On Mon, Dec 09, 2002 at 03:40:20PM +0000, tarquin wrote:
Jason Williams wrote:
Consensus and niceness are good things, but contention and argument drive the wheel faster and produce more comprehensive results.
You've been watching too much Babylon 5. I'm with the Vorlons -- conflict may promote growth, but it's not a healthy way to do so.
The social workers I have encountered have been idiots, not pathological liars. I've found it's the structure they work within (and their pen-pusher mentality which means they can *never* look outside of it) which has caused me problems in the past. If we want to criticize social workers, we need evidence, like specific cases -- and we also need to present the wider picture.
Here is one specific "case"... it's a small and trivial one as far as these things go, but telling. It is my most recent experience; my earlier, more horrific experiences aren't described on this page because it would take too much time to write up.
http://reactor-core.org/~djw/diary-arc/20021129072842.html
Want to hear the case of how a social worker in the state of Oregon aided and abetted a pedophile porn ring run by one of the state approved foster parents, and got away with it for more than 5 years? The step-mom of one of the victims, a 6 year old girl, write up her experience.
http://reactor-core.org/security/weidner-method.html
Then there are all the personal anecdotes. When you are poor, you tend to hang out with other poor people. And we talk to each other. And everyone has stories about themselves, or about family members, friends, or coworkers who have been jerked around and abused by social workers.
One such personal story: friend of mine was told by the social workers that if he and the wife wanted a night or a weekend off, there was a sort of transition house where they could leave the kids to be baby-sat for a while. He decided to try it out one weekend. That night the house called him and told him to bring his son home. It turned out that a 9 year old girl with Downs syndrome had sexually molested this 4 year old boy, and he was "acting up" as a response. But noone at the house would listen to the boy, nor did the social worker take any action on the matter.
And theres plenty more where that came from. Shall I continue?
Jonathan