Public Administration

Public Administration

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Public Administration

The Newport Child and Family Services is a public administration organization that serves children and families. It seeks to provide services and referrals for children, as well as their families into schools and communities. In addition, it aims to protect the vulnerable children and families within the communities. Generally, it sets out to strengthen families and their members, not forgetting the community in which they exist (Newport Public Schools, 2013).

Just as the public administration concepts entails, Newport Child & Family services exists to serve the interests of the people. Additionally, it is served with implementing government policies concerning the welfare of the children and their family members. This it does by implementing the policies that are made by the government. For instance, it participates in the policy of No Child Left Behind by ensuring that all the children that require help get access to good schools. It safeguards the safety and security of all children and families through providing them with the needed services.

One example of a case is where a child was suffering from social and emotional disadvantages from the time he was a young boy. Both father and mother were young, homeless, unemployed and had a history with substance abuse. The Child & Family services came to his rescue. However, the maternal grandmother had stopped this intervention. Later, the grandmother could not protect the child from witnessing violent and volatile relationship from the parent. At this point, the Child & Family services intervened and took the child to a foster home away from the parents. Several ethical issues are raised in this case especially taking the child away from its family. However, the child had been psychologically affected by the constant instability (Child & Family, 2013).

One of the main ethical issues when it comes to such a case it taking away the child from its family completely (Cox, 2009). No parents want to be separated from their child. In this case, the Child & Family services only concentrated on the child and left the rest of the family, parents, who needed help without any assistance. Many people argue that helping such children around their family members is the best way to keep them united. In his case, the boy had to be taken to foster farm, while he still knew the existence of his parents and the grandmother.

This was the same as starting a new family after losing one, which is quite hard for a child. He had to be under the care of neither people he knew or trusted. It took him time to adjust especially considering he was moved to several foster homes and families. It could have been easier to help the child together with the family, which could have been better for all the people involved. The main question is whether it is right to take away a child from its parent just because they have problems. Helping the child and leaving the parents does not provide the best solution.

In addition, it takes away the liberty of the parents who bore the child. This is taking away parental rights from the biological parents who deserve to be with their child. In this case, the boy did not have visitations from the biological parents as he grew. In addition, the process only regards the best interest of the child without considering the parents. Furthermore, the parents were not fully involved in making the arrangements for the foster care. The father was away from the child for quite sometime. Although the mother was still maintaining contact with the child through messages, she was not able to see him again. This is against the will of any parent (Child & Family, 2013).

Another ethical issue raised is giving the child to total strangers and changing him from one foster home to another. Although it was for the best interest of the child, this made it hard for him to fully adapt to new environments every now and then. The child showed symptoms of disturbed behavior, such as lack of social interaction. Among his peers, he was violent and refrained from interacting with the rest. It took him quite a long time to adapt to the new environment. Much later, he was taken to an adoptive family that is currently taking care of him (Cox, 2009).

As an administrator, one thing I would do different to improve this condition is to involve the whole biological family in care that would help them get better together. Considering that a biological family is the most stable where members feel secure, I would be interested in not only addressing the interests of the child, but the whole family. This would be better in helping the child grow in a stable family instead of taking him to a foster home of family where he might find it quite difficult to adopt. In many cases, not all adoptive parents are able to bear with the needs of the adopted children. Helping the parents eliminate their problem would be the best way to help the child, in a way that ensures it can grow in the most stable family possible.

Another thing that I would do different in such a case is ensuring to include the biological parents in all the proceedings if adoption or fostering is inevitable. In this case, I would bring all the families together, both biological and adopting parents, as well as the child to form a trusting relationship before the child is taken away. All the people can have enough time together to get to know each other and get the child to trust them. This would create a better chance for the child to adopt quickly and feel secure in their new home with people they trust.

References

Child & Family. (2013). Welcome to Child & Family. Retrieved from http://www.newportinitiative.org/

Cox, R. W. (2009). Ethics and integrity in public administration: Concepts and cases. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe.

Newport Public Schools (2013). The Newport Family & Child Opportunity Zone (NFCOZ). Retrieved from http://www.newportrischools.org/domain/145