428 为什么善良父母会被指控忽视孩子(New).doc

外刊赏读（《读者文摘》2016年4月25日） 本文摘选自《读者文摘》中一篇名为“The Criminalization of Parenthood: Why Are Good Parents Being Charged With Child Neglect?”的文章。几十年以前，父母让孩子在无人照看时玩耍还是很常见的事，今天这种行为很可能会让他们惹上大麻烦。父母因“忽视（neglect）孩子”而受到指控的新闻已经屡见不鲜, 但是许多父母认为那些被指控的“忽视”行为是孩子成长过程所必需的。本文中作者首先指出儿童保护服务处（CPS）的强制干预使父母们在育儿上处境艰难，进而指出当今媒体对儿童安全威胁的推测和报道脱离实际，这是父母遭受不合理指控的主要原因。 【原文】 I?①Parenting practices common a couple of decades ago are now considered neglectful, even criminal.  = 2 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ②It’s hard to estimate how common this trend is because neglect is classified differently from state to state and because the reasons parents are charged vary widely, but dozens of experts—including lawyers, economists, sociologists, and embattled parents—agree it’s a growing problem.  = 2 \* ROMAN \* MERGEFORMAT II ①National data on the number of kids taken away from their families by Child Protective Services (CPS) show a troubling increase.  = 2 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ②But more than 41 percent of children removed were not found to have been mistreated.  = 3 \* ROMAN \* MERGEFORMAT III ①That statistic is even worse when you consider the consequences parents face.  = 2 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ②Being investigated can add your name to a child-abuse registry, which comes up during employment background checks.  = 3 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ③There’s the threat—or reality—of being separated from your children.  = 4 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ④Legal fees.  = 5 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ⑤Criminal charges.  = 6 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ⑥Erika Doring was ultimately acquitted of her child-neglect charge, but only after she spent a quarter of her annual income on legal fees.  = 7 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ⑦Of course, no one wants to stop CPS from intervening where there is legitimate emotional or physical abuse or neglect.  = 8 \* GB3 \* MERGEFORMAT ⑧But that’s not these folks.  = 4 \* ROMAN \* MERGEFORMAT IV ①“Parents feel like they don’t have the option of leaving their ten-year-old home to dash out to the