Weeell, my proposal is not to discriminate against "inferior" socio-economic classes. It should be an across the board, world-wide practice. EVERY person who wishes to have children should be able to prove their ability to parent. There are many, and often the WORSE cases of child abuse/neglect are inflicted by highly educate, affluent individuals who simply have sociopathic tendencies or not innate morals or ethics.
Recently, my husband, who works at the biggest hospital in our city, worked in theatre assisting the c-section delivery of a baby to a couple who had been happily married for 9 years. They were professional people (he was a lawyer and her an accountant), and in their early forties. They drove a BMW. The baby was born and my husband asked the father if he would like him to take a photo. He replied with a stern, "No way!". The mother refused to hold the baby. They wheeled her into recovery, and were forced to take the baby to the nursery (the father usually takes the baby and waits in the ward for the mum to be wheeled down). The couple checked themselves out of the hospital the next day, despite attempts to keep them there. They then disappeared off the face of the earth. Many attempts were made to contact them by hospital staff. Offers of assistance and counselling and follow up support were made. All were ignored. Their little girl was abandoned and left to the mercy of the welfare system. This, by EDUCATED, successful people. A married COUPLE. No drug abuse or addiction. Completely and absolutely able to provide financially for the child. She was a healthy little baby, no disabilities, no illness. She simply was too much of an inconvenience to them. The hospital staff are almost certain that had her own health not been at grave risk (she was bought to hospital by ambulance and the c-section was an emergency procedure), that little girl most probably would have ended up in rubbish tip wrapped in a plastic bag. Now, instead, she gets the joy of a life in the welfare system, and a whole life of knowledge that she was so unwanted that her parents who had every resource in the world to raise her, simply couldn't be bothered doing it. Such a burden to carry and no fault of her own. She was a beautiful little girl, and the instant she emerged into this world, her life was layed out for her by these people who have no ounce of a conscience in their bodies. They *could* have afforded a termination or arranged adoption. BUT, their egos wouldn't allow it. They said that they couldn't have the time off work that was required for the mother to have the termination, they thought it better to wait it out and then dump the baby and run. None of their family, their friends or work colleagues knew that she was pregnant. She was conveniently overweight and hid the pregnancy easily. Likewise, I know many mothers who live in underprivileged and low socio-economic situations that ADORE their children and do everything they can to raise stable, secure, loved children. If it has to be the case, welfare systems can provide meals, clothing and a roof over the heads of families in need, but love, education and nurturing is a completely different kettle of fish and are skills that can be taught and learned. You are correct - there is no way to tell who will or will not neglect or abuse their children. But taking away the ability for people to conceive until they are able to at least undertake education and complete mental assessments to demonstrate that they can handle the demands that parenting throws at them, should be the bare minimum requirement. As for people who have been allowed to procreate then turning out to be abusers - well, I am sure that that would happen. But, I am just as certain that the numbers would be GREATLY reduced compared to current statistics, and that is the main thing that concerns me - to end the suffering of as many children as possible. Of course, it is not cut and dry, and of course it would never happen, but I wish that it would. So much would rely on the systems put in place and making sure that the "assessment" is reasonable and measurable and non-discriminatory in nature, but wow, the suffering that it could potentially prevent. Tan. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Sessoms Sent: Monday, 15 March 2010 9:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: question for the brits American to English translation From: "Tanya Love" > I totally get your point, but perhaps if you were attending all of the > homes and studying the cases that I've been studying for the past two > years, you may think otherwise. I understand where you're coming from, but your proposed solution doesn't remedy the problem. I'm sorry about what happened to the children, but forced sterilization of the inferior socio-economic classes won't prevent child neglect and abuse. How do you tell in advance that someone will neglect or abuse their children? Who gets to make the determination that someone is unfit to be allowed to even have children? And once you put your solution in place, what are you going to do when the people you've deemed fit to procreate turn out to be abusers as bad or worse than the poor people you condemned to childlessness? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4944 (20100314) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
