Who Will Protect the Kids?
John Stossel
Some parents abuse their kids.
Child welfare workers are supposed to stop that to protect the kids.
But bad things often happen while they watch.
"Children have a right to safety," says Tim Keller. "If home is a danger, we as a society have to step in and protect those children."
Keller, legal director of the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, is a libertarian.
"It's surprising to hear a libertarian argue that government should do more," I tell him.
"We don't like the state involved in family life," he replies in my new video, but "they're leaving children in dangerous situations."
Lots of parents abuse kids, even when they are on Child Protective Services' radar.
Maybe it happens because child welfare workers are told, "Whenever possible, keep families together."
That's U.S. policy, and Keller says it wrecks lives.
But Columbia Law School professor Josh Gupta-Kagan wants welfare workers to take fewer kids from their homes.
"The horror stories go in all directions," he says.
In Massachusetts, after parents brought their young son to the hospital with a fever and X-rays revealed an old, healing rib fracture, child welfare workers took both him and his brother away from their home. They returned the boys after four weeks, but those were a traumatic four weeks.
It happens because American law requires social workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, and other professionals to report anything suspicious. Those who don't report may be fined or even jailed.
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https://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2025/08/27/who-will-protect-the-kids-n2662385
