SystemSuckology 101: Perhaps this worker's crystal ball was defective

Perhaps the worker's crystal ball was defective.

New York’s Missteps in a Girl’s Death

4-year-old Brooklyn girl who weighed 18 pounds when she died in September appears to have gone months without a visit from child welfare workers assigned to monitor her well-being, despite indications that she could be at risk, New York’s child welfare agency revealed on Tuesday.

Fortunately, cases of this extremity are relatively rare in comparison to the severity levels of the norm. The fact that Child Protective Services missed the opportunity to save the child is probably an indicator of systematic failures further on up the line which will be looked into during an internal review, which of course serves the purpose of covering butts, but that's besides the point, and since New York has a history of covering their tracks, we shouldn't expect anything less.

New York Child Welfare Agency Misses Signs, Visits Before Girl, 4, Dies

This is a horrible tragedy and no child should have to suffer like this. A major screw up on the part of the child protective industry who missed an opportunity to save this child. Now the mother will go to jail. The kid will rot in the ground. And the workers will get off Scott free because they'll call it a systematic failure and the result of being overworked and underfunded. It even made international headlines.

Still, a screw-up of this magnitude is not something that should be overlooked. The fact that CPS does miss the opportunity to save a child from time to time should be brought into the equation, for it is a highly effective method of increasing funding, not that New York would know what to do with it. And it's not like the kid would be any better off in foster care either.

Child welfare department missed series of chances to save four-year-old girl who may have starved to death

New York's child welfare department missed a series of opportunities to save a beaten and emaciated four-year-old girl who may have starved to death.

But this has become a hot story. What's really interesting is that the Brit's and Floridian System Sucks are all over this too as if the Brit's have a right to talk after the Baby P Screw Up, so obviously the intent is to make a big deal over it.

New York Child Welfare Agency Misses Signs, Visits Before Girl, 4, Dies

Depending on how much media exploitation this poor child gets, the next thing you know some anti-abuse moron will organize a protest of her friends at the Ladies Auxiliary to cry out for Child Protective Services to do more to protect children.

Then it will lead to a big internal investigation which will conclude with the under funded/over worked argument. And ultimately more money being pumped into the system for more workers, more foster parent recruits, better training, etc.

Also expect a 6 to 10 percent increase in foster care referrals in New York over the next year, not that they need them, and it's not like they can keep track of their foster kids anyway.

You see folks, whenever a child dies from abuse or neglect, the sheep begin to think that every kid out there is at risk of death. Think of it as a paranoid hot button. Calls to the hotline increase, removals increase, funding increases...

It happened in California.

It happened in England.

Still, they never manage to save every child. And the negative image that they get from a failure to protect case always results in increased calls to the hotline. So even thought they are a bunch of incompetent fools, they are somehow always able to spin it to their benefit.