by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
There are nationwide standards for inspecting everything from chickens to elevators.
But there are none for the day care centers entrusted with helping children learn to be human during those years they need the most help.
It’s maddening, but not so surprising, said Harriet Howe, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida.
“Children were not even considered worth addressing separately by society until we entered the 20th century,” Howe said. “And then the intervention for children was patterned on the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“The animals got protected before children did.”
Howe’s child advocacy course became part of UNF’s pre-law program a little over four years ago. The material focuses on what needs to be done — and what can be done — for children in today’s society.
Marty Edwards, director of the pre-law program, “hand-selected” her to teach the course.
“I have a natural interest in this area, so I was delighted to be presented that opportunity,” said Howe.
The idea to add Howe’s class to the pre-law program came from Edwards’ discussions with students.
“Over several years of talking to pre-law students about what they wanted to do with their careers, a lot of them expressed an interest in working with children, being part of a system that works with the problems of youth,” he said. “I said that sounds to me like child advocacy.”
The literature on child advocacy is thin, and there’s no textbook for the course, “which is an indicator this is a new idea,” said Howe, who compiles handouts and reading assignments.
There are speakers and classroom discussions, and a 20-hour service commitment to one of the local child advocacy initiatives.
“They have a lot of choices,” said Howe. “I have the Jacksonville Children’s Commission people come at the beginning to give them an overview of what kind of activities there are. Boys and Girls Club, daniel, Youth Crisis Center. A whole listing of things.
“That, to me, is indicative of Jacksonville being a wonderful city for children in terms of the structure and the attention being paid to children’s needs.”
By the end of the course, the students are to put together a package based on their service commitment, readings and the information they’ve gleaned from their speakers.
“They also complete a personalized statement about how they see children’s situation in society today and make some recommendations to be addressed,” said Howe. “They’re to come to some conclusions about the need for advocacy in society as a whole.”
World War II began to alter our domestic life; the 1960s shook it to the core. The extended family dispersed; relationships fragmented. Both parents took jobs, with nothing available but “catch-as-catch-can” day care centers for their children.
With no adult anchor, children grew accustomed to fending for themselves.
Now, after decades of neglect, Howe said, “We are beginning to reap the whirlwind.”
An entire generation is going out into the world with little education, plenty of exposure to the juvenile justice system and no allegiance to their community or society as a whole.
“Even through the Depression and World War II,” said Howe, “there was a very strong collective conscience that said, ‘This is the important thing in life — to live with a family and be true to your commitments and raise children because that is the basic thing we all do in civilization.”
The succeeding years have piled oversight on top of neglect. One of the most conspicuous failures, Howe said, is the lack of federal or state guidelines for child care centers.
“There is absolutely no standard that anybody’s held to,” she said. “The arrangements are as chaotic as you might intuit they would be.
“We should have nationwide standards. Not to socialize children appropriately is like committing suicide. This is a tragedy in progress.”
A model for those standards already exists, but only for the military, she said.
“There are rigorous requirements for the training and the implementation of the child care facility,” said Howe. “It includes the structure of the facility itself, the educational levels of the teachers, the people employed in it . . . the ratio of the number of children to caregivers.”
Cutting through the bad news are rays of hope, some of them lit by Howe’s own students, who may become lawyers, teachers or volunteers.
“The class seems to attract really good students from sociology and criminal justice,” she said. “It does seem to attract the kinds of persons who are thinking beyond themselves.
“I’ve got several who are doing just wonderful things.”
Students will often extend their 20-hour service commitment or complete the first one and go on to another.
“I’ve had a number of them who have said, ‘Now I’m going to do the Guardian Ad Litem,’ ” said Howe. “The students who become interested in pursuing those things I feel will make great contributions.”
Society will continue on its “downward slope,” said Howe, “until the repercussions of what we haven’t invested in will begin to be socially unacceptable — in terms of social dysfunction, unskilled laborers, the growing crime rate, juveniles in jail.
“We have to have standards, but that’s not enough. You have to have monitors. And that’s always expensive.
“So we can put our money where our future is. Or not.”