The appeals court ruled to return the more than 400 children recently placed in foster care from the Yearning For Zion Ranch a few weeks ago. The Texas CPS system has been under attack for some time as a result of the poor treatment of children in its care. This ruling furthers the belief of many that the system is overstepping its bounds and causing more harm than good. In some cases harm has come to the children in care as a direct result of their placement in substandard homes. In other cases, it is more difficult to determine whether CPS is right or wrong. Is it better to leave a child in a possible harmful situation while awaiting proof or to remove them immediately and later return the child to the home when no proof is found? It is easy to say, a child should be left in the home until proof is found, but what happens if the child is further harmed during that time of waiting. In that case, it would have been better for the child to have been removed from their home immediately. The problem is, we do not know always know which is better. CPS is run by humans who have the same problem. They do not always know whether the child is better off being left in the home or removed, so they have to make an educated guess. Sometimes they guess correctly, sometimes they do not. So, is CPS doing more harm or more good for the children in the state of Texas?
There has been a lot of news lately concerning religious cults because of the recent activities in Texas. Many are questioning whether a religious cult is harmful or not. The answer is very complicated and I am not qualified to answer it. Religious groups have every right to meet and govern their own lives, to a certain extent. The problems occur when the actions of members of these religious groups are harmful to others or are illegal according to the laws of the state or country they reside in. Songs for a Mockingbird is a fictitious book based on a cult whose actions were both harmful to others and illegal. Although it is fiction, the message in this book holds truth in today’s world.
In the U.S. there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care. There are nearly 130,000 children waiting for adoption. This is an overwhelming number of children. The state of Texas has had more children in care than it can handle in recent years causing a lot of difficulties with overworked caseworkers, lack of funds, and poor care for these children. With the recent addition of more than 400 children, the state foster care system is operating beyond capacity. There is a serious need for new foster parents in Texas as well as throughout the United States. Unfortunately, there are not enough interested, qualified people to fill that need. Those of us who are working or who have worked in the foster care system need to spread the word about being a foster parent. We need to let others know that they can become foster parents and that the children in care really need their help. These children need loving homes to take them in either temporarily or permanently. Please help spread the word about how to help these children.
As a publisher, we try to publish what the reader wants. That is sometimes hard to determine so I’m asking you this question. As a reader, what books are you interested in? Do you like to read for fun or for information? What type of fiction or what subjects for nonfiction? Your answers to these questions can help us decide what books to publish.
Songs for a Mockingbird will be available for pre-buy in April. It is scheduled for publication on June 1, 2008. This work of fiction tells the gripping story of a young woman fighting to start a new life after narrowly escaping with her children from a cult. Check back for more details or ask questions about this book here.
This blog is written by the author of Foster Parenting: A Simple Guide to Understanding What It’s All About, Stacie Craig. Here you will find important issues concerning foster parenting and other information relevant to Stacie and her book. You can also use this category to ask Stacie questions.
Welcome to the Starik Publishing blog. Here you can find updates and current happenings about us, our authors and our books. There will be topics directly from our authors and news about upcoming books.