Sberbank (the biggest Russian bank) has created a new social service. It is called "Islands of security", and it was started just some days ago. What is the functions and the goal?
At first sight it sounds just great: the project considers any Sberbank office as one more place, besides the police station, where every child can come if he gets lost.
The statistics says that more than 50,000 of kids are lost every year in Russia, and the process of their seeking takes long time because children are afraid to come to police or to ask for help in the streets.
That's why Sberbank authorities have decided to transform bank officies to "islands of security", where kids can come and ask for help if they have lost parents somehow. It guarantees that any lost child will be in a safe place under the supervision of an employee until the help comes.
Sounds great and humanistic, but it's so naive to trust just in humanity and kindness...
If a child comes to Sberbank office, its worker will call for help. And here is the most important thing - what help it is!
The bank will inform police and CPS about this fact!!! Why not parents? Why do they inform juvenile justice organizations? For what?? Because it's the real reason of this "kindness"!
Later they will call kid's parents but they will make a sign to CPS, that will write down the fact of child's loss and will pay careful attention to this family.
There are hundreds of cases when parents are deprived of their parental rights for absolutely stupid reasons, and in this situation a loss of a kid will be enough for investigation of the family. And we all knows what is the end of such investigations...
There can be dozens of reasons, why a kid can be lost, and it doesn't always speak about parents' carelessness, but CPS just wait until you make a wrong step, even a small one!
There is a law about regulations of interdepartmental interaction of subjects of prevention of neglect (homelessness). According to it, all hospitals, kindergartens and schools should inform police and CPS about any trauma, bruise or just strange behavior of a kid.
Now Sberbank will be in this list as well. He will take a temporary "care" of a lost kid and make necessary signals to all inspections. After this, it will not be a suprise if parents will be summoned to the commission for the affairs of minors or they will be blamed in improper performance of parental duties.
I hope all parents can read between the lines and understand what is hidden in such "kind and caring" innovations. And I really hope they will take care about their kids without such "islands of security".
Sometimes it's hard to look at the kid all the time especially if parents have several kids, and they're in a crowded place. It's impossible to hold their hands all the time, but if it's really a place of risk, and a kid can be lost, then it's better to use some methods to prevent it, for example:
This device will never call CPS at least...
Sources
https://www.miloserdie.ru/news/ostrovki-bezopasnosti-dlya-poteryavshihsya-detej-sozdaet-sberbank/
http://katyusha.org/view?id=9522