Children And Justice A Review Of Gone Baby Gone Film

Running head: CHILDREN WELFARE 1

Children and Justice: A Review of Gone Baby Gone Film

Name

Institution

CHILDREN WELFARE 2

Introduction

According to Schene (1998), every society has a system and prescriptions for the

protection of children as they are bred and prepared for the adulthood responsibilities. Across

cultures and communities, it is a common ideation that the responsibility of raising children

stretches far beyond parental duties and the community at large. Children are always considered

as the property of the community and the government with parents being as the caretakers,

therefore, when the parents fail in undertaking their duties, the government through child

protection services, juvenile court systems, and foster care are bound to intervene. Child neglect

and abuse are registered in America every day with thousands of children hosed under foster care

and child protection services due to parental neglect and abuse. This paper revisits the issues of

children and neglect as presented in the movie directed by Ben Affleck titled Gone Baby Gone

cast in 2007.

Evidence of Parental Child Neglect

Neglect of children is considered an elusive form of child abuse hence considerably

received marginal attention as compared to abuse such as physical and emotional torture. Child

abuse as presented by Ben fleck in the Gone Baby Gone movies infers to cases where parents or

guardians of children fail to fully undertake their parental responsibilities hence the child(ren)

fend for themselves with to check and balances from the parents. The children are neglected

when the parent or caretaker fails to provide them with the basic needs comprising of good

shelter, education, clothing, food, medical care, and more importantly the basic necessities

critical for the resilient intellectual, physical and emotional development. The jury in civil child

protection cases is mandated with an enormous responsibility of determining key evidence of

child neglect. For instance, in the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency

CHILDREN WELFARE 3

(Division) v. Helene McCready case where the defendant, aunt to Amanda is accused of

neglecting Amanda, the court expects the plaintiff, Division to present concrete evidence indeed

showing McCready neglected Amanda.

Amanda was abducted from her home, but on reporting the case the police had minimal

knowledge on how to solve the case thus Amanda’s aunt, Bea and Lionel McCready hired

private detectives, Angie Gennaro and Patrick Kenzie to resolve the case. From a personal

opinion and analysis of the film, neglect is presented on several occasions such as poor

household sanitation, poor nutrition, emotion and supervisory neglect. Helene does not

demonstrate profound parenting skills. Amanda’s uncle noted that Helene left her three-year-old

child for hours in a locked hot car. The flashbacks in the movies show that Helene did not cater

leaving Amanda alone in the house as she undertook her drug errands. Conversely, when

Amanda is abducted she does not grieve as expected of a typical mother as she is presented

seemingly comfortably sited and watching Jerry Springer on a couch (Affleck, 2007). Captain

Doyle argued to Patrick when he found Amanda in Doyle’s care that Patrick knows that no

matter the laws, she acknowledges that Amanda was safer and better in his custody as opposed to

Helene’s. Helene is neglectful for she cares less about household sanitation as to her men and

drugs occasionally leaving an unattended to alone in the house and belated hot cars. Interesting,

when Patrick stooped by Helene McCready’s house, he found her preparing for a date not

seeming to care the tern of her baby Amanda back home. In another occasion, Helene left

Amanda on a bench for hours, an incidence that left her with third-degree burns but Helene

poured beer on her skin instead of taking her to a doctor, a crystal evidence of neglect and abuse.

CHILDREN WELFARE 4

Placement of Amanda in Foster care

In a scene, when Patrick found that Captain Doyle had abducted Amanda and she was

comfortable with his house, Doyle insisted to Patrick that Amanda was safe in his care than

taking her back to her mother. He said to Patrick that he knew Amanda was much better with

him rather than taking her take to Helene. Interesting after the conversation and arrest of Captain

Doyle for kidnapping, Patrick took Amanda home to Helene only to her getting ready for a date.

Helene seemed not even much concerned about Amanda indicating she would possibly continue

to neglect her following she was on her way out of the house again.

Leaving Amanda in the custody of Helene was risky and would be considered a neglect

by the government to protect her. Therefore, the jury should place her under foster care either in

a foster home for children or placed in a foster family. Captain Doyle’s wife seemed ready to

take care of her, if the social services found it right, they would even recommend placing her

with Doyle’s family. However, the key concern is not returning Amanda to Helene but can be

done on later time provided Helene proves stable, sober and ready to be a responsible guardian.

Schene (1998) notes that for years abused and neglected children have been placed in foster care

and adoption programs provided the Social Services and Children Welfare Programs find the

child’s custodian unable to responsibly care for the child. Federal and state governments have set

funds, resources, and facilities for foster care besides providing adoption options. The Social

Security Act of 1935 under Title IV-B advocates for setting aside of grants support prevention

and protection of abused and neglected children and families while Title IV-A of the Act

advocates for foster care under the Department of Children program to help children like

Amanda.

CHILDREN WELFARE 5

Patrick versus Doyle Debate

When Patrick found Captain Doyle has abducted Amanda, Patrick and Doyle had a

discussion of contradicting theories and arguments on whether Amanda should be placed in a

new home or return to her custodian. Doyle basing on the quotation above believed that Amanda

should be placed in a new home but Patrick held a contrary opinion. In response to the Doyle,

Patrick argued that he it would be forever haunt him if he left Amanda in Doyle’s custody

without the permission of her guardian and following the relevant legal procedures. Patrick argue

what if Amanda would later accuse him for leaving her in the hands of strange family despite

having been entrusted by her aunt to find her. Patrick was obligated to report Doyle for

abduction and return Amanda back to Helene regardless of the risks of negligence cited by

Doyle.

First, regardless of the religion or cultural beliefs, some laws and rules override the

reason whether done in good faith or not. The action of Doyle kidnapping Amanda was unlawful

and punishment, therefore, Patrick was right to call the police on Doyle. However, personally,

Doyle’s arguments underscores Patrick’s argument basing on the evidence of neglect and abuse

by Helene. Literally, from time in the memorial, children should be under the care of their

parents and guardians, but once the parents fail to sufficiently offer basic needs and treat the

children in accordance to social and legal provisions, they transfer the responsibility to the

society and the government. Every child has right be cared for by biological parents or guardians

so do the parents, but the rights are limited based on the extent of child treatment.

Children have a right to life, liberty, happiness and basic needs hence when a parent fails

to offer them and mistreats the child, it is prudent to place the child with a family or home where

the child grow and develop well (Schene, 1998). Doyle was right, Helene had proven to abuse

CHILDREN WELFARE 6

and neglect Amanda hence she would be better off in a new home assuming the new parents are

responsible parents returning her to Helene. Nonetheless, the foster care arrangements should not

be done locally, but through the relevant legal channels to enhance accountability. Helene

denounced a significant part of her parental and custodian rights the moment she began forgoing

her parenting responsibility. Some of the factors liable to the placement of a child in foster care

are the parent’s behavior such as substance abuse as seen with Helene. I believe as much as

Patrick advocated for taking Amanda back to her parents, he was equally worried about the

outcome following Helene’s record of child negligence. Nonetheless, having solved the

abduction cases, it would have been prudent for him to seek for alternative care for Amanda for

it is unequivocally clear, Amanda was still in grave danger of continual abuse and neglect.

CHILDREN WELFARE 7

References

Affleck, B. (Director). (2007). Gone Baby Gone [Motion Picture].

Schene, P. A. (1998). Past, present, and future roles of child protective services. The Future of

Children, 23-38.

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