It’s the middle of the night and some Indianapolis children are in crisis. Their parents have been accused of a crime, suffered harm or are in a family crisis. Police have been called to get these children immediately to a safe environment.
Indianapolis children in those crisis situations have, for decades, been sent to the 120-year-old Marion County Guardian Home. Open 24/7, the guardian home took care of our children in crisis; keeping them safe in a loving, caring, supportive place until they could return to their own homes; or homes of relatives or foster homes.
By any reasonable metric, the Marion County Guardian Home has kept families together; helped children who were hurting or traumatized by sudden dislocations and disruptions.
Marion County’s Commissioners – Treasurer Mike Rodman, Assessor Greg Bowes and Auditor Billie Breaux – want to keep the home open.
But a scrooge, former Judge James Payne, now Director of Indiana’s Department of Child Services (DCS), wants to relegate the guardian home to the scrap heap by refusing to send any troubled Indianapolis children to a facility proven to work cost effectively for the taxpayers.
Payne’s solution to children in trouble after “business hours” is having foster families on emergency call to take in children in need.
Except there are major flaws in Payne and DCS’s logic.
Supposing a family with children, say aged 11, seven and one, have to leave their home in the middle of the night. And suppose there’s no relatives to take the children in.
The practice had been to take those children immediately to the guardian home. Now the Payne/DCS plan would find a foster parent, on emergency stand by, to take those children.
But what if that foster parent can’t take in that many children, or in that broad age range? Would Payne and DCS split up that family in crisis among several foster homes?
Another issue. The guardian home has been the temporary place of refuge for children taken while DCS investigated a parent’s fitness.
I personally know of a case where DCS investigated a parent whose home DCS felt was “too messy.” DCS removed the parent’s three children and sent them to the guardian home until the parents cleaned their house to DCS’ standards.
Now under Judge Payne’s diaspora plan, those kids would’ve been sent to multiple foster homes until their home situation was clarified.
Governor Mitch Daniels’ Administration’s attitude towards handling Hoosier children in trouble is troubling.
A facility for Indiana’s troubled children that gave them a sense of dignity, meaning and care, the Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home in Knightstown, is closed because it’s bad for kids. But the same facility is good enough for the Indiana National Guard to operate a program to rehabilitate troubled teenagers and young adults.
Now the state says our Marion County Guardian Home is bad. But so is a vague system of placing kids immediately in foster homes during non-business hours and weekends.
As an agency, the Department of Child Services has a Jekyll and Hyde attitude. Compassion and caring for the well being of Indiana’s 1.6 million children, combined with a vicious mean streak of hubris and arrogance.
On my radio show, I refer to DCS as the “Child Police” because of the numerous instances of DCS’ draconian, arrogant attitude towards parents and caregivers. And it doesn’t help with the numerous cases where DCS caseworkers and supervisors, by their inaction and callousness, have allowed children in their care to die. (Remember Tanjanay Bailey)?
DCS’ paramount paradigm is to act in the best interests of Indiana’s children. But DCS’ sometimes overzealous, egregious enforcement of their mandate turns the agency into a Hoosier totalitarian secret police.
It was not in the best interests of Indiana’s children to close the Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home. And it definitely is not in the best interests of Indianapolis’ children for Judge Payne and DCS to kill our county’s guardian home, just because he and DCS don’t like it.
Our city/county and community does and that should drive the decision.
What I’m Hearing
in the Streets
The Secretary of Education of a Democratic president continues to mischaracterize Indiana Democratic legislators’ concern about the proliferation of charter schools in two specific areas of just two of Indiana’s 92 counties. Last week, Secretary Duncan blasted legislators in Maine and Indiana, urging them to “act in the best interest of students and open doors to…those running charter schools.”
But Democratic legislators are opening the door to 293 new charters statewide yearly. One per district. In Lake County, that’s 16 new charters, to include Hammond, Merrillville, Crown Point and other communities that don’t have them.
Indianapolis/Marion County would get 11 new charters, including Pike, Washington and Perry Townships and Speedway.
Unfortunately, Secretary Duncan and his staff refuse to listen to those voices in our African-American community concerned that charters are proliferated in some area, but not others.
Then, there’s Duncan’s press staff continued disrespect of Black media.
Again, I got Secretary Duncan’s statement, not from his office, but from charter school advocates. Duncan’s press posse would rather communicate with them than with Indiana’s Black media.
I’m starting to wonder whose side Secretary Duncan is on. Those who voted for his boss President Barack Obama; or those who didn’t.
Indianapolis mainstream media’s ignorance of our African-American community was displayed in their lack of coverage of Michael Jackson’s impact and interactions with our community.
Oh they mentioned his 2003 visit to the downtown mall and Canterbury Hotel. But ignored all his other visits. But I learned lots of history on Jackson’s numerous visits here from griots who called our “Afternoons with Amos” program.
I learned that Michael and his brothers (pre-Motown) appeared at the Northside (now Tyndall Armory) in late 1968 or early 1969.
There were Jackson concerts in 1972 and perhaps 1971 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. And at least two Market Square Arena concerts – October 24, 1981 and in 1988. I even learned about a mid-1970s Jackson 5 concert at Bloomington’s IU Auditorium.
That’s at least five Indianapolis/Central Indiana concert appearances during the King of Pop’s lifetime.
It takes Black media – print and broadcast – to tell the truth about our icons – even icons venerated by all people of the world.
See ‘ya next week!
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915.
