America has a robust safety net, but some people still say neglectful parents just need more money

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

A mother in Jackson, Mississippi, was recently arrested and charged with child neglect after taking a toddler wearing only a diaper to Walmart in freezing temperatures.

Other shoppers confronted Kambria Darby while her child was visibly shivering and she was tossing frozen food in the cart with him. News reports said she cursed at them and made a rude gesture. The police were eventually called and the baby was released into the custody of a relative.

Later, in a Facebook post, Darby likened her travails to those of Jesus and insisted that she can show pictures of meals she has cooked for her children as proof of her fitness as a mother.

If that response seems a little odd, well, one relative told the New York Post, “I’m not saying there are underlying mental health issues in her case but you need to find out her story.” She went on to defend Darby, saying, “I don’t condone what was done and it was right to be reported but we don’t know both sides of the story. Sometimes kids can be difficult, not wanting to put their clothes on, or taking them off and maybe she was in a rush to pick up some things.”

While of course there is always more to a story, the case reminds us that when children are neglected, there are usually issues involved other than poverty. Unfortunately, there is an increasingly popular myth that neglect is just another word for poverty and if parents had the proper material resources, they and their children would be just fine.

In a 2022 interview on “CBS Sunday Morning,” University of Pennsylvania law professor Dorothy Roberts explained the reasons she believed the child welfare system should be abolished. Among other things, she said that child neglect is a problem that could be solved with financial support rather than investigations by child protection. “Neglect is defined by most states as parents failing to provide the resources that children need, like clothing or food or secure housing...

https://www.deseret.com/2024/2/4/24057370/child-neglect-poverty-safety-net