aesc: (SMITE)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2008-11-25 05:20 pm
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it's an [personal profile] aesc, not a yo-yo

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.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-11-25 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh how I would love to say that to Valerie Martin's* face.

* FL Assistant AG

[identity profile] meansgirl.livejournal.com 2008-11-25 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
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?

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-11-26 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
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.