THE PROBLEM OF PRIVATIZATION AGAIN: FOSTER CARE AND CHILD
SUPPORT
July 31, 2016
Thursday’s
broadcast of WOSU radio’s “All Sides” program highlighted another instance of
the problem of for-profit privatization of state services, this time as
guardians of the property of foster children, and of collection and enforcement
of child support (http://radio.wosu.org/post/profiting-poor-and-disabled-poverty-industy-0
). Guests on the interview program were Daniel
L. Hatcher, author of The Poverty
Industry: The exploitation of America’s Most Vulnerable Citizens (NYU
Press, 2016), and former Athens County, Ohio, family services director Jack
Frech. The focus of the program was
Ohio, one of the states that has carried privatization furthest. Here as in criminal justice, the state saves
money on state personnel and services by private contracting to enterprises
which supply spend less on services and pocket all child benefits (as from
social security and for disabilities), independently of “services” they offer,
for which of course they are not publicly accountable. It is one thing for public services to be
provided by not-for-profit organizations, but for businesses dedicated to
growth and profit, as with criminal justice services, privatization of public
services promotes irresponsibility and exploitation, against which there is
practically no recourse or defense, out of public control. May we in my state and country put public
accountability back in social service.
Love and peace, hal
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