If this
story from Huffington Post on the bleeding
crossroads of celebrity gossip and officious busybodism is to be
taken at face value, it’s a gross example of government waste and
overreach that ought to terrify every parent in this age of all the
kids sending their selfies to their reddits and sexting bitcoin to
their roku, as SNL’s Drunk Uncle might say.
American superpowercouple Will and Jada Smith are allegedly
being investigated by the Los Angeles Department of Child &
Family Services because a picture circulated online of their 13-
year-old daughter Willow in bed with a 20-year-old former
Hannah Montana actor Moises Arias.
In bed. That’s not a euphemism for naked and having sexual
intercourse. It’s two humans who happen to be occupying physical
space in a bed. Arias is shirtless, Smith fully clothed. Their
bodies don’t even appear to be touching.
From the HuffPo report:
“The investigation was formally opened last week and is being
taken very seriously by the department. Will and Jada Pinkett Smith
have been extremely cooperative with officials. Of course, they
aren’t happy that their parenting skills are under scrutiny, but
they understand,” a source told the website [Radar Online], adding
that social workers will be speaking to Willow separately, as well
as former Disney star Moises Arias, who was pictured with her in
the photo.
A government agency will be talking to people. Because two
people laid in bed and took a picture. An agency with the power to
break up families.
And what possible good outcome is this investigation supposed to
have? And who could possibly care? And why should the force and
threat of tearing a child from its parents be brought to bear—and
that is the agency’s ultimate threat?
It might be interesting to contemplate, in this context, this
report from a couple of weeks ago from the L.A. Times,
mostly focused on a 17-year agency vet fired for accusations of
sexual misconduct against foster children under his care:
Two months after the alleged incident, Supervisor Gloria Molina
announced publicly that a “crisis” had developed in the child
welfare department’s holding room inside a high-rise office
building near downtown Los Angeles and that it was being used as a
“dumping ground” to house difficult-to-place foster children.Her staff visited and reported finding a chaotic scene,
including a 9-month-old infant who had been present at a drug bust,
three pregnant teenagers and recently released juvenile offenders —
all of whom were getting little sleep while social workers
frantically juggled a multitude of after-hours child abuse
investigations.Some of the older children reportedly used drugs openly in the
office, Molina said.[Lincoln] Saul [a retried social worker] said that one of
[James] Green’s accusers, a 13-year-old girl, was placed in the
holding room more than 40 times between March 2012 and January
2013. During those visits, the girl sometimes undressed in front of
male staff and walked around the office in her underwear. Staffers
eventually covered her with a sheet, Saul said.
This is the agency who seems to think it might be able to take
better care of Willow Smith than her parents. Or maybe it just
thinks it needs to know more about that scandalous picture. It’s
hard to imagine what possible purpose is behind this investigation
or what good is supposed to come from this use of city money and
time. Again, if the story is as reported, it’s just
plain crazy.
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