Preventing child abuse and neglect by the certification of parenthood

At least eleven million children have been neglected or abused In the United States. Many are destined from birth for crime and welfare dependency. Five children die each day because of abuse and/or neglect. Child abuse and neglect directly incur public costs of at least $104 billion a year. Disconnections in policies and practices in the public and private sectors contribute to the very social, health, educational, and law enforcement problems we are trying to prevent. There is a compelling need to connect the dots between public health adolescent pregnancy prevention strategies and human services and educational practices that support dependent parents and may encourage them to become parents. Adolescent parents are the most common examples of dependent parents who require custodial guardians because they are not able to be responsible for their own lives and, therefore, cannot be the custodial guardians of other persons. They are prime examples of why we need to shift away from the legal presumption that all genetic parents are competent until there is proof they have abused or neglected their children. This presentation describes how minimum standards can be set for parenthood by modifying birth certification to also become a parenthood certification process implemented by Parenthood Planning Teams. Taking this action would signify that our society places a high value on ensuring that all of our children have competent parents and would significantly benefit our economy.