Parens Patriae

Unfortunately, there are many children who are brought into this world in unfortunate circumstances. There are many who aren’t blessed with loving parents who would do anything to protect them. In those instances, the state needs to step in and provide a sense of safety for these innocent children. The Parens patriae doctrine is in place in our country for that reason.

Parens patriae, which means father of the people in Latin, is an idea that came from English common law. The idea was that the King was the father of the land and he was responsible for all of those who either weren’t capable of being responsible for themselves or don’t have anyone responsible for them. In the United States, this is most commonly applied to children. The state steps in and acts as the parent when the actual parents or legal guardian can no longer be entrusted with their care. The best interest of the child is the first priority for the courts.

With approximately 896,000 children a year falling victim to abuse or neglect, which makes an average of more than 2,450 children per day, is the state doing a good enough job protecting these children? The state has a responsibility to put more resources and effort into finding a way to do do this more effectively. There are warning signs to look for in an abused child and mandated reporters need to be held responsible if incidents go unreported. Also, there are too many cases that involve repeat offenders. Why are they given the opportunity to commit these horrific crimes again? Better monitoring needs to be placed on these offenders to make sure there are no children living with them or spending time with these offenders.

In conclusion, crimes against children are some of the most difficult to read or hear about. These children can’t look after themselves and very often have parents who won’t look after them either. The state must do whatever they can to make sure the children are given every opportunity to have a normal and safe childhood, because they deserve it.