But then there are young children with more serious problems. They look at family income, criminal histories of parents and delinquency problems with older siblings. In about 8 percent of the cases, the county determines long-term intervention is needed. We'd rather spend a few million dollars in building a new juvenile jail than building a child guidance center. Kids raised by the state are almost always screwd up as a result.
Many social workers lack common sense.
Years ago many families were broken up by social workers merely because they were poor so social workers have a bad history. While the problems they have to deal with are real enough, I am not convinced social services have very good solutions. The first world countries are taking an insane path when it come to dealing with family problems. The justice system makes the problems worst instead of contributing to the solution. To some extent this whole problem is a product of the welfare state.