it's an aesc, not a yo-yo

[aesc]

Probably this is too humorous a subject line for the emotions marinading in me at the moment, but it does, at least have the virtue of being accurate.

Have you ever gone from, say, effervescent joy to incandescent rage in the space of .05 seconds? Isn't it jarring?

The joy: Miami-Dade circuit court judge rules Florida's ban on gay adoption unconstitutional. In her decision, Judge Cindy Lederman wrote, "It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent. A child in need of love, safety and stability does not first consider the sexual orientation of his parent. The exclusion causes some children to be deprived of a permanent placement with a family that is best suited to their needs."

The incandescent rage: Attorneys for the state's Department of Children and Family Services are filing an appeal. Very likely, the case will go to the Florida Supreme Court.

Why the rage? Because FDCFS is one of the most idiotic, criminally incompetent organizations in a state whose bureaucracy is already nationally known for its monumental lack of intelligence and ability to do the job right. My mother worked as a guardian ad litem for DCFS children for several years, and prior to that had the privilege of sitting on a jury to convict a child's foster parent of murder stemming from abuse because DCFS never followed up on reports issued by the child's teachers, who suspected continual, severe maltreatment. My sister worked as an advocate for mentally- and emotionally-disabled foster kids and saw horrors you wouldn't believe.

Whoever is presented with the appeal should throw it out on a matter of principle, because pretty much whatever DCFS wants to do is guaranteed to be wrong-headed. Looking at the studies and experts their attorneys brought forth, I'm pretty sure most of them have been discredited. Remembering my sister's detailed, anguished diatribes of the kids she had to fight to get into less-horrible group homes, the meetings with DCFS people she had to persuade into not letting the kid go back to his meth-addicted parents because they almost killed him last time... I'm convinced doing the opposite of what DCFS wants is the best policy.

So, yeah. On the one hand, happy that Lederman had the courage to stand up to a wrongfully biased system (omg, activist judge the EVIL) and call a law for what it is. But the happiness I feel is just drowned--no, not just drowned, crushed at the bottom of the abyss--by the narrow-mindedness and illogic possessed by the DCFS, how it represents an entire system of thought so outdated and wrongheaded that is nonetheless preserved and cherished as a "moral imperative" cloaked by "the child's best interests."

GRAH NO WORDS FOR HOW ANGRY I AM ABOUT THAT.

Sorry.

Comments

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

Oh I hear you about DCFS. It can be...yeah. Not that I've had that much to do with them, but what exp. I have had has never been good (and in WA state, not FL).

Although that is wonderful, amazing news about that judge. It's good to know that someone, somewhere, has stood up to that inane ruling. Good for her.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

I know that child and social service agencies around the country are understaffed and under-funded (but, but... children first! family values! bleat the conservatives), so very likely some amount of the failure of oversight is attributable to that. But that just raises the question, if reducing the number of children in the system is in the DCFS's best interests and they could expand the pool of qualified adoptive families to gay families who meet the standards required by the state to take in children... why not do it?

That they don't, I believe, strongly attests to a moral agenda that is so thinly cloaked as the DCFS "doing its job" it's laughable. And not in a funny way.

[meansgirl.livejournal.com]

I work with kids. I've had my motives called into question purely because I'm queer. Because clearly, since I'm not heterosexual, I must be lacking in morals and my ability to care for a child is much less than that of a straight person. Of course that makes TOTAL sense!

I'm in an "I hate everything" mode lately. I SO feel you.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Because clearly, since I'm not heterosexual, I must be lacking in morals

Well, yes. Probably you are a child molester, because as we all know, queer = pedophile! Also, as we all know, heterosexual parents can do no wrong! In fact, why do we have a DCFS? It's silly!

(The amount of overwhelming fury that equation induces cannot even begin to be described.)

[meansgirl.livejournal.com]

I know! What are we thinking? You've seen Leave It To Beaver, yeah? That's what the normal American family is like! Why fuck with perfection? Pfft.

That equation always made my blood boil until it was applied to me. Then it just made my blood stop and freeze and seize up. But right now, at this moment, after the week I've had, I can feel the heat coming back, and the good old rage is showing its face again. I've *missed* that.

*collects molotov cocktails* Ready to do this thing.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Then it just made my blood stop and freeze and seize up. But right now, at this moment, after the week I've had, I can feel the heat coming back, and the good old rage is showing its face again.

Oh man. The entire election, even though it turned out so well (with the massive exceptions of Prop 8 and Prop 2), has just... it's like, room to move seems as though it's being squeezed off, options and choices foreclosed, and the people saying you can't do this because it's immoral and wrong and besides, I don't like seem like they're EVERYWHERE.

So there was a lot of shouting in the car today when the NPR report came on.

[meansgirl.livejournal.com]

And that just brings it back to what you originally wrote in this post. Joy--Yes! Yes, thank GOD, the guy we wanted *won*! He totally did! Did you see that? It was beautiful HOLY CRAP! Yes! Yes, we CAN!"--followed very, very, quickly by burning, searing rage--You did WHAT, California? Fuckin' BUZZKILL, man.

And it does feel like things are closing in and getting a little scarier every day. And that sucks because a few weeks ago at about midnight, maybe more like one o'clock on a Wednesday morning, I was so excited and feeling so ready and open and thrilled. And then suddenly Cali-frikkin-fornia and Florida showed up and ruined my party, because they toted their Bibles and dude--who wants to hear about Leviticus and Sodom and washing feet with your *hair* in the middle of a raging party? No one! And so it all went downhill from there. (I'm sorry, my ability to write or speak without sarcasm has left me at the moment)

Wow, it's been a long day. I'm glad you brought all of this up. I think I needed to get good and pissed off about things that are much larger than myself.

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

criminally incompetent organizations in a state whose bureaucracy is already nationally known for its monumental lack of intelligence and ability to do the job right

Is it gratuitously nasty to say, "well, at least if they win, we'll know the kids are getting beaten to death by heterosexuals"? Because that, you know, makes all the difference...

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Oh how I would love to say that to Valerie Martin's* face.

* FL Assistant AG

[meansgirl.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha. Yes, beat them with good, conservative, Christian values in your heart and at your knuckles. Starve them if you feel like it, dress them in rags, it's really up to you. You're the parent, it's your right to decide what exactly is required of you as a parent, to ensure a child's welfare. Just, for the love of the sweet baby Jesus, don't let the queers get them.

...priorities? What priorities?

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Hey, kids have been beaten for their own good for years. Clearly, the heterosexual system works. They may be a bit bruised, but at least they'll go to heaven. Also, they won't be queer.

[less-star.livejournal.com]

Urgh, that's awful. It seems that, lately, just as you start to feel mildly optimistic that the human race might not be inherently evil something like this comes to make you snap right back down again.

[cathalin.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited to see this ruling in Florida (though obviously horrified that Florida has the anti-gay adoption law in the first place). It'll be fascinating to watch this go up to a higher court. I really believe that courts are going to have a tough time finding that such provisions *don't* violate the Equal Protection Clause. In children's law, everything is based on "the best interests of the child," and there's a big premium put on adoption, so hopefully that will help also.

One little thing. In slight defense of the DCFS? I read the article, and unless I'm misreading it, because of the way such things work, I think the Florida DCFS actually *has* to sue to enforce this. They *are* "the State of Florida" for these purposes, and don't have a choice, since the law bans these adoptions. Their representative kind of hints at this when she says that they *placed* the kids with these guys and they're wonderful parents. It's even possible that this is a test case that sympathetic people have chosen to fight the discriminatory law. I don't know for sure, as I haven't read the actual court ruling, but it's possible?

BUT all of that doesn't negate your point, which I have no doubt is true, that the child protective agency there is horrible. Unfortunately, that seems to be true everywhere. I had a friend who worked as a lawyer for our state's version for a few months and literally could *not* deal with all the horrific abuse she saw. They didn't have the resources to address anything but the most horrifically egregious cases. So, so sad.