Beyond the Best Interests of the Child

Back in late August, though it seems longer ago than that, a friend posted a link to this article (http://www.nesl.edu/lawrev/vol36/1/Wexler.pdf) about DSS and placement of children.

It reminded me, then, of a book I had just seen at my sister's house a week before or so, the title of which is this post's subject. The authors are Joseph Goldstein, Anna Freud, and Albert J. Solnit, if you care and even if you don't. (Yes, for my less psychologically academic readers, she is the daughter of that Freud.)

It examines placement of children which was, then, usually based solely on the phyical well-being of the child, without regard for the mental or emotional health of the child. My suspicions are that it was this book that prompted some of the changes in laws that are so decried in that article.

The cases cited in the article are horrific. Such things should never happen to a child - agencies that truly care about the children would never do such things!

The cases cited in the book are horrific. Such things should never happen to a child - agencies that truly care about the children would never do such things!

Is it there is no balance point between the two approaches or is it, instead, that the individuals charged with making the decisions are undersupported and overwhelmed such that they have largely lost the ability to make these decisions within the Best Interests of the Child?

The Last Titan

No, this does not mean that the world is at last safe for the Greek Gods.

apod feeds astronomical images to me (and many many others) on a daily basis. Today's was a shot taken on October 19th of the launch of the last Titan Rocket.

The Titan is one of the rockets we have been using to launch various and sundry vessels (not vassals) to space. Cassini (visiting Saturn) and Voyager (not the homeschoolers, but the probe at the edge of our solar system) went up on Titans. The first Titan went up in '59.

Thank you, Lockheed-Martin and Titan for many exciting times over the course of my life. May your successors be as successful! *sniff*

(or, as one comment exchange went: "It's a model!" "Shhh!")

Splash 2005

What should I teach? I have to submit my classes in the next few days.

(For those of you unaware of Splash, go to esp.mit.edu)

(For those of you who are collegish or older, what are YOU going to teach for Splash?)