This Budget Cut Will Hurt Parents and Kids 
By Richard Wexler 
Published Concord Monitor, July 8, 2011 

Imagine for a moment that you are a single parent living below the poverty line. One morning the sitter doesn't show, but your boss doesn't care: Show up for work or you're fired. So you leave your 7-year-old home alone and ask a neighbor to check on him.

But someone calls the Division for Children, Youth and Families, and they take away the child on the spot.

Your child is placed with strangers. He's terrified, not knowing when or if he'll see you again. He's also lost contact with his friends, classmates and teachers.

A few days later you're in court, bewildered and afraid. On one side is the lawyer for DCYF. He's had days to prepare a case, look into your life and find every mistake you've ever made. The judge knows that if he overrules DCYF and lets your child go home with you, and then something goes wrong, his career may be over. But if he rubber-stamps DCYF, the child may continue to suffer terribly, but his career is safe.

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