.

Retrieved from: https://www.nst.com.my/news/exclusive/2018/10/418676/child-abuse-we-are-not-doing-enough-about-it

Children's Rights. (n.d.). Foster Care. Retrieved from Children's Rights: https://www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/foster-care/

Dahake, P. T., Kale, Y., Dadpe, M., Kendre, S., Shep, S., & Dhore, S. (2018). Impact of Child Abuse & Neglect on Children: A Review Article. MIDSR Journal of Dental Research, 36-49.

Ducharme, J. (2018, June 19). 'What This Amounts to Is Child Abuse'. Psychologists Warn Against Separating Kids From Their Parents. Times Magazine. Retrieved from: https://time.com/5316030/kids-seperation-parents-psychological-harm/

Fernandez, E. (2013). Accomplishing Permanency: Reunification Pathways and Outcomes for Foster Children. New York: Springer.

Frick, P. J., Barry, C. T., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2010). Clinical Assessment of Child and Adolescent Personality and Behavior Third Edition. London: Springer.

Gaille, B. (2017). 51 Useful Aging Out of Foster Care Statistics. National Foster Youth Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.nfyi.org/51-useful-aging-out-of-foster-care-statistics-social-race-media/

Homlong, L., Rosvold, E. O., Sagatun, A., Wentzel-Larsen, T., & Haavet, O. R. (2015). Living with Mentally Ill Parents During Adolescence: A Risk Factor For Future Welfare Dependence? A Longitudinal, Population-Based Study. Retrieved from: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1734-1

Suchman, N. E., Rounsaville, B., DeCoste, C., & Luthar, S. (2007). Parental Control, Parental Warmth, and Psychosocial Adjustment in A Sample of Substance-Abusing Mothers and Their School-Aged and Adolescent Children. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 1-17.

The author of this article are Elisa Shafiqah and Hifzhan Hafiy. Elisa Shafiqah and Hifzhan Hafiy are Foundation in Law KPTM of UiTM Centre of Foundation Studies, Dengkil graduates and currently pursuing Bachelor of Arts (International and Strategic Studies) in the University of Malaya. The views expressed here are entirely the author’s own opinions and it does not purport to reflect the views of any institution.