Finding too much in foster care study
The Sun's editorial "Family ties" (July 16) derives a range of implications for foster care and group care policy based on a large study of children in Illinois.
However, one very important point missed in the discussion of this large study is that the children in the study were ages 5 to 15 at the time of the family's investigation for child abuse and neglect and the child's admission into the study.
If children were younger than 5, they were not included in the study - and kids in this young age group represent a substantial proportion of children who enter foster care in Baltimore.
Children who were sexually abused were also excluded from the study.
Thus the children who did somewhat better by being kept at home rather than being placed in foster care in this study (and remember that the differences in outcomes found in the study were not large and the measures used were rough) were not entirely typical of children who become involved with child welfare services in Maryland.
This fact should be understood before generalizing the study's results and drawing firm conclusions for foster care policy in general from them.
Certainly, the recommendations to avoid unnecessarily placing children into foster care, to keep children with relatives when possible and to reduce the use of group care are all sound suggestions for older and younger children.
Nonetheless, this study should not be used to justify anything but very thorough and comprehensive care for abused and neglected children - especially the younger children who experience the greatest harm from child abuse and neglect and whose safety and development require the highest level of protection.
Richard P. Barth
Baltimore
The writer is a professor and dean at the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland.
Hamm's departure offers a new chance
The resignation of Leonard D. Hamm as police commissioner offers opportunities and risks for Baltimore's finest ("Hamm resigns," July 19).
In any police department, the person in the top chair is always subject to mayoral and other politics.
But the changing of the guard, however abrupt, does allow for fresh vision and resolve from the top about how best to deal with the city's crime rate.
Sometimes new vision and fresh resolve are required - and the need in this case is clear, given the city's murder rate.
But Baltimore's finest will continue to uphold their honor and secure the city regardless of the politics emanating from City Hall.
Joe Hammell
Waynesboro, Pa.
Tobacco tax no way to fund health care
The Senate Finance Committee voted last week to raise taxes on tobacco products to help fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program ("Bush renews vow to veto expanded child health care," July 19).
While I understand the desire to keep the SCHIP program funded and available, doing so on the backs of the tobacco industry doesn't make sense.
Why should a health insurance program depend on funding from an industry that's bad for people's health?
Using the monetary gains from taxing an unhealthy product to fund a children's health program is little better than asking a crime lord to fund the police department.
Let's find another way to pay for SCHIP.
Steven Frost
Pasadena
Teachers would take deal Iraq is getting
Teachers continue to toil with inadequate resources in our nation's highest-needs schools, under threats of punitive action from the increasingly preposterous business-model accountability benchmarks found in the so-called No Child Left Behind law ("One-size-fits-all model still leaving children behind," Opinion
Commentary, July 20).
However, the architects of this unfunded mandate continue to funnel more than $200 million a day into Iraq, which after five years of U.S.-led occupation has partially met only eight of the 18 assigned benchmarks that are supposed to lead to Iraq's self-determination.
Suffice it to say that educators in the public schools would take that deal in a heartbeat and deliver vastly superior results on the investment.
Kenneth B. Haines
Beltsville
The writer is treasurer of the Prince George's County Education Association.
Catholics' silence let scandal fester
I am one Catholic who is frustrated and angry ("Paying for abuse," editorial, July 18).
We put our money in the collection plates at Mass on weekends. And now some of it is being used as payouts for victims of sexual abuse.
Some people might view those of us who occupy the pews as victims in this as well. But are we?
Did we make our voices heard when we found out about the abuse and cover-up?
Did we object when Cardinal Bernard Law, who covered up abuse in Boston, was given a cushy job in Rome?
Did we demand that anyone covering up abuse be dismissed from the church?
Did we criticize the members of the church hierarchy, who apparently would rather accept an unmarried pervert into the seminary than a married man?
We are not victims. We are sheep.
Just as in politics, our silence gets us what we deserve.
We have a responsibility to demand better.
Paula Baranowski
Havre de Grace
Never take eyes off kids at the beach
I took great offense at the article about lost kids on the beach at Ocean City, specifically the comment that "fathers have worse track records than mothers" when it comes to losing their kids ("Lost and found in the sand," July 15).
I have been going to Ocean City every year since the late 1950s, and at no time over that period did I ever get separated from my parents when I was a kid playing on the beach or, later on, did I ever take my eye off my kids when they were on the beach.
The instructions given to me and my sister were the same instructions I gave to my daughters and son: Before entering the water, identify the building facing the ocean and pick out landmarks such as the color scheme of the beach umbrellas.
With knowledge of the building and the landmarks on the beach, kids can always find their parents.
But the key to the whole thing is: If you take kids to the beach, never take your eyes off them.
It's as simple as that.
Bob Derencz
Fallston
Tale of reunions brightened morning
In the midst of all of the bad news here and around the world, what a delight it was to read Abigail Tucker's article "Lost and found in the sand" (July 15).
The story was cleverly written and upbeat. It contained warmth, humor and happy endings.
As a mother and grandmother, I could identify with every word.
Thank you for making the start of my Sunday such a pleasure.
Joan Edgar
Sparks