yuck

I was directed yesterday to call the Division of Youth & Family Services to investigate a client.

I hate it.

My detractors will say it's only because I want to be a nice guy to my clients. While that last part is true (it's easier to deal with clients who aren't enraged at you), that's not really why I hate to call DYFS. It's because I think that DYFS involvement is often worse for a family than the problem we may be trying to address.

I did a quick web search to get the link in the first paragraph. While that link was the first Google result, six of the results on the first page are about how DYFS has failed, caused other problems, or overstepped its bounds.

We have to open nuts, but the only tool we have is a sledgehammer. We destroy and lose the meat we're trying to save.