Better Know a BMGer: AmberPaw in 10.5 questions

Someone who has not raised a child with a condition such as dyspraxia or dissemia or severe motor delays really has no idea how labor intensive and life changing that is – or at least can be if you advocate and don’t give up.

I therefore added to my law degree by taking classes and certification in child welfare, child mental health, etc. and began doing both court appointed work for families and children, and guardian ad litem (on behalf of another –ed.) work in the field of education.  I have now been involved in hundreds of lives.  It is discouraging because every year, for the last decade at least, there are fewer services, fewer supports, and less money actually available to help children who need it.  Quite frequently, many school systems either exclude, or file Children in Need of Services [CHINS] petitions when what should be done is a special education evaluation.

I was therefore not surprised when a federal judge held, in the Rosie D. v. Romney [PDF] case, that Massachusetts did not even meet the Medicaid standard for provision of mental health services for the 12-18 year old group.

Further, I have been doing some volunteering with “legal orphans” – those children and youth removed from their parents/relatives but never adopted.  Some really did not have families, others had parents and relatives ready and willing to care for them, who even fought to retain them but were judged incapable, most often for reasons that in my view were the result of poverty, not moral failings.  A prime example of that would be considering a parent “took too long to secure housing”, which really did happen in one of my cases and that parent lost their child permanently.  In my opinion, this is a heinous intervention, and morally indefensible.

2. What are the major problems in how Massachusetts services its youth, and what would you offer as solutions?

Deb:  I could, I think, write a treatise to answer this question, but no one would read it online.  In my view the most major failing of the Massachusetts system is an institutionalization of the concept of “the undeserving poor” with roots in Puritan times.  Many states require that a family be supported and receive assistance before its children are removed.  For example, in Minnesota, the statutes define “Reasonable Efforts Prior to Removal” very carefully, taking 14 pages to do so and requiring a hearing with a heightened standard of evidence before a child can be removed from their home [except for well-defined emergency situations and truly dangerous abuse/neglect, also well defined].

In contrast, in Massachusetts, all that is said in OUR statutes about the “efforts” that our child welfare agency [Department of Social Services/also known as “DSS”] is that DSS shall provide “…such efforts as it deems necessary…” – kind of like noblesse oblige.

As a result, poverty is often confused with neglect, and in fact, in general, no services at all are offered or provided – less every year.  One reason for this may be the work of Professor Elizabeth Bartholet of Harvard, who has trained an entire generation that prompt adoption of poor children by their betters is in the best interest of children.  I have therefore seen children removed for reasons as slim as “too many pets” or “unstable housing” – or seen parents viewed as capable of raising three children – but not four.  I consider this a form of social engineering akin to a theory of social eugenics and think that there will be a high price to pay.

I say this in part because I am also appointed to represent “adopted” children whose adoptive “parents” dump them back on DSS, and voluntarily surrender them forever when their adopted goods don’t live up to their upper class expectations.  I have to wonder if their blood relations would have given up in the same fashion but those bonds were severed and lost by the state’s termination of parental rights.

3. Since John Edwards suspended his campaign, you’ve been a rare neutral Democrat in the primary wars.  Do you think this extended primary season is helping or hurting the Democratic Party and its eventual nominee?

Deb:  What I know is none of those contestants left standing has succeeded in capturing my interest or enthusiasm.  I don’t know yet whether this extended primary will help or hurt the Democratic Party, in part because this seems to be becoming a contest of public relations firms and perceived personalities – not really of ideas.  That disappoints me.  John Edwards was fighting for a renewal of the Democratic party’s core goal of government as a force to care for people.  That resonated with me, as I believe it is the moral duty of the strong to care for the weak, and to improve their society – not to  merely enrich, engorge, and pleasure themselves.

4. You stand out for composing poetry on BMG.  What poets influence your style and approach?

Deb:  For good or ill, I have written poetry for as long as I can remember.  My mother actually showed me poetry published in my elementary school newsletter.  Poetry is how I process reality, and also cope with the bittersweet, unavoidable pain that comes from contact with the real world and caring “too much”.

I would say I was influenced and still read Sarah Teasdale more than any other English Language poet [though she is not I think still popular], Pushkin, and certain other lesser known Russian poets.  Russian poets still have rock star status, by the way, unlike here.  In many ways I consider myself culturally very Russian.  One of my parents was born here, one not, and I learned Russian and English at the same time and do read poetry in Russian as well.

5. Justice seems to be a deeply held value for you.  What, to you, are some of the most egregious instances of injustice in this country?

Deb :  I am afraid my responses are so long no one will read them, at this point.  My ancestors came here because they were escaping genocide in their respective homelands.  I am very sensitive to tyranny, to the absolute need to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority, and the concept of the rule of law.

If I listed my specific concerns, though, I think it would go on for several pages, so I hope the focus on the Rule of Law, access to justice, avoiding tyranny of the majority, and a focus on access to justice and economic justice generally.  Both Abraham Maslow and Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood without sufficient food and shelter and security, there is no freedom.

6. If you became involved with a case that went to the US Supreme Court, who would you want as the lead lawyer for your side?

Deb: John Edwards, because he understands justice, and in my opinion, would fight for my client, not his own reputation.

7. Your signature identifies your name and profession, in marked difference to many folks on BMG.  Do you ever hesitate to write something because of that?

Deb:  If I cannot publicly own up to what I am saying in my opinion, I should not be saying it.

8. It’s admirable, the level of involvement with local politics that is evident in your blog.  I’d like to ask about the ultimate in local politics: the Town Meeting.  Good or bad idea?

Deb:  I am not a New England native.  My first experience with any form of “town meeting” came from living in Arlington, which by the way is the only town in Massachusetts in which I have lived.  Arlington has “representative
town meeting” – and each precinct of about 1400 residents elects ten town meeting members.  Running for and election to Arlington’s town meeting is competitive.  Arlington’s town meeting is actually a hard working, unpaid legislature.  My husband has served for some time, and puts hundreds of hours into it, as do his colleagues.  You should attend a session – they begin at 8:00 PM on Monday and Wednesday nights, to allow for full time work and commute back from work.  In our town meeting there is real debate, not “Mistah Speakah says” by the way.

9. Who would you say is the most under-appreciated civil servant or politician in our state today?

Deb:  Dolores Mitchell, the woman who single handedly has kept the management and cost of GIC under control.  I have enormous respect for her intelligence and moral strength.   I don’t know her personally at all, but have observed her hard work and impact, and low key manner of proceeding.

10. On your “list of recommended blogs and books”, we’d find…

Deb:  Collected works of Sarah Teasdale; Herndon’s Lincoln, collected speeches of Abraham Lincoln, BlueMassGroup, RedMassGroup [EaBo Clipper has cleaned it up and there is sometimes better policy discussion there, actually, on some issues], Albion’s Seed, Shake Hands with the Devil by Romeo Dallaire.

10 1/2. Lightning round:  A. What is your favorite sign of the approach of spring?

The green points of certain bulbs such as crocuses poking up through the leaf-litter.

How organized is your office?

I take the Fifth Amendment on that one.  

What is the last piece of music you bought/downloaded?

Civil war ballads I purchased in Gettysburg [I go 2-3 times a year to renew].

Favorite way to waste time?

Deb:  e-mail, hands down.

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Thanks Deb for the time, thought, and kindness in doing this.  A rousing hand for Deb, everyone…