Soliciting Outrage

Last October I sat in our living room with our children’s attorney. I begged him to do something; to stand up for the rights of the children. My plea was impassioned; a somewhat frenzied mixture of eloquence and outrage born of my blistering incapacity to take charge. I was powerless to do that which comes instinctively to (most) parents – to protect my children. I needed his help. I had not yet come to understand that the best interests of the children are but a distant consideration under the law. There was really nothing he could do to help me or them.

The attorney sat as I enumerated all of the system’s mistakes and moral wrongs. They had so extremely mishandled this case in the beginning that risk management protocols were now steering the decision making process. There was no consideration for the children and certainly none for our family. They had lied to us in order to find a home for the children and now it seemed that there was no limit to what they would do in order to sweep up the heaping piles of carelessness that they had deposited over the course of the preceding year. I was nearly as outraged at the attorney’s calm as I was at the horrible mess that had been imposed upon my family. After a time, the attorney looked me squarely in the eyes and said, You’re noticing things that most people do not; these things happen all of the time. That’s just the way the system works. Why is this okay? This cannot be okay. THIS IS NOT OKAY!

Please raise your voice in outrage for these acknowledged abuses of institutional power. Leave a comment. Tell your friends. Show your support by scrolling down this page and registering as a “follower” of this blog.