Who cares? Who takes responsibility?

This has nothing to do with cancer. Nothing at all to do with cancer.

Scenario
A mom becomes aware of a child (other than hers) who is in potential harm and danger. She calls the police. The police call back and yes it “could” be an issue and the mother should call CPS. The police provide the mother the CPS phone number to call anonymously. The mothers calls CPS and is on hold for 45 minutes, has to leave her name and number (thus no longer an anonymous call). CPS takes almost 6 hours to call back. At this point, the mother feels that since the police did not do anything, why would CPS and goes no further.

This issue was discussed recently by a group of woman I had lunch with. At the table was stay at home moms, moms who were teachers, attorneys, CPA’s, etc.

This group of women is very much a mixed bag of moms who represent all walks of life.

The attorney mom said that the police had actually had a responsibility to call CPS since they now had knowledge of a situation and they were obligated to follow up.

The teacher mom said if she was in situation and the incident did not occur in her “working hours” as a teacher on campus, she would not feel a duty at all to do anything.

A debate then ensured on whether one is never really off the clock when they work in law enforcement, medical professions, teachers, attorneys, social workers among other fields and if they had an expectation, an obligation, to report the incident because they took an oath, had a credential, had a license that directed them to do so.

Many, many complication to think of. In addition, the above fields are short staffed due to the economy, budget cuts, lack of funding and anything else that can prevent one from fulfilling their job to the fullest.

And as fellow parents. Who are we to police what others do to their children, do we just turn our back and walk away? At what length do we go to protect the children of the next generation? What if it was your child in the care of a babysitter, a day care worker, a family member or family friend? What would you do?

So finally the question came back to the welfare of the child and at what length does a child have to be put in harm’s way before action is taken?

The answer comes back to who cares and who takes responsibility.