Over the past ten years I have focused on problems with Child Protective Services in certain places in the world. I wouldn’t even begin to try and guess how many children have been taken from parents who did little to warrant it. Many of these children have been sent to foster homes where the caretakers don’t care for them nearly as much as their biological parents do. Some of these parents just needed a bit of assistance and they could have gotten along fine in the long run. The only assistance many needed was a bit of counseling, if anything. Instead, entire family lives have been fractured to the point of irreversible repair.
There is another side of the coin. There are times when parents or caretakers do abuse children. When it comes to cruelty, many of these cases are evil. Records for child deaths at the Wayne County Medical Examiner in Michigan show at least 52 children died due to abuse or neglect in the last 3 and 1/2 years.
Here are a few hopeful sentences from a recent article:
“The governor’s FY2026 budget recommendation further includes $27 million to provide ‘economic and concrete supports’ with the goal of reducing or avoiding involvement with Child Protective Services.”
“The leaders of RxKids imply on their website and other materials that their cash transfers can produce a large decline in child maltreatment and reduce the need for CPS intervention.”
It seems to many that if certain parents get the appropriate help that CPS interventions and child maltreatment might decrease.
In Michigan, a study was done to “determine if unconditional cash transfers decreased contact with child welfare and substantiated reports of maltreatment early in life.” (Link to Study)
The Results of this study were interesting:
“Estimates indicate no differences in overall referrals to child protection and no differences in substantiated reports of maltreatment. Results are consistent across abuse and neglect allegations.”
“Conclusions: There is no evidence that unconditional cash transfers totaling $1,500 at mid pregnancy and $500 per month affect contact with child protection or substantiated allegations of maltreatment within the first six months of life.”
Simply, the study found the money had no positive impact.
The article that peaked my interest in this subject can be found here.
The article says about the study findings that: “Such findings should come as little surprise when we take seriously the threats that children face. Neither drug addiction nor extreme violence seems likely to be ameliorated with short-term monthly checks.”
When it comes to protecting children, things have gotten very complex. On one hand you have CPS groups that take children for unwarranted reasons resulting in ruined family life. On the other hand, there is real abuse going on that needs intervention and it seems unclear, except for offenders getting the proper prison sentences, what is “best for the child.”
Ideally, there are loving family members who will take abused children in. A perfect example of this are relatives I know (a husband and wife) who took in a 2, a 4, and a 7-year-old after family problems arose. They raised the children, along with three of their own, until they were adults. All three became law abiding citizens. I know there are foster parents out there who really care for those they are aiding. I may be wrong but it seems that people like this are harder to find in our times or it could just be that caretaker demand is so much greater.
When I read articles like this I can’t help but think of this verse from Matthew 19:
14 But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
After working with different ages of children over the years, I can see why Jesus loves the little children. Let’s pray for children in difficult situations. May they wind up in the hands of someone who really cares.
Chris Reimers
Wings of the Wind 
Thanks for this post, Chris. It’s very sad that many children are abused/mistreated in some fashion. As you said, throwing money at the problem isn’t the solution. Our daughter-in-law was a teacher in the city school district and it was one horror story after another. And of course abuse isn’t restricted to the inner cities.
You’re welcome, Tom, and thank you for your interesting reply. There are some problems that will never be solved by throwing money at it as you stated. I did my student teaching in an inner-city school district and I had the same experience she did. The problems were greater there than in other schools I taught in but you are so right that these problems are found everywhere to varying degrees.
Holding both the harm done to children and the damage caused by overreach is not easy, yet you name that tension with care. This reads less like a position being defended and more like an honest witness to a problem that refuses simple answers.
“This reads less like a position being defended and more like an honest witness to a problem that refuses simple answers.”
That is certainly one very good way to put it. I have written quite a few articles on damage caused by overreach and I certainly have made my positions obvious in those. I have written much less on maltreatment deaths but there is overlap. Some of the children who have been wrongly taken by different Child Welfare Services have committed suicide, started fires, gotten hooked on drugs, along with other sad behaviors.
I feel like I have been a witness, indeed, to the bad treatment of children in a variety of ways. You are right that many cases are past the point of simple answers.
I appreciate you joining the discussion. Thank you for your thoughts.
God’s blessings…
Thanks for highlighting this Chris. I can’t help but think of “Tusla” here in Ireland, which is supposed to protect the welfare of children – but has sadly failed many times. I know a young man who was adopted years ago and still suffers psychologically because he was handed over to parents who were alcoholics. He suffered cruelly at their hands. It is just unthinkable how careless and downright negligent many of these organisations are.
You’re welcome, Elizabeth, and I appreciate your comment. The case you have mentioned is so sad. I have read about and talked with those who know of similar instances.
There seems to be a lack of wisdom at all levels of childcare. How can anyone expect the type of wisdom needed to raise children without a foundation found only in God’s Word? I know your answer, Elizabeth, but so much of the world doesn’t bother with God’s Word these days.
Things are so complicated because of this. Childcare workers in countries like mine have huge caseloads that they can’t possibly handle adequately. This causes a great amount of turnover in workers. On the other hand, you have childcare caretakers in places like Norway making very good money to take children in. It seems to me to be very much like an industry there. The social scientist who helped put together the Norwegian system had some very strange beliefs about who could and couldn’t raise children. That same system has spread throughout the Nordic countries. Childcare is a huge problem in the U.K. and the list goes on.
When unbelief causes a lack of wisdom the most vulnerable will always suffer. I have actually heard of people who moved to Ireland to get away from horrible child welfare systems but that was several years ago. I’m sure they knew that it isn’t ideal there but some move where they think they might have a better chance of not having their children taken from them.
Thank you for letting me vent a bit, Elizabeth. It is difficult to imagine children being raised like the young man you mention. You sound more aware of the problem than most. If more people were aware of this problem, there is a chance things could eventually improve in many places. People must have a heart change though. It’s the only thing that will make a real difference.
God’s blessings my friend and I hope you have a great day!
Thanks Chris… and you too. In days gone by it was even worse here. There were “mother and baby homes” run by the R.C. church. Babies were actually sold by nuns to adoptive parents. The mothers (mostly unmarried) had their babies forceably removed and were then treated as unpaid slaves by the establishment. There were also many orphanages run by the R.C. church and I’ve spoken to one lady (now elderly) who was whipped by nuns as a very young child. After her father died, her mother couldn’t afford to keep the very large family and left them with the nuns. I have an author acquaintance who wrote “Fear of the Collar” about his experiences in an “Industrial School” which was also a thing back then.
Ugh…I’ve heard about some mean nuns in Catholic Schools but I know nothing about these orphanages. The “mother and baby homes” you mention sound a bit like the “Mother’s Homes” they have in Norway today. The selling of children doesn’t seem like something any Christian would be comfortable with. It sounds like these orphanages didn’t do a very good job at all.
There were orphanages in England run by Christian pastors Charles Spurgeon and George Muller, among others, that were very successful in the 1800s’. You may have heard of their orphanages.
With the poor records of many Child Protective Services in so many places today, I’ve often though that bringing back the orphanage system, like the one used by George Muller, might be a good idea. It would need good strong Christian leadership and it could be built on the models set up by Muller and Spurgeon. Funding is always an issue and I would hope that many Christians would support such an effort like they did in the days of Muller. So much money is spent on child protective services now that I’m sure the work could be done more efficiently than the government does it. The problem is the lack of workers. Spurgeon had a huge church to pull from and Muller’s orphanage often got down to it’s last penny but God always provided. The story of Muller’s orphanages is really a miracle. Both Muller and Spurgeon would be shocked to see how the CPS is run in the U.K. today.
Thank you for your comment, Elizabeth. “Fear of the Collar” sounds like a very good title for a book about those kind of schools. Much of the world doesn’t look at children the way Jesus does. It is very unfortunate.
Thank you, Chris, for not forgetting these tragedies that many countries are involved in, not least Norway. The very idea that one helps children who are really abused at home by taking away from their families those who are NOT – –
I think one of the best accounts published on Wings was the story, in many parts, of Nadia and her son Caspian!
Marianne
You’re welcome, Marianne, and thank you for this comment.
I continue to watch Caspian grow, as far as I am able, through posts on Facebook. He seems like a happy child and it was educating for me to write those real time updates that followed Nadia and Caspian through the Norwegian system. It is unfortunate that they had to leave Norway to feel safe but I suppose I would do the same. I was happy to give Nadia a voice to some degree through that series of posts. Thank you for your kind comment, Marianne.
I hope all is well. It looks a bit here like it does there. Several inches of sleet have fallen and become ice. Everything is white outside.
It just reached above freezing for the first time in almost four days. You guys are used to this sort of thing but we aren’t usually inside for this many days in the winter.
Thank you again and God’s blessings…
For anyone who would like to read all or part of my series on Nadia and Caspian, most of the posts I wrote can be found here:
A Miracle in the Norwegian CPS?
You can scroll past introductory information (which I think is very interesting if someone has the time to read it) down to the post that started the series followed by the 18 updates that were written.