This episode of Law and Order: SVU begins with a horrific scene where a girl is screaming in pain in a dungeon as she is having a baby. The next scene then shows a homeless African American couple sleeping on the steps of a church who wake up to discover an abandoned baby boy left in a box. When the NYPD and the SVU team are notified of the abandoned baby boy, they investigate the church. They discover that the baby was well cared for and they use DNA testing to identify the mother, who is a teenage girl who went missing three years prior. The SVU team searches for the mother and they use a case similar to this one that happened in New Jersey. While this case is taking place, Olivia Benson is contacted by her brother who is reaching out to her for help with his family situation. Olivia was unaware that her brother even had children even though Simon’s daughter is named Olivia after her. Simon and his fiancée Tracy are dealing with child protective services taking their children from them and need Olivia’s help. She decides to help her brother and his fiancée so she gives Bayard Ellis the case to help them gain back custody of their kids. Ellis claimed that Simon and Tracy had trouble gaining custody of their children back because they were a biracial couple. However, their case is almost lost when Simon and Tracy kidnap their kids from child protective services. Simon and Tracy are forced to separate and they cannot have their children back for a number of years. The other story of the abandoned baby is concluded when the SVU team finds and arrests the couple that is behind the abduction and imprisonment in a dungeon of teenage girls to reproduce females while literally discarding the males.
This episode is unlike most of the other episodes because it has two story lines happening at once. The focus of this blog post will be the story of Simon and Tracy, although there is something to be examined with the African American couple living in extreme poverty featured at the beginning of the episode What began the initial investigation of Simon and Tracy was when a police officer pulled Simon over with his family in the car for a traffic violation. After some questioning the officer convinced Simon to pull out a joint that he had in his pocket. Simon was arrested for drug possession and Child Protective Service proceeded to investigate Simon’s house. His stepson, Ty had a minor bruise on his forehead so the CPS investigator saw that reason enough to take the children into the custody of the state. When Bayard Ellis took the case he argued that if they were a white couple instead of a bi-racial couple, they would not have gotten their children taken from them. According to a PBS Frontline article by Dorothy Roberts, “But white children are the least likely of any group to be supervised by child protective services. Black children make up more than two-fifths of the foster care population, though they represent less than one-fifth of the nation’s children” (Roberts). Bayard Ellis is the top civil rights attorney, and is accurate with his argument that this would not have happened if they were a bi-racial couple. Unfortunately, Simon’s actions led this case into even more difficulty than a racial issue. Although the outcomes are grim, the story in this episode accurately displays the truth in our justice system, particularly when it comes to child welfare. Race is still a huge factor when it comes to child welfare and this episode portrays that truthfully.
Source:
Roberts, Dorothy. "Race and Class in the Child Welfare System." Frontline: Failure to Protect. PBS. Web.
This episode is unlike most of the other episodes because it has two story lines happening at once. The focus of this blog post will be the story of Simon and Tracy, although there is something to be examined with the African American couple living in extreme poverty featured at the beginning of the episode What began the initial investigation of Simon and Tracy was when a police officer pulled Simon over with his family in the car for a traffic violation. After some questioning the officer convinced Simon to pull out a joint that he had in his pocket. Simon was arrested for drug possession and Child Protective Service proceeded to investigate Simon’s house. His stepson, Ty had a minor bruise on his forehead so the CPS investigator saw that reason enough to take the children into the custody of the state. When Bayard Ellis took the case he argued that if they were a white couple instead of a bi-racial couple, they would not have gotten their children taken from them. According to a PBS Frontline article by Dorothy Roberts, “But white children are the least likely of any group to be supervised by child protective services. Black children make up more than two-fifths of the foster care population, though they represent less than one-fifth of the nation’s children” (Roberts). Bayard Ellis is the top civil rights attorney, and is accurate with his argument that this would not have happened if they were a bi-racial couple. Unfortunately, Simon’s actions led this case into even more difficulty than a racial issue. Although the outcomes are grim, the story in this episode accurately displays the truth in our justice system, particularly when it comes to child welfare. Race is still a huge factor when it comes to child welfare and this episode portrays that truthfully.
Source:
Roberts, Dorothy. "Race and Class in the Child Welfare System." Frontline: Failure to Protect. PBS. Web.