Houston Case Illustrates Biggest Problem in U.S. Child Welfare, National Child Advocacy Group Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The case of a loving Houston family torn apart solely because the parents could not afford adequate housing illustrates the single biggest problem in American child welfare: the confusion of poverty with "neglect" according to a national non-profit child advocacy organization.

"No one ever accused the parents, Prince and Charlomane Leonard of abusing their children," said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.  "They were not bruised or battered.  They were not ill or hungry.  On the contrary, they were healthy, happy, and getting good grades.  But the only safe place to live that the unemployed welder could afford was a storage shed.

"The shed had electricity heat and even air conditioning, and Leonard built a makeshift loft.  That wasn't enough for Texas Child Protective Services.  But instead of helping the family with housing, they confiscated the children."

Though the children were placed with grandparents "that lessens but does not eliminate the enormous trauma of being separated by force from loving parents, trauma compounded by the astoundingly cruel decision to limit visits with the children to an average of less than an hour a week," Wexler said.

He said the only thing unusual about this case is the fact that it got media attention.  Three separate studies have found that nearly one-third of America's foster children could be home right now if their parents just had decent housing.

"And it's not just the children wrongfully removed who suffer," Wexler said. "All the time, effort and money wasted tearing apart these families is, in effect, stolen from finding children in real danger.  That's the real reason for the horror stories about brutal abuse that so often make headlines.  Confusing poverty with neglect makes all children less safe.

"Unfortunately, some in America's child welfare establishment have exploited those horror stories to push for diverting scarce funds away from real help for families like the Leonards and into further bloating the child welfare bureaucracy.  That will only create the same lousy system only bigger," Wexler said.

There is more about the Texas case in this post to NCCPR's Child Welfare Blog, http://bit.ly/oAKBEo  and comprehensive, real solutions at www.nccpr.org

SOURCE National Coalition for Child Protection Reform