You Don't Need a Village
I enjoyed the review of Hillary Clinton's It Takes a Village by Gwen J. Broude ("It Takes a Bureaucracy," April). I am employed by my state government to investigate child sexual abuse cases. In that role I see severely traumatized children; yet even these children are rarely shattered by the events they have experienced. As Ms. Broude pointed out, children are generally not that delicate.
If given proper care and nurturing, they generally move on with their lives, and family resources are usually available to help those children through the tough times. If the immediate family cannot address the problem, the extended family or family friends probably can. A government agency probably cannot. There are far too many children in the custody of the state. A government agency, even one with foster parents, is a poor substitute for a long-term nurturing family. Mrs. Clinton's "village" (the government) is not a village at all, as Ms. Broude pointed out in her review. The best thing the government can do in most traumatic situations is to help find the right family member or friend to address the problem and get out of the way.
Dale Wallace
State of Tennessee
Child Protective Services