Cleveland to Jail “Bad Parents”
Under a new law, the city of Cleveland, OH will throw parents in the hoosegow for not controlling their suspended or expelled schoolchildren. Under the law, if a kid assaults a teacher or is caught roaming the streets after being booted from school, mom and pop face fines and possible jail time. How this is supposed to help them control their kids is anybody’s guess. Can’t Cleveland at least make an effort to distinguish between true negligence and parents who are trying like hell to control an uncontrollable child? And how does it even help kids of PBBs to throw them into the broken foster system?
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1 opinion for Cleveland to Jail “Bad Parents”
ann adams
Aug 27, 2005 at 1:16 pm
I’m not sure how to control a kid bigger than me either. Sometimes no matter what we do, kids run wild. It’s easier in the short run to blame the parents than to work with families toward a solution.
There’s been some talk about that here in CA too. The problem with the government’s good intentions is that they don’t know how to do anything on a case-by-case basis. The kids who are on a temporary rebellious trip are tossed right in with the incorrigibles and now they want to throw all the parents in as well.
It’s much cheaper to work with families and children than to build more reform schools and jails. Not every child nor every family can be saved but many could if we were willing to start early enough and rethink our priorities.