To anyone who has an opinion on foster parents

startover22 · Dec 7, 2008, 05:16 PM

Being a smoker does not make you a bad parent. I do not agree with this law. I think foster parents should not smoke in the house nor in the car....or even around the kids, but if you want to smoke you can always step outside. I do not agree to the extent of it being banned. I agree it should not be done in front of the kids.

Synnen · Dec 7, 2008, 08:26 PM

I truly hope they plan on finding a LOT more foster parents, and doing something about the natural parents out there who smoke.

Sounds like a form of discrimination, to me, and in the end it's only really going to hurt the kids.

Alty · Dec 7, 2008, 08:29 PM

I'm a smoker and I have two kids. I don't smoke in the house or in the car. When I do smoke it's outside or in the garage.

What about drinking? Can you have a glass of wine with dinner or is that wrong too? Where do we draw the line?

Many people smoke, drink, and worse. Smoking is legal, so why the big deal?

There aren't enough foster parents out there as it is, now they're cutting the numbers down even more?

Smoking is bad for you, but it doesn't make you a bad person or bad parent.

N0help4u · Dec 8, 2008, 05:28 AM

Too much government control when they can tell us what we can and can not do in our homes.

N0help4u · Feb 15, 2009, 09:59 AM

NAPALMFACE agrees: Thank you for taking notice - too much control not enough enforcement. No one should smoke - how about that!...and then it is no one should eat Twinkies or McDonalds.

ScottGem · Feb 15, 2009, 10:18 AM

I'd have to see the exact text of this law before I disagree with it.

But I must say I can understand it. Enough studies have proven the potential damage of second hand smoke that a case could be made for this.

I suspect that the legislators are doing this with our litgious society in mind. Lets say a 20 yr old gets diagnosed with lung cancer. He was placed with foster parents who smoked heavily at age 5. Now he sues the agency that placed him becuse they put him in harm's way.

I don't think that's far fetched.

I agree that smokers are not necessarily bad parents, but smoking in the presence of a child does seem to be outting them in harm's way.

N0help4u · Feb 15, 2009, 10:40 AM

I am all for people not smoking but I have a problem with government telling people what to do in their homes to a degree
Next they will be telling foster parents that the kid is overweight and they must make him lose weight or else lose custody. Can they/should they have that much involvement?
Then the system is unjust, while they are crucifying a foster family for smoking they often are closing their eyes to the parents that are drinking and doing drugs WITH their kids.

ScottGem · Feb 15, 2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N0help4u

I am all for people not smoking but I have a problem with government telling people what to do in their homes to a degree

But I don't see that as the case here. The law is not telling people they can't smoke, its saying they can't be a foster parent if they do. Its no different from DUIs. The law doesn't say a person can't drink, only that they can't get behind the wheel if they do. The premise here is that they seem to be trying to prevent someone from harming someone else with their behavior.

N0help4u · Feb 15, 2009, 11:01 AM

Yeah that is true.

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