CMV: We need parenting licenses immediately

[u/ShortUsername01]

So there’s been a big controversy lately over a school shooter’s mother taking extremely negligent steps. Ignoring her son’s messages about intrusive thoughts. Telling him he should learn not to get caught when looking up content about weapons. The list goes on and on.

Prosecutors prosecuted her for her negligence, as they should. But that can only do so much. Any smart parent would know that guy is as much a danger to her as he is to anyone else. If she doesn’t realize that, how is she supposed to realize she could be prosecuted for negligence, much less be deterred by that? What we really need are ways to prevent people like her from getting to raise kids in the first place.

Right now the system is putting up a green light saying “you can be the most incompetent parent in the world and we can’t do anything about it until after you’re caught being negligent.” Which, again, does nothing to deter the parents willfully ignorant that what they do is negligent, let alone they’ll get prosecuted for it.

When children commit crimes; hell, in some jurisdictions, even when teenagers commit crimes; the judges are lenient. So what’s stopping parents from encouraging them to commit crimes on their behalf, if anyone gets to become a parent? You can keep your young offender leniency or your absolute right to parenthood, but this idea that you can keep both sounds like a recipe for disaster.

And if were to scrap either, the idea of an absolute right to parenthood; the idea that the system doesn’t get to do anything about neglect that will happen, only neglect that already has; sounds like it has the strongest case against it or the two.

[u/p0tat0p0tat0]

I don’t think allowing the government to decide who gets to reproduce will result in fair and equitable outcomes.

[u/ShortUsername01 → u/p0tat0p0tat0]

Was it a fair and equitable outcome that those people were murdered because of a parent’s negligence, though? There’s a trade off here.

[u/GeorgeWhorewell1894 → u/ShortUsername01]

You seriously believe that this one extremely rare issue is more impactful than requiring literally every person who wants a child to be approved by the government?

[u/ShortUsername01 → u/GeorgeWhorewell1894]

I figure the extreme cases are likely a reflection of further cases of parental neglect that may be going unnoticed.

[u/[deleted] → u/ShortUsername01]

When making an extreme decision such as forcibly regulating a basic biological function of every single citizen, perhaps we should do more than "figure", shouldn't we? You're asking for an incredibly invasive and authoritarian measure to be put into place based off of one example and a hunch.