Italy's most powerful and enduring organised crime groups known as mafias are built on blood ties. But a controversial program is removing children from mafia-affiliated families in the hope of breaking the cycle and giving them a chance to choose a different life.
There have got to be better ways than forcibly breaking the parent/child bond by taking away the children, even if there has been no abuse or neglect. Just because they’re mafioso doesn’t mean they mistreat their children.
I would think that the doing something would be breaking that bond by arresting the parents. Maybe even leave the child with one of them.
It’s not about child abuse, it’s about ending the intergenerational crime cycle. Though depending on your viewpoint it could be argued that raising kids by grooming them to be crime lords is a form of child abuse in itself.
From the article:
I know, I read the article, but they’re going beyond that now. And I really don’t think that making children hate the government by taking them away from their parents is going to break the crime cycle.
Like I said, it’s a tough question. I agree it’s very much a grey area, but I do think it’s better than leaving things to continue the way they have been up to now.
I just think of all the other situations in which children were taken by their parents such as the U.S. foster system or Canadian residential schools and they tend to churn out criminals. But hopefully you’re on the right side of things and this will help break the cycle.
The obvious difference I’m seeing (at least based on the article) is that the US and Canadian systems were woefully underfunded and overwhelmed. Whereas this program has a small number of participants and seems fairly well supported. Time will tell I suppose.