BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dr. T. Berry Brazelton has a story to illustrate the plight of social workers trying to save abused and neglected children.
He sees them sitting downstream and picking the drowning children one by one from a river.
Soon, he said, someone asks, "Why don't we go upstream and stop the person who is throwing them in the river?"
Prevention, he told a crowd of about 2,000 social workers at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center, should be the focus of stopping child abuse.
"We are a very sophisticated country about child developments and family development . . . we just haven't created the will to do anything," he said.
Dr. Brazelton, a pediatrician who has authored 26 books and writes a Sunday column for The Cincinnati Enquirer, spoke at the 12th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. The last day of the conference is today.
He said abuse is born from passion, and that parents abuse because their passion turns to frustration over their children not being perfect.
"If we can bring her back to the passion side, couldn't we do wonderful things with her?" he asked. "You all know what kind of people you can turn around and what kind you cannot and I know you are working with a lot that you cannot, but are you sure? Have you tried?"
Dr. Brazelton said social workers should not rely on doctors, child care workers or the education system to prevent child abuse. He said educating parents is the key.
And, he said, social workers have to guard against burnout. "Unless you can get back that passion, you aren't doing anybody any good," he said.
