DCFS closed the case. They left things unexamined, though there was evidence that conditions were getting worse. They spent years telling the parents to clean the house and listening to promises that it would be done. We know better than that. I have much empathy for their working conditions, high case loads and few options for remedies. The list of who failed these children is very long; poignant is the way some stepped up to help.
The likelihood that children are otherwise “well tended” in a home that is completely destroyed and not habitable is very small. Abused and neglected children are often told by their parents what to say to social services to avoid continued intervention or removal from the home. Fear is cultivated and kids are loyal, with no frame of reference for functional parenting. They also have connections to their parents, who they often feel responsible for from a very young age, and their siblings, enhanced by messaging that it us against the world. Complex, unacceptable and heart breaking, with a lifetime of consequences. We have a long way to go to address the needs of children whose parents are severely compromised.