CHINS: "Children in Need of Supervision"

[rman]

A nasty little scheme to imprison children.
Conservative compassionism at its best.


Interview with Christian Parenti on the US Prison System
27 Feb 2003
http://www.diggers.org/freecitynews/_disc1/00000052.htm

<snip>

"Jensen: How big is the U.S. prison system?"

"Parenti: It’s huge. Our country has only 4 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. There are about 2 million Americans in prisons and jails across the country and about 5 million more under the supervision of the criminal-justice system — that is, awaiting trial or on probation or parole. China, by comparison, has a population of 1 billion, but only around three hundred thousand people in prison."

<snip>

"The system is expanding all the time. There’s a new phenomenon in South Dakota, and probably elsewhere, called chins — Children in Need of Supervision. These are just kids who’ve been truant or have otherwise misbehaved, and their parents call in the state to put the kids on pro-bation. The kids haven’t been convicted of any crime, yet when some of them then violate probation, they end up in juvenile prisons called "boot camps." There’s no trial, no conviction. I’ve heard horror stories from these camps of guards punishing teenage girls for minor infractions by tying them spread-eagle to a concrete slab and cutting off their clothes with scissors. And many of these girls have long histories of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. "

<more>

[RPM]

1. Christian Parenti

Do you think that's this person's real name or did this person assume this name?

[rman]

2. dunno. does it matter much?

google comes up with lots of hits on Christian Parenti.

[RPM]

13. not really

just made me think of the doctrine of parents and christ

seemed apropos for the asshat

[vixengrl]

6. I think he's Michael Parenti's son.

Uh, but the name is kind of appropriate to the article--"Christian parents"?

[RPM]

14. yep

thats what i thought

[momzno1]

3. we have CHINS in Massachusetts

and while I don't agree with everything that they do, I do think that in some cases it is the last straw for some of these kids who are running wild in the streets and their parents cannot get them back any other way. The CHINS program here involves kids being responsible to check in with family on a frequent basis when they are out of the home, if they continue to act out, then there is a chance of being "locked up". But I would caution anyone to not make snap judgements about the program as a whole. If you have not had a child that is putting themselves at great risk at a young age by ignoring all parental limits, then you cannot speak for the means necessary to rein them in.
I am a crisis clinical social worker and I see many kids with CHINS petitions in place who really get it together when that happens - I have yet to hear stories like the one you put above.
Hey, but Massachusetts is a Blue state, so go figure...

[elehhhhna]

4. CHIPS-in need of parenting...fathering in particuliar.

The kids in my area who are in the deepest trouble at the youngest ages are missing one parent-the Father in every case but one.

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. ChINS is a very real problem.

I saw it on a daily basis, as a deputy sheriff. It's the main impetus behind my becoming a CASA (Court-appointed Special Advocate) volunteer. Too many children have DEEP needs and HUGE emotional-neglect/physical- & sexual-abuse problems that no one is even attempting to meet--- not the families, not the schools, not the government--- no one.

I'll take well-intentioned intervention over gross neglect any day. I do not believe in 'throw away' children.

[elehhhhna]

7. This problem cut across ALL class lines.

I've got neighbors (yeah, Cons) who have no idea what their kids are up to--and don't want to know, either. There is rampant alcohol abuse here in glorious suburbia and the parents are too bombed by 8:00 at night to know what's going on.

[Cuban_Liberal]

8. Same here, in rural, small-town Illinois.

*nod*

[sherilocks]

10. Cuban Liberal, I agree

I was on the other end of the spectrum. I worked closely with the agency in Florida that does the supervision of children. Some caseworkers at the agency were intolerably stupid; they stayed on the job and got promoted. The others, the caring individuals, were overwhelmed and underpaid. They didn't last long. The lowest level caseworkers take the blame for everything and the dumbest of them get promoted. We live in a state that really doen't care much about children.

I applaud you for your volunteer efforts in CASA. The number of children who are raped and beaten by their own family members and end up as Children in Need of Supervision is staggering, as numerous CASA volunteers and caseworkers have told me. The number returned to those family members is equally staggering. Boot camps are not a replacement for these children.

[Cuban_Liberal]

11. CASA's a great program.

It's far from perfect, but it is helping to 'plug the hole in the dike', so to speak. My experience with DCFS is largely as you describe it. Our society MUST start accepting responsibility for our children--- especially the 'wayward'ones--- or we will 'pay' a most staggering cost for our failure to do so in the future. Put me firmly in the 'better to light a candle than curse the darkness' camp on this one.

:hi:

[philosophie_en_rose]

12. It's a cheapskate solution

CHINS can be a necessary program. However, the situation often escalates to the point where it's needed, because there are no alternatives. Cheaper to lock kids up and take them to court than it is to ensure that the family has counseling or the kid is placed in a foster home.

:shrug:

The worst part of the situation is that it places the entire burden on the kid. Yes, I believe that children/ teens are capable of making choices. However, they aren't able to leave or change their situations without doing the things that will get them in trouble with CHINS in the firt place. (leaving home, escaping into drug use, etc)

I wish that we could just "blame" the parents, but situations are too individual to do that. In addition, parents often need services that are not affordable or available.

It's a sad situation. In any case, these kids need to be in foster care and not in a detention center.

[Cuban_Liberal]

15. That's why CASA is such a good program.

As a volunteer, my sole responsibility is to be an advocate for the child involved. I've helped (I like to think) to appropriately and accurately focus responsibility for the problem(s) where it belongs--- usually on the parent(s)/guardian(s). We honestly try to HELP the kids we're advocates for, and I personally see incarceration as a failure. Children are too important NOT to fight for, IMO.

[BiggJawn]

9. The State needs to do this.

Because if a parent, or more likely, a new step-parent decides "this is bullshit" and tries to reign in the little darlings, he finds himself being reported by the kids for Child Abuse, and if he has step-daughters, Sexual Abuse as well.

The "System" has no tolerance for "do-it-yourselfers" when they have PLENTY of trained Social Workers (some who have no children) who are much more qualified to Parent.

And I DARE somebody to call "bullshit" on that statement. YOU didn't live it. *I* did.