Letters on foster children, refugees, GOP fearmongering

Children in foster care are not safe

Topeka City Council member Jonathan Schumm and his wife were arrested for child abuse and aggravated battery. I am an interested party in this case. I was the foster parent of one of the adopted children. The child lived with me and my spouse (same-sex couple) in Wichita. After the child had lived with us for a year, and after a court battle for adoption, District Judge Patrick Walters chose this family as the adoptive resource.

My concern is that children in foster care in Kansas are not safe. The Kansas Department for Children and Families did not follow its own policies in this case. I teach social work at the master’s level. No real social worker would continue to place children in a family with up to 16 children in the home. Why is the state of Kansas creating homes that are unsafe for children to thrive in?

I believe it is time for DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore to be relieved of her duties. It is obvious she is not acting in the best interest of children in foster care in Kansas. Political loyalties should not trump common sense. No one can safely take care of 16 children, many of whom have special needs. It is time for Gilmore to go.

Help those in need

Americans have often given freely of their time and money to help people who are in need. We donate to the Red Cross, the United Way and church organizations, or drop money in the bell ringers’ little red pots. We assist when fire, wind or ocean waves destroy homes here and abroad.

If we were to take in 10,000 refugees, and divide them among 50 states and hundreds of communities within those states, the numbers would be small. We’d no doubt find people with the facilities and resources to assist those in need.

Don’t assume refugees are secret agents coming to harm us, any more than thinking that foreign exchange students are here to harm us. For every reason one can think of to say “no,” there is another reason to say “yes” to helping those in need, be they in the community or coming here as refugees – some seeking refuge from the bombs we have deployed.

Protect us from harm

Let me say this without any of the usual politically tinged speech: In his seven years in office, our president has always acted in an immoral manner, or one that is patently dangerous to the welfare of Americans. In the sights now is his threat to veto a bill in Congress that intends to tighten the vetting of Syrian refugees who are being rushed into this country.

Excuse me, but is it not the president’s duty (at least, if one should put any stock in the U.S. Constitution) to protect us from harm from enemies foreign and domestic?

Act like Christians

We are a Christian nation. Then why are these Republican governors turning away refugees who are looking for a safe and peaceful place to live and raise their families? This old Democrat is getting tired of these “Christian” Republicans continually using religion to gain political ambitions. If you are a Christian and live as Jesus wants you to, you would help your neighbor.

It is hypocrisy what these Republicans preach and then actually live. They need to remember that, in the end, we all will be held accountable for what we do and not what we say.

What has happened?

What happened to “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”? And how about “whatever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me”?

These refugees are fleeing for their lives. Are we going to dump the whole barrel full of apples because one might be rotten? I’m willing to trust that we can sort out the stinkers and welcome the good ones.

GOP vocabulary

With the Republican Party snuggling up to the likes of Donald Trump nationally, with Gov. Sam Brownback sacrificing state finances to Arthur Laffer’s failed economics, and, locally, with Sedgwick County being represented by a majority of one-note boneheads, it’s time to appeal to those who either want to refresh their memories of some relevant words, or those who need to learn some words.

I suggest these words: “jingoism,” “xenophobia,” “nativism.” Throw in “incompetence,” “conspiracy theory,” “ fearmongering” and “zealot,” and you have the start of a vocabulary describing the current state of the GOP.

It’s a crying shame. I wish it were not so. The Grand Old Party has been hijacked, and it deserved better.

I’m hoping it’s like the weather on the Great Plains: high winds and hail followed by sunshine and new sprouts. As a people, we really are better than this.

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on foster children, refugees, GOP fearmongering."