Between this and Idaho's continuing failure to have meaningful child care licensing, an argument could be made that Idaho is one of the nation's most dangerous place for kids :-(
Saundra, it's tempting to believe that some kind of child-abuse lobby has overtaken the Idaho state legislature.
"Yikes" and "wtf" are right! Thanks for posting this...I had no idea this was going on...how messed up...
What could possibly be the rationale behind blocking this legislation?
A desire to let people get away with abusing their kids.
Hmm. Really? I mean, I'm completely with you on this post, but is it really because they want more parents to beat their children? Maybe it's just stupidity.
Big government always trying to tell you what to do with your kids - who the hell do they think they are?
I think that's the crux of it. CPS agencies are stuck in a bind between "took the kids away because they were too fat/spanking/whatever" and "didn't catch a terrible case of child abuse before the kids died." Every few years, depending on which sort of case was in the news, the power of child protective services is either shot through the roof or dropped to virtually nothing. Thus the wild oscillations of child protective legislation.
-- ACS
this surprises me because Ms. Lodge isn't one of that type of senator, you know? In other words, she's not a Steve Thayn. I don't really know what's going on with this.
Actually, there could be many reasons for non-abuse related child deaths that could come in clusters and indicate an environmental hazard that might be locale specific(Woburn, MA cancer clusters in the 80s, ditto various locations in LA, both linked to water contamination). Perhaps she is just ignorant, but maybe there is reason to worry about contamination. Say lead near Kellogg and other mining areas in the north, pesticides along the SE and SW rivers where canal/ditch irrigation is used, etc.?
Here's another part of the article that gives more of Ms. Lodge's thinking: "Lodge noted that her children rode horses without wearing helmets when they were growing up, and said she wouldn't want to see parents faulted for risky but normal childhood activities like that."
The article also makes the point of some important changes that came from previous child death review panels in ID:
"- A sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, education program for Idaho parents.
- New seat belt laws.
- Programs on safe firearms storage in homes with children.
- A canal safety and fencing program.
- Education programs for parents on safety restraints in cars."
The anticipated annual cost for us taxpayers? $43,250
This just really ticks me off -- I'm getting pretty sick and tired of Idaho talking "family values" while not giving a rip about child health & safety.
Feeling blue and seeing red in a red state!
I know I'm like a dog with a bone about this stuff, but the estimated annual cost of $43,250 for the child mortality review team would only be 3 cents for each Idaho resident. What dose our failure to spend 3 cents per resident say about the value of children in Idaho?
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