Parenting is, perhaps, one of the most fulfilling roles on the planet. It is, equally, one of the most challenging at times. In the main, parenting is predicated on the blood is thicker than water principle. For many, parenting is more natural evolution than conscious choice, by which I mean we are geared to reproduce. We are designed to procreate and bring forth the next generation, It is in our genes and our DNA. For some, however, the parenting trip becomes dysfunctional nightmare, especially for their children. Whether it be due to some emotional damage within the parents, drink and drug addiction exacerbating the problems, whatever it is, broken homes and homelessness, often, results for the kids at the centre of the dark mess.
Foster Parents: Solution or More Harm?
Social workers want to get children out of dysfunctional families and get them into something more nurturing and secure. They want to remove the kids from danger, but not have them ending up inside state run institutions like orphanages. Foster homes are one solution to that situation. Why do foster parents take in children from broken homes? Some cynical folk say that some do it for the money from the government. There have been cases where foster parents were abusing kids as much as the birth parents. In many other cases, foster parents have been fostering joy in the hearts of their foster kids.
New Standards of Ethical Parenting
Generational change is seeing new standards of ethical parenting being raised across our communities. Emotional cruelties are being recognised and phased out in the way we care for our children. What may have been alright in 1970 is, definitely, not OK in 2018. Religions like Christianity and the agents within those organisations are coming under much greater public scrutiny at all levels. Schools and teachers are, likewise, feeling the blowtorch of public expectation and examination.
Lest We Forget
Sydney’s best gourmet food suppliers fed some of the members of the recent Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse. Listening to the harrowing stories, however, left many involved with less than a healthy appetite. The damning evidence and subsequent charges, the recognition and the promised compensation, must all be followed through stringently and not left to dissipate from lack of community attention. We love the shock horror in the media, but we, all of us, must be vigilant in not letting this fade away. Lest we forget.