ABSTRACT
Child welfare agencies and mental health workers frequently face the dilemma as to whether or not to remove an abused or neglected child from its parent(s). Permanent separation of a child from its parent(s) potentially violates parental rights, but failure to do so can sometimes result in grave injury, death or lasting emotional damage. When professionals are unable to decide whether to let the child remain with its natural family or not, this indecisiveness can be abusive in its own right: it leaves the child in a situation of limbo which in some cases can last years—further adding to the child’s emotional or physical suffering.
