DEE: It's all about her best interests

Failing our foster children has been ongoing for decades. Now is the time to stop it. The injustice in the case of Dee being removed from the only home she has ever known is not just heartbreaking, it’s criminal. Why isn’t this considered abuse by the IDHW? Dee will be traumatized to her very core as the Child Specialist testified. Who gives IDHW the power to go beyond the judge in this case’s ruling? Why does IDHW have this power? There is no person on the face of this Earth who would agree that this child’s “best interest” was served.

As a foster parent myself for the past 15 years, I’ve had issues with social workers who have egos many times the size of their brains. Besides hurting the children they are mandated to protect, they treat the foster parents like non-entities. Our feelings are rarely taken into consideration and it seems everyone forgets that we, the foster parents, have taken these children not only into our homes, but also into our hearts. We love them, nurture them, keep them safe and warm, and build special relationships with them. The treatment we receive in return is the reason foster parents are always in such demand, and the reason the good ones already in the system decide to get out. Our hearts can only take so much abuse. It’s time to change the broken system.

I encourage everyone to speak up and correct the injustice done to this family. Please write your Representatives.

TERRY McCUNE

Coeur d’Alene