A New Blog to Start Some Much Needed Conversation
Children are the single most powerless segment of our population. They cannot support themselves, they cannot vote. Physically, they are not very strong. They know very little about the world. They are entirely dependent on the kindness and charity of adults. And every year tens of thousands of children are the subject of some type of legal proceeding in courthouses across the state of South Carolina. Whether they are in court because they have been the victims of abuse or neglect, or whether they are in court because of delinquency, court involved children are disproportionately and dramatically children of poverty and children of color. These children cannot speak for themselves. They cannot fight for themselves, and their families cannot afford to pay anyone to speak or fight for them.
What are the issues that are most pressing or seem most relevant to our children? How can our communities emerge with a single collective voice for our young people? This blog is based on the idea that the communities of our state will become all they can be only when we begin to collectively address the unmet legal and social needs of our children. Hopefully, this will be a place where the community can begin to participate in a conversation about those needs and about how they can best be met.
Huge numbers of South Carolina children end up in juvenile detention every year. Thousands of others, who are victims of abuse or neglect, are removed from their homes shuttled from one foster home to another. These court involved children in our state fail in devastating numbers.
Low expectations, inappropriate labeling, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive disabilities related to prior abuse, zero tolerance disciplinary practices, high stakes testing, failing inner city schools, lack of family support, all conspire to prevent thousands of children each year from succeeding.
Can something be done? Absolutely.
How do we do it? I don't know. But I do know the answer begins with conversation, argument, debate and collaboration. Hopefully, this will be a place where we can at least begin the conversation.
