ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993                   TAG: 9305040477
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF IT

IN RESPONSE to Debi Bourne's concern for a 4-year-old child left in a car outside a shopping center (April 9 letter to the editor, "Don't leave kids alone in the car"):

I can easily understand your concern over the situation, but maybe it was actually none of your business to worry about it. Maybe the guardians would be returning from the store with armloads of items preventing them from holding the hand of the child as they walked through the parking lot (more dangerous than the child being in the car). The child may be disciplined enough to mind her manners while waiting in the car. (Yes, it is possible.) Or extenuating circumstances that you have absolutely no idea about may have caused this situation.

You suggested that people get tag numbers and car descriptions and report it to the Child Abuse Hotline. Have you heard the horror stories that result from a generalizing, guilty-until-proven-innocent-minded, judgmental, overly self-righteous and self-aggrandizing Social Service Department getting involved in a situation like this? Do you realize the devastation you could bring to a family with that phone call? Do you understand that the Social Service people will find everything possibly wrong with the guardian in order to justify an indictment of child abuse? Do you not see the far-reaching implications of that phone call?

I understand your concern, but to involve the government with it is definitely not the answer. I fear that it is becoming a general trend in our country to involve government in almost every aspect of our personal lives. The trend starts, however, with someone asking the government to involve itself in the affairs of someone else.

Please, Ms. Bourne or anybody else, if you see this type of situation and feel the need to get involved, try to handle it on a personal level by waiting for the guardian to return. (If you feel so strongly about it, you will.) Then maybe you could tactfully show your concern directly to them, without getting the authorities involved.

I sincerely hope that Social Services never comes to your door.

JOE BOWMAN ROCKY MOUNT 


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