I truly empathize with kids who are born to dysfunctional parents. Dysfunctional parents include non-functioning alcoholics, drug addicts, people who won't get a job or choose not to keep the job they have, or just folks who cannot function successfully in our society, or those who just don't give a damn about their kids.
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So, that's why I think kids with dysfunctional parents should be able to ditch them and quickly get better parents. Parents that can feed and cloth them. Parents who are sober and not on a drug trip. Parents who can teach them useful life skills that will enable them to succeed in life.
And to hell with the dysfunctional parent's feelings about that. Those feelings are simply unimportant compared to the welfare of their children. That doesn't mean I don't feel for their pain (assuming they have any). It just means that compared to the welfare of their children it doesn't matter when it comes to deciding what to do for the kids.
In principle, I kinda agree with you. But I'd be against any policy that tried to implement your plan on any kind of scale. Why? Because I have to think about what would happen to that perfectly implemented (ha!) policy 30 years from now.
30 years ago, I was allowed to play by myself, without constant parent supervision. Heck, I was often left in the car by myself while one (or both) of my parents ran into the store. Now people are being arrested because their child wasn't within arm's reach at all times.
So..."dysfunctional" parents either have to change, or have their kids taken away. Who gets to define "dysfunctional"? What would happen is in the case of a generation, "dysfunctional" will mean "non-conformist/different". So either conform or lose your kids.
I've had heated discussions with one of my child's teachers (pre-school years) about how my daughter wasn't dressed appropriately. Either wearing sandals on cold days (we once forgot to pack a backup pair of shoes in her backpack, I promptly went home and retrieved a pair), or not wearing warm clothes (I pointed out the coat she had in her cubby; if she complained about being cold, put on a coat...should note that she was NOT complaining). All this in an area that saw snow once in the three years we've been here (melted within an hour), and has a mere handful of days that are below freezing. If such a law were in place, I fear that she would have been taken from us and forced to wear sweaters and coats on mild days.
Our son's school is requiring parents to provide iPads. I'm probably not going to purchase one (he has an Android tablet and a Windows tablet, both costing less than a single iPad). Should I worry that he'll be taken away from us and given to a family that have bought the Apple kool-aid?
We buy used clothes for our kids when possible. Under $100 total in Christmas gifts, many from op-shops (thrift stores), for the oldest two. Oh the humanity! Won't someone think of the kids??!!
We have a car that's nearing 20 years old. Surely that's a safety hazard. I've taken the oldest on motor scooter rides since he was five (earlier, but not on the main roads). Someone should stop me!
And at the mere mention of going halfway across the world for no other reason than "it might be fun," we should have been stopped at the border and forced to return to Tennessee. Taking kids away from their aunts/uncles/grandparents/etc. should be illegal.
I'm not saying all children should be forced to live with their parents, regardless of circumstances. I'm saying, we have to be very VERY careful. Road to hell, good intentions, and all that.
Expecting the kids to succeed with dysfunctional parents getting in their way is cruel. If we need to fund schools to stay open in the evening so they have a safe, quiet place to study, so be it. If we need to feed the kids dinner, so be it. If we need to fund daycare for children, so be it.
If we need to put the kids in dorms away from their parents so they can focus on studying so they can graduate, so be it.
Problem with this, is that INITIALLY the longer hours will be optional. Then semi-mandatory, then completely mandatory. Same with dorms, if it's offered to everyone, it'll start out optional. Then semi-mandatory, then completely mandatory (as in, you'll need someone from the school district to approve any deviation from policy, like underclassmen being semi-forced to live in college dorms).