Apr 03 2008
South Carolina Ranks Near Bottom for Caring of Children
“In South Carolina, they are not making large investments in a wide range of children’s services,” Petit said. “They could significantly increase their child-welfare spending, and they would see real results if they did.”Numerous studies, Petit said, show that for every dollar governments spend on prenatal and early-childhood care, they recoup far more in reduced spending for prisons, anti-crime measures, drug treatment, mental health, family intervention and other costs down the road.“Legislators tell me all the time, ‘We’re too poor to invest,’” Petit said. “My retort is, ‘No, you’re poor because you don’t invest.’”
Among all states, South Carolina ranks 45th in providing for its children, according to an Every Child Matters report released Wednesday.
I realize that Mr. Petit’s heart is in the right place, but I have to disagree with what he advocates. The government should have little to no role in the raising of anyone’s children. Yes, there are children who are born with rotten parents and we can’t choose who are parents will be, but that’s life. This is an issue of parental responsibility. The more the nanny state continues to step in and bail out parents of their responsibility to actually parent their child, the more that responsibility will ultimately be put on the state. People will come to expect it. If you have a child before you’re ready to take of that child that’s tough. Suck it up and deal with it. It is fundamentally immoral for anyone to pass that financial responsibility on to the other parents of the state who have properly prepared themselves for parenthood.
I didn’t bust my ass putting myself through college and working for a good career so that I can pay for the children of drug addicts, high school dropouts, and the babies’ mamas of South Carolina.
