Carebear Organizational Theory Part Two..

When we talk about systems working together we have to look at the pieces. For example the structure themselves, the functioning of the individual enties and how they function with other systems. There is always a cause and effect.

Police Agencies are tasked with a simply mandate- receiving calls and responding to those calls and enforcing the law. Not ignoring investigating crime- like felonies including rape, and car theft, leaving offenders free to offend again and teach them that committing crime is not wrong, that they will in essence be allowed to offend against people and the police don'r care.

Their actions effect the the judicial systems and how they function- if they aren't doing their job right there are uneeded cases filed, the courts time is wasted and an individual has to incur unneeded emotional stress and in some cases huge financial burdens.

Firefighters and EMS often lumped together serve different functions.

Firefighters run into burning buildings and respond with EMS. EMS' function is to provide stabilizing care until a person can get medical treatment at a hospital and to make sure they get to the hospital safely.

A hospitals function is to save lives and treat illness beyond what a doctor can do in their office. They in turn are a often the first people to things that indicate that there is a problem. When it is with kids- there is a state agency for that, when it is adults they simply have no concern.

None of these systems functions independently of the other. Just as social services and nonprofits have to fill in the gap when there is no "fix" from these systems. Sadly, very poorly. I have yet to see one that does anything it should, that protects and provides for those in need. When women who have been battered are literally left to figure out how to navigate everything from housing, to food, to clothes to everything else at the mercy of other women who rather than lift them up are absent and condescending-who are they supposed to go to for help. Literally being told that my safety is not important because a convicted felon makes up stories to get attention, being told when you need help " Call your friends and family" when I have tried that, failing to even provide the basics of food, you don't have to wonder why women choose abusers over being ignored for something as simple as cooking ingrediants, how I am left to do things like applications for others because they can't be bothered with something that took me 10 minutes. Someone needs to teach them that their callousness costs people possibably their lives while they cater to a Gangster Dicsiple felons and ignore everyone else. Where is the advocacy, the service planning, crisis planning, safety planning- it is two sheets of "If you go back." I set up policies and procedures for a Juvenile Domestic Violence Alternative Center and it functioned better- that was over 10 years ago. We had clinicians, law enforcement stakeholders- who would come sit with me to help find an abducted child who accidently called us (Thank you Tucson Police Department), we coordinated between CPS (Child Protective Services), Open Inn for respite care and several law enforcement agencies. None of that is available to women in crisis. Nothing more than "Call your family and friends- you don't think I tried that before I asked for help? They didn't care. Left to their own devices, you are literally telling these women - "We don't care if you are safe. But we gave you shampoo. "

Businesses- While we think of them as independent from these government functions they are not. They function on their own but because they involve human beings they serve another purpose- an added layer of integrative service. A woman may walk into a Walmart, and be covered in bruises and that may be the only time she is let out of the house by her abuser, and likely without a way to call anyone. Someone simply noticing it and slipping her the number to a shelter might the time she decides to leave him. The gas station clerk might be the one that spots the missing child, or the only person a kidnapped person may have a chance to slip a note to. There have been case after case where the systems that should have caught the battered woman who came into pay a water bill, or who pay a speeding ticket goes unnoticed because no one takes the time to care enough to say "I see you."

This may seem a little abstract but when you look at who sees the fall out when government systems fail it is really the business sector large and small. Additionally, with the national average being 3.5 law enforcement officers per 1,000 inhabitants law enforcement can only see what is brought to their attention, and so much goes hidden from law enforcement. People are made afraid of them, people think they don't care..I know because I have only ever had one law enforcement officer in an entire state reach out to me when I was trying to get assistance- this officer, an Investigator in a completely different jurisdiction, was and remains the only officer who cared anything about me being raped- and I had a zillion friends in law enforcement uthe investigation until my ex- a police officer himself who has been allowed to threaten my life, and prevent the investigation into the death threats made about my former boyfriend and his children.

There is a human cost in the way people are treated, we don't treat the least deserving better than the someone who is just needs some assistence, we don't attack victims, and prevent them from having peace of mind abou their safety, and we don't simply pull a page from Mean Girls the adult version. Threats undealt with and made no matter how nice they sound effect the person they are made to and quite frankly you don't know what that person would have been willing to do to help you. I ran a multi million dollar company just under my adopted father, and never allowed or saw the pettiness that I have seen in the South. I understand about one thing- why he hired the way he did, and why he didn't put up with people telling him how to run his business or his life. I am blessed he has given me a third of that company in the event something happens to him, not that I would ever want it to, but his way of taking care of others is part of why businesses are intergrated into Carebear Theory. He didn't believe nonprofits actually do what they say they do- and they don't. They say they fill the gaps between governmental systems but instead they create are run like homeless shelters, and group homes with staff untrained in even the ability to speak to people respectfully. Their resources consist of coddling mentally ill who don't bathe, and leaving the fridge empty in a battered women's shelter..in attacking woman who have already been attacked, and it is not just the line staff but the Directors themselves whose holier than thou attitude alienates people who wanted to help them. Fixing governmental systems would be easier. There is a reason that municipalities cut funding for nonprofits- because they are full of corruption and misappropiation, violations of federal law and discrimination. There is a reason they can be sued and part of RICO cases- they are simply allowed to file paperwork and there is no oversight- even accountability to a board is not accountability to the donors- the people who pay for everything they have.

The community itself and businesses are the first line of response when these services fail. Educating employees about resources and how to help is the link that may save someone's life where the services fail. Linking law enforcement to not just social services but to business provides a bridge between systems. It isn't just law enforcement, but firefighters, EMT's recognizing abuse but doing something about it.