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Avoid Homeless Shelters
June 25, 2012 permalink
In Washington DC when you ask for admission to a homeless shelter, the staff notifies child protectors who may remove your children.
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DeMorning Links: Is homelessness child abuse?
Shakieta Smith, 25, was told she’d be investigated for child abuse for seeking space in a homeless shelter.Michael S. Williamson - THE WASHINGTON POSTHomeless District families seeking shelter have recently gotten “chilling” warnings, Annie Gowen reports in the Post: If you can’t find a safe place to sleep, the Child and Family Services Agency could investigate you for abuse and neglect, and possibly take your kids away. No children have yet been taken from the 32 homeless families that have been investigated under the new policy, officials say, but the practice is being blasted by homeless advocates who use words like “outrage,” “heart-wrenching” and “scandalous” to describe it. David A. Berns, the city’s human services director, defends the policy: “It’s a slippery slope and it’s not what we want to do. ... But when we get down to the situation we have been in and we have no resources to place the families ... we involve all the partners we can to keep the kids safe.”
Source: Washington Post
