http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_3e66af4601016udh.html

Protecting the weakest
保护最弱势群体
The recession may hurt America’s vulnerable children
经济危机可能会危害美国弱小的儿童

OVER the past few years, a growing number of America’s parentless children have found homes. In 2008 there were 463,000 children in foster care, a system where the government places orphans and children with parents who are abusive or unable to take care of them in the care of guardians. That is 11% down since 2002, and great news. But experts worry the trend might now go into reverse.

过去几年里，美国越来越多的没有父母的儿童找到了家。政府通过寄养体系为孤儿以及受父母虐待或没有得到应有照顾的儿童提供监护人，2008年，46万3千名儿童得到妥善安置。该数字比2002年减少了11%，这是个好消息。但是专家们担心这一趋势如今可能会逆转。

Some welfare advocates fear that the bad economy may cause parents with frayed nerves to abuse andneglect their children, and even cause some to abandon them. Already, several hospitals across the country have reported an increase in the frequency and severity of injuries from child abuse.

一些福利倡导者担心，经济疲软可能引起精神崩溃的父母忽视、虐待，甚至抛弃他们的孩子。美国几家医院已经报告，受虐儿童入院越来越频繁，伤势也有所加重。

The most recent national data on child welfare available dates from September 2008, before the recession was in full throttle; data from 2009 won’t be reported until later this year. But there is some question about whether the data, when reported, will even be accurate. Many states and counties, in an attempt to cope with their fiscal straits, are considering cutting down on child-welfare services, such as benefits for foster parents and the number of social workers they employ. The average workload of caseworkers had already increased by 7% between 2006 and 2007, says Mary Hansen, of American University in Washington, DC. With more budgetcuts, there will be fewer caseworkers to take notice of abuse and neglect, she says, and it will be more difficult to find someone to report problems to, potentially skewing the collection data.

关于美国儿童福利的最新数据截止到2008年9月，那时经济危机还未全面上演；2009年的数据今年晚些时候才会公布。但即将公布的数据的准确性遭到质疑。许多州县正考虑削减在儿童福利服务上的开支，比如减少给养父母津贴、削减雇佣社工的人数，以便应对财政困难。华盛顿区美国大学的玛丽•汉森称，2006年至2007间，社会工作者的平均工作量就已增加了7%。她说，预算进一步减少，关注受忽视和受虐儿童的社会工作者也会减少，更难找到人负责受理问题，这可能会影响收集的数据的准确性。

In the meantime, more parents are trying to keep their families intact. New York Foundling, an agency in New York, runs a crisis centre, where parents can leave their children for up to three weeks. Requests for beds increased 20% in the last year. Safe Families, a non-profit outfit that places children in temporary homes with volunteer families until jobless parents can get back on their feet, saw the number of children it serviced triple in 2009, and it expects that number to double again in 2010.

与此同时，越来越多的父母努力使他们的家庭保持完好无缺。纽约一家名为纽约弃儿的机构，旗下经营一个危机中心，可以允许父母把孩子寄留在那，限时不超过三周。去年，对床位需求量增长了20%。一家名为安全家庭的非营利机构把孩子们暂时安置在志愿家庭中，直到他们失业的父母振作起来。得到该机构服务的儿童数量在2009年增长至三倍，并且它估计2010年会再增加一倍。

Most people are asking for help from Safe Families, says the organisation’s founder, David Anderson, because they don’t want to risk losing custody, as they would if they put their kids into foster care. Thankfully, therecession has actually spurred more volunteers to come forward, says Mr Anderson.

安全家庭的创始人大卫•安德森称，大部分父母来此寻求帮助是因为他们不想冒着失去监护权的风险把孩子送到寄养机构那里。他说，谢天谢地，经济危机实际上促使了更多的志愿者自告奋勇。