Issue Child Protective Services

THE ISSUE: Child Protective Services has become more of a threat to families and children than a protector of children's rights and family values. The agency has unchecked and unsupervised power to intrude into families and impose its values and social agenda, with no respect for parents' rights to raise their children according to their own values and beliefs. It has become a government boondogle with out of control budget problems and a greater record of failure than of success.

THE PRINCIPLE: Parents have the right to raise their children according to their own values, without interference by government, unless there is clear and present evidence of physical abuse or criminal neglect. The functions of remedying physical abuse of children belong to law enforcement and courts, as with any other case of physical harm of one individual by another.

LIBERTARIAN SOLUTIONS:: Organize a bureau of child abuse in law enforcement, with jurisdiction over physical harm only. The functions of CPS of a social nature would be returned to those social institutions which were displaced by government when it monopolized the social functions of improving peoples' lives.

LIBERTARIAN ACTION/TRANSITION: Abolish Child Protective services, and return its proper functions to law enforcement. Pass legislation mandating severe legal sanctions for child abuse. Empower social institutions and religious groups to once again take up the functions of social intervention in troubled family situations. Models of community action and solidarity, such as those seen in Mormon communities, are viable alternatives to a centralized, bureaucratic institution such as CPS.