Of course, if parents are being persistently destructive, hard choices may demand expert opinions. To avoid the disruption implicit in serial short term placements would be to respect a child' s need for long term security. When demand exceeds supply, economies must clearly be made. Market economies adopt a utilitarian approach to cash distribution, giving more funds to what seems most efficient. League tables indicate which hospitals have scored most goals, yet to take throughput as a measure of efficiency and then to reward it is not necessarily justice.
Some operations take longer than others.
Rushing patients through clinics may multiply their visits rather than sorting out their problems. A materialistic outlook confuses quality with value. It means that disabled lives, often costly to care for, are offered a smaller slice of the monetary cake than those more obviously curable. Yet anyone who knows a disabled family will know too a hard-won reservoir of patience, love and inspiration. It is interesting to find how many carers, in schools or organisations for disabled children, have known such a person within their own families.