For some, the fear of having child services called is as common as the sniffles in winter. Tina Lee, professor at University of Wisconsin-Stout and author of Catching a Case: Inequality and Fear in New York City’s Child Welfare System, came to UW-Platteville on April 12 to discuss her recently published book.

“When we think about the child welfare system, we think it’s rescuing children from severe abuse by their parents, but that is not the case,” Lee said. She spoke about the inequality and injustice families in New York City face in the child welfare system and said that abuse cases are relatively small in the system.

Lee said that poverty is largely involved, in that poor parents are often investigated by child welfare agencies. Lee also spoke about the impact poverty has on the child welfare system.

Lee said that oftentimes children are taken away from their parents due to poor living conditions. This is because these parents cannot afford anything better and do not want to put their families in shelters. Lee said these families need help instead of being investigated.

“It’s crazy how they can just come in and take these children without really knowing much background information or what the parents are even like,” senior biology major Jade Schleicher said.

Lee conducted her research in 2006-2007 through the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City. Her fieldwork consisted of observing family courts in different boroughs over the span of 14 months. She interviewed 40 attorneys and caseworkers to better understand their thought process. She also interviewed 25 parents in their homes to see their living situations firsthand.

“Family courts are supposed to ensure children’s rights to safety are balanced with parent’s rights to custody,” Lee said. She also talked about how family court cases dealing with child welfare rarely give the parents the right to defend themselves.

“Reports are used as weapons or a form of punishment,” Lee said. She used an example of a young boy who was sent to the principals office. The school called his mother and threatened to call child services if she did not come pick him up immediately.

Lee said that many families are worse off after child welfare steps in. They often lose their jobs, homes, welfare and housing supports. In most cases, it becomes almost impossible to regain custody.

Senior elementary education major Brook Smith said she “didn’t realize how poorly the family court system treats parents.”

Claudine Pied, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UW-Platteville, said that when organizing a spring speaker, the Social and Environmental Justice Program wanted to draw attention to current injustices and how they can be addressed.

“These are the social and environmental problems that students will confront, whether directly or indirectly, after they graduate,” Pied said. She also said they thought Tina Lee’s work on inequalities in the child welfare program would be particularly interesting and important for students who plan to work with children and families.

“Many UW-Platteville students will one day be required to report suspected child abuse or neglect whether they become social workers, law enforcement officials, teachers or counselors,” Pied said. Pied said she hopes that the presentation raised awareness about the difference between good and bad parents. She said it requires people to ask themselves “are expectations of parenting shaped by white middle class ideals?”

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