Editorials
Monday, November 17, 1997HAWAII residents have become painfully aware of the fact that abused children are sometimes returned to their parents by social agencies with tragic results. It's happened here, but it's a national problem, and Congress has just taken action in an attempt to provide a remedy. New law will help
prevent child abuseA law passed in 1980 required the government to make "reasonable efforts" to reunite families before terminating parental rights. Sometimes, unfortunately, social workers erred on the side of family reunification, with insufficient concern for the child's safety or a failure to fully appreciate danger signs.
The new bill, which President Clinton supports and will sign, makes it easier to remove children from abusive families. It will no longer require states to make "reasonable efforts" to reunite families in cases in which there has been physical or sexual abuse, abandonment or torture.
The measure also promotes adoption of children who are placed in foster care after removal from their homes. There are about 500,000 children in foster care. On average they spend three years there. The bill gives states bonus payments for placing children in adoption, with extra money for placing hard-to-adopt children. It also makes it easier to adopt children across state lines.
Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., declared, "We will not continue the current system of always putting the needs and rights of biological parents first. That's the way the current system works."
The new law gets its priorities right. The child's health and safety are paramount. Abusive parents forfeit their rights. Separating a child from its parents is a painful decision but officials must not shrink from it when the facts warrant. However, they should not take a child away unless the abuse is unmistakable.
WHILE U.S. diplomats were trying to drum up support in the United Nations for a firm stand against Iraq, Congress was refusing to pay nearly $1 billion that Washington owes the U.N. in delinquent dues. It was another example of how a determined special interest group - in this case opponents of abortion - can derail unrelated legislation. This time the consequences could be far-reaching. Debt goes unpaid
Besides the U.N. debt, a bill to provide $3.5 billion in new borrowing authority for the International Monetary Fund, needed to help stabilize Asian currency markets, also fell victim to the anti-abortion bloc as Congress rushed to adjourn.
Responding to the vote, Secretary General Kofi Annan said,"It is both unreasonable and regrettable that the legislation was held hostage to the entirely unrelated domestic policies of abortion." Officials said the action will push the U.N. into its worst financial crisis yet. The secretary general said he would call an emergency session of a General Assembly panel on finance to look for ways out of the looming crisis.
The United States is the United Nations' largest debtor, responsible for about 60 percent of all unpaid debts. Congress has demanded that U.S. payments be reduced before all debts are settled, but the other member nations aren't likely to approve.
The Iraqi crisis shows the importance the world organization has for the United States. Yet the richest, most powerful nation in the world refuses to pay its debt because of a dispute over family planning aid to overseas organizations that provide abortion services - but not with U.S. funds. This is Congress at its worst.
DISTRIBUTION of leaflets on the sidewalks of Waikiki has been an annoyance that has baffled city officials for years. The problem has been how to keep the handbillers from creating congestion without violating their First Amendment rights. Handbill ordinance
City Councilman Duke Bainum has devised a revision of the ordinance that restricts the activity without interfering with handbillers' right of free speech. Bainum points out that there have been many accidents and near accidents because people distributing handbills are crowding the sidewalks near intersections. Enactment of the proposal could ease the congestion on sidewalks without resulting in the kind of court battle caused by the city's clash with T-shirt vendors.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit distribution of handbills near bus stops, mid-block crosswalks, driveways and street corners. Handbillers would be allowed elsewhere on the sidewalk but would be required to carry their handbills rather than place them on the sidewalk.
Companies that use handbilling have registered their objections to the proposal, but it drew praise from civil liberties attorney Dan Foley, the attorney for T-shirt vendors who unsuccessfully challenged the city's restrictions on them. Foley called Bainum's proposal "a very well-crafted ordinance, balancing First Amendment rights with a significant government interest of public safety."
Sam Bren, chairman of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, also supports the bill as reasonable and needed.
With the endorsement of Foley and those wanting to restrict leafleting activity in Waikiki, the proposal has cleared its most formidable obstacle. The Council should waste no time in making it law.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
