NEGATIVE - DISADVANTAGE — PRIVACY HURTS SECURITY — DOMESTIC ABUSE 200
CHILD PRIVACY RIGHTS LEAD TO ABUSE
GIVING CHILDREN PRIVACY RIGHTS CREATES INTER-GENERATIONAL CONFLICTS
BETSY HART, Chicago Sun-Times, December 20, 1999, SECTION: EDT; Pg. 35 TITLE: Privacy puts teens at risk // acs-EE2001
This privacy notion is a direct result of the widespread but destructive mind-set that a child and his parents have equal but opposite interests. This not only leaves the child vulnerable, it also makes a conflict between the generations inevitable.
WITH LESS CONCERN ABOUT CHILD PRIVACY WE COULD BETTER INTERVENE TO SAVE THEM BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
BETSY HART, Chicago Sun-Times, December 20, 1999, SECTION: EDT; Pg. 35 TITLE: Privacy puts teens at risk // acs-EE2001
We hardly expect to get through our children's teenage years trouble-free. But the fact is, if the lives of more teenagers were open to responsible, engaged parents, if there was less concern about their "privacy rights," more young people would be better equipped to happily and safely navigate their teenage years on the way to becoming men and women of character. And, clearly, we'd have fewer infamous teenagers on the covers of national magazines.
GIVING CHILDREN A RIGHT TO PRIVACY IS DANGEROUS FOR THEIR SAFETY
BETSY HART, Chicago Sun-Times, December 20, 1999, SECTION: EDT; Pg. 35 TITLE: Privacy puts teens at risk // acs-EE2001
Of course, few people believe that, which is why, after the Columbine massacre and similar violence at other schools, many parents finally seem to be waking up to how much every teenager, even the most typical, desperately needs his parents to be in close touch with his life.
Such newly cognizant parents may feel they face a big hurdle -- the notion that children, especially teenagers, have a "right to privacy."
It's one of the most dangerous yet prevalent beliefs our culture has about raising kids today. Elites insist on it, parents assume it, the law sometimes enshrines it. And kids are endangered by it.
PRIVACY CONCERNS MUST NOT STOP INVESTIGATION OF CHILD PLACEMENT PROGRAMS
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, February 12, 1999, SECTION: Editorial; Ed. FINAL; Pg. 71A TITLE: PROTECTING FOSTER CHILDREN
THE ISSUE// acs-EE2001
Information about individual families and the children they care for is not normally public, but the records of licensed agencies should be.
In 1996, the state Department of Human Services investigated the child placement system, and reportedly found nearly a quarter of agencies consistently had problems. But there's no way for the public to determine which ones, or whether efforts to improve them have been effective, because the results of the investigation have still not been released. The excuse is that the study is in draft form, and so not a public record. That's a pretext. The Division of Child Care should routinely report complaints, resolutions and penalties in a manner that would protect individuals' privacy but allow oversight of the child-placement system.
If children aren't being adequately protected, waiting until they are injured or killed is not the way to find out.
INABILITY TO DO FOSTER PARENT BACKGROUND CHECKS THREATENS CHILDREN
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, February 12, 1999, SECTION: Editorial; Ed. FINAL; Pg. 71A TITLE: PROTECTING FOSTER CHILDREN
THE ISSUE// acs-EE2001
A child's violent death inevitably draws the spotlight of public attention, and the glare is particularly harsh when the child has been entrusted to the state's protection.
The case of the 2 1/2-year-old boy in foster care who died Feb. 2 from a beating doesn't by itself mean there are major, critical flaws in the administration of foster care. Not every tragedy is predictable or preventable, and such cases are, after all, mercifully rare. But the spotlight has revealed that the system operates with inadequate information on many levels.
Most seriously, private child-placement agencies have no ready means of checking whether prospective foster parents have had previous difficulties; meanwhile, the public is denied access to information about the agencies.
CONFIDENTIALITY STATUES CAN MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO STOP CHILD ABUSE
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 19, 1999, SECTION: Editorial; Pg. 18A TITLE: Editorials: Secrecy hurts children; Bungling bureaucrats shielded in severe abuse cases. // acs-EE2001
As recounted by reporter Jane O. Hansen, 5-year-old Terrell's tragic tale is also an horrific account of bureaucratic blunders that were kept from the public. While confidentiality statutes are supposed to protect the privacy of abuse victims, they can also shield a child protection system that fumbled badly and lied about it. That's what happened in Terrell's case.