UNLIMITED Arizona Hilarity thread

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

To legally take custody of a child through the U.S. foster care system, prospective parents undergo criminal background checks, home inspections, and in most states, dozens of hours of training. After placement, social workers visit the family regularly to ensure the child is safe.
In informal private re-homings, none of that happens. The online bulletin boards have emerged as a do-it-yourself way for parents to quietly end adoptions, which often involve foreign children. By not involving child welfare authorities in the custody transfers, parents can bypass some of the most basic but time-consuming government safeguards meant to protect children.

The levels and scale of potential abuse here is staggering. Can anyone else say "trafficking"? Because I bet this shit gets used for that.

If you read the whole article, that's why the lady that started this shit fled in abject horror.  Because that's exactly what occurred.

I can't even imagine STARTING such a group. I mean, it literally never occurred to me that such a thing might exist for any purpose OTHER than as a human trafficking black market. "Hm, I think I'll start a group for connecting unwanted children with new homes; one that is completely off the official radar and has no screening or other legal interventions in place whatsoever. What could go wrong?"

I mean, really? I'm sure she meant well but REALLY? Jesus wept.

Stupidity =/= evil, even if the results are the same.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

To legally take custody of a child through the U.S. foster care system, prospective parents undergo criminal background checks, home inspections, and in most states, dozens of hours of training. After placement, social workers visit the family regularly to ensure the child is safe.
In informal private re-homings, none of that happens. The online bulletin boards have emerged as a do-it-yourself way for parents to quietly end adoptions, which often involve foreign children. By not involving child welfare authorities in the custody transfers, parents can bypass some of the most basic but time-consuming government safeguards meant to protect children.

The levels and scale of potential abuse here is staggering. Can anyone else say "trafficking"? Because I bet this shit gets used for that.

If you read the whole article, that's why the lady that started this shit fled in abject horror.  Because that's exactly what occurred.

I can't even imagine STARTING such a group. I mean, it literally never occurred to me that such a thing might exist for any purpose OTHER than as a human trafficking black market. "Hm, I think I'll start a group for connecting unwanted children with new homes; one that is completely off the official radar and has no screening or other legal interventions in place whatsoever. What could go wrong?"

I mean, really? I'm sure she meant well but REALLY? Jesus wept.

Stupidity =/= evil, even if the results are the same.

This is true. I am just sometimes amazed at the possible levels of stupidity.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

It makes me wonder how the hell they qualified to adopt in the first place. Who is running this circus?

I for one WELCOME my new AI overlords. They have to do a better job of this than we are.

You know, my ex and I were turned down for state adoption? Although we had just bought a house, we were too young and didn't make enough money.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This is true. I am just sometimes amazed at the possible levels of stupidity.

Working where I do, I have given up trying to find the limits of human stupidity.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

It makes me wonder how the hell they qualified to adopt in the first place. Who is running this circus?

I for one WELCOME my new AI overlords. They have to do a better job of this than we are.

You know, my ex and I were turned down for state adoption? Although we had just bought a house, we were too young and didn't make enough money.

What the crap?  Knowing you, I don't expect you filed for "Healthy White Baby, list of requirements forthcoming".  You'd think the state would be happy to find stable homes for their wards.

[Junkenstein]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

It makes me wonder how the hell they qualified to adopt in the first place. Who is running this circus?

I for one WELCOME my new AI overlords. They have to do a better job of this than we are.

You know, my ex and I were turned down for state adoption? Although we had just bought a house, we were too young and didn't make enough money.

What the crap?  Knowing you, I don't expect you filed for "Healthy White Baby, list of requirements forthcoming".  You'd think the state would be happy to find stable homes for their wards.

That would depend entirely on the economics of the state. I would strongly suspect some places to have incentives to not let children be adopted as it would cause a drop in revenue. Would it surprise you to see "Sheriff Joe's Orphanage"? These kind of places have been traditionally good money makers. It's just like old folks homes. It's a very vulnerable group with few rights, fewer advocates and no real concern to anyone beyond the affected.

There was a mention of foreign children in there too, so add a language barrier and past a certain age the child is almost totally fucked and in care until thrown on the streets.

[Cain]

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[The Good Reverend Roger]

Holy shit.

Cain, I'm going to have to come back to this when I'm on my A game (tomorrow, most likely, I am beat to shit).  That's some horror right there.

[Cain]

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[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

It makes me wonder how the hell they qualified to adopt in the first place. Who is running this circus?

I for one WELCOME my new AI overlords. They have to do a better job of this than we are.

You know, my ex and I were turned down for state adoption? Although we had just bought a house, we were too young and didn't make enough money.

What the crap?  Knowing you, I don't expect you filed for "Healthy White Baby, list of requirements forthcoming".  You'd think the state would be happy to find stable homes for their wards.

Nope, we specifically wanted hard-to-place kids, so we were seeking a sibling group of up to three kids, any race, drug-affected OK. I think our only restrictions were 1. no fetal alcohol syndrome and 2. no severe developmental problems.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You can't just... DIVEST yourself of children. Children are forever.

Unless they're an accessory or something.

The one family dumped the kid because he had big feet and funny ears.  FFS.

It makes me wonder how the hell they qualified to adopt in the first place. Who is running this circus?

I for one WELCOME my new AI overlords. They have to do a better job of this than we are.

You know, my ex and I were turned down for state adoption? Although we had just bought a house, we were too young and didn't make enough money.

What the crap?  Knowing you, I don't expect you filed for "Healthy White Baby, list of requirements forthcoming".  You'd think the state would be happy to find stable homes for their wards.

That would depend entirely on the economics of the state. I would strongly suspect some places to have incentives to not let children be adopted as it would cause a drop in revenue. Would it surprise you to see "Sheriff Joe's Orphanage"? These kind of places have been traditionally good money makers. It's just like old folks homes. It's a very vulnerable group with few rights, fewer advocates and no real concern to anyone beyond the affected.

There was a mention of foreign children in there too, so add a language barrier and past a certain age the child is almost totally fucked and in care until thrown on the streets.

UGH that makes being turned down make more sense. If we'd had more money we would simply have hired a lawyer, but being young and working-class that wasn't an option.

[Junkenstein]

Even assuming overlapping abusers (ie; belonging to multiple groups and responsible for multiple acts), what I immediately take away from this is that child exploitation is far more prevalent and ingrained than I ever imagined.

I've been thinking something similar since you put me on to Dutroux, there's a lot going on here and it's not good.

• "[A]bout 10% of the children we encountered are trafficked internationally."
• "Most internationally trafficked children are the citizens of developing countries located in Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and Central and Eastern Europe."

The University's researchers also discovered "approximately 10% of pimps in the U.S. are tied into international sex crime networks."

These are substantial percentages. That's a lot of fucked up kids at best. Dead kids would not be uncommon either. The human cost here is sickening.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Unfortunately, Portland is also a major hub for human trafficking. It's a major problem.