While the parent-child relationship is essentially revered as critical for the proper upbringing of children, sometimes parents fail to effectively fulfill their parental care responsibilities, and the Courts may be compelled to take away such rights from the parents (Vesneski, 2011). Cases of parents abdicating their parental responsibilities are rife in the country, and as at 1979, Schetky et al., (1979) pinpoint that there existed at least 285, 000 children under the care of the state of Oregon. A similar occurrence of the termination of parental rights occurred while I was on field placement and the pinpointed reason was argued to be alcohol-induced parental incapacity that led to neglect and abuse of the child by the parents in the household.
Analysis of Activity (Why it happened)
The immediate activity that prompted the Court's decision to terminate parental care in favor of foster care is the reported abuse and neglect of the child whose fundamental cause was noted to have issued from parental incapacity to provide child care due to alcohol-induced parental inability. The Court's decision conformed to Vesneski's (2011) argument that a parent's disability to provide nurturing for their child is a good ground for invoking termination of their parental rights.
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How I felt and Reacted
While I was sorry whenever the Court took away the parents’ right to care for their children, I also sympathized with the child who was most of the time reported to be going hungry and with no basic things in life due to parental neglect and abuse.
Analysis of New Learning and Application of Learned Skills
From the decision, I discovered that the law is arguably above every relationship and can even protect harassment of children from their abusive parents as is argued by Schetky (1979). I have since applied the knowledge learned in analyzing similar cases to this to better understand this as well.
A CSWE core competency and accompanying practice behavior applying to the activity
A core competency by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) that applies to this activity and its accompanying behavior is that Courts have to engage in research-informed practice especially the use of experience in determining whether parents deserve being stripped of their parental rights after a meticulous examination.
References
Schetky, D. H., Angell, R., Morrison, C. V., & Sack, W. H. (1979). Parents who fail: A study of 51 cases of termination of parental rights. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry , 18 (2), 366-383.
Vesneski, W. (2011). State law and the termination of parental rights. Family Court Review , 49 (2), 364-378.
