Benson is at her finest when she is the advocate all of us want real-life SVU cops may very well be.
On Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 10, she was decided to indicate a child who the system had failed time and again that somebody really gave a rattling.
Convincing the sufferer to speak to her was an uphill battle, which is one thing Benson isn’t used to, and it made for unbelievable drama regardless of realizing that Benson would discover a method to attain this child like she all the time does.
Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 10 Uncovered Severe Issues In The Foster Care & CPS Methods
I like it when SVU takes on damaged methods. There are loads of issues within the foster care system, and issues like Anthony getting sexually abused time and again do occur.
It was particularly galling when Michael Strickland’s boss at CPS mentioned that children generally fall by means of the cracks.
Whereas that’s undoubtedly true, she was so indifferent, as if she simply accepted that some children didn’t get the assistance they wanted and didn’t actually care.
She additionally didn’t decide up on the plain purple flags in Michael’s relationship with the children in his caseload.
One of many first issues I realized in social work faculty was the significance of setting boundaries with purchasers. A part of our job generally contains taking purchasers to docs’ appointments or different wanted companies locally, and a few social staff meet purchasers locally for different causes.
There might be reliable causes to take action, nevertheless it’s important that social staff don’t cross moral strains, and Michael did the alternative, always creating inappropriate relationships together with his purchasers.
It’s towards the social employee’s code of ethics for him to pay for younger purchasers to go to the arcade or wherever else, so it was disturbing that his supervisor didn’t suspect something was improper or ever confront him about it.
That mentioned, it annoys me that social staff on Legislation & Order: SVU nearly all the time trigger issues as a result of they don’t do staple items.
I’m certain there are some individuals who work for CPS and comparable companies who’re so burned out they don’t care anymore, however I additionally imagine that a lot of the issues come from individuals being overworked.
Excessive caseloads and the necessity to meet stringent state or metropolis tips typically depart caseworkers overwhelmed and with out the bandwidth to cope with issues akin to an worker not following protocols.
I’d have beloved to have seen extra of the group dwelling supervisor and realized about how laborious she labored for these children and the way she felt about the way in which the system retains failing them, however that in all probability would have gone off on a tangent that didn’t have something to do with the story.
Benson’s Regular Pep Talks Didn’t Work… Till They Did
I appreciated Anthony’s refusal to belief Benson. It made sense, contemplating the trauma he’d suffered.
Benson was properly conscious that the system had failed Anthony, however that didn’t imply he may learn her thoughts and see her good intentions. For a lot of the hour, he noticed her as yet one more one that was going to speak a superb discuss after which do nothing for him.
Anthony: You recognize what’s a lie? That badge you’re carrying. CPS, foster care, this place… the actual lie is that any of you care.
It didn’t assist that each time he noticed Benson, she had Carisi together with her, and his model was to get in Anthony’s face and yell at him to cease mendacity.
That wasn’t going to work with somebody who had psychological well being points due to a lifetime of trauma. Every time Carisi did that, it made Anthony much more inclined to close down.
I’d have appreciated for Benson to expertise some extra frustration, although. She was decided to assist this child, nevertheless it needed to have gotten to her that he didn’t imagine for a second that she gave a rattling.
Positive, she’s been doing this for 30 years, so I wouldn’t count on her to be so wrapped up in annoyance that she will’t do her job. Nonetheless, it needed to sting on some degree.
Even when Benson is ready to be indifferent sufficient to not let it get to her, I want there’d been an indication that she was holding again feelings about it or a dialog with a group member exterior of Anthony’s presence.
That may have added depth to her character and made her rather less of a savior and extra an strange human being who cares deeply concerning the individuals she crosses paths with.
In Retrospect, It Was Apparent Michael Had Been Abusing Anthony
Michael got here throughout as a involved case supervisor when he first heard Anthony had disappeared, however looking back, his false concern was much more proof that he had finished one thing with Anthony he shouldn’t have.
He took an excessive amount of of an curiosity in Anthony from the primary time he appeared on Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 10, and he additionally was fast to assert he’d need to report it if he knew Anthony was hanging round an older man.
This dialogue appeared cheap on the time, but it screams predator after realizing that he’s one.
Grooming Anthony was the least of Michael’s crimes.
It was disturbing that he was trafficking the children he was supposed to assist, particularly since his supervisor was turning a blind eye to what he was actually doing with these boys.
I’m nonetheless not satisfied that Colin was making an attempt to assist, both. It looks as if a predator would inform a child like Anthony that he may get him away from a trafficker after which take over abusing him.
That angle wasn’t actually explored, although I ponder if the explanation Anthony known as Michael after escaping from him was that Colin was abusing him too and he thought the satan he was already aware of was higher than this new one.
He mentioned he known as Michael when he panicked, however didn’t give a trigger for the panic, so it’s believable that Colin was additionally abusing him.
It’s Exhausting To Imagine That Anthony Discovered To Belief So Rapidly On Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 10
Benson made good on her promise to get Michael in order that Anthony wouldn’t be abused anymore, nevertheless it’s laborious to imagine that he trusted her fully after that.
It will have been extra real looking for Anthony to be open to trusting her however nonetheless be cautious. That may have additionally made a stronger level about how deeply trauma had aff
ected him if he nonetheless couldn’t belief Benson even after she’d gone the additional mile for him.
Equally, it appeared odd that he had gone again to the group dwelling after telling Benson that he’d quite keep in juvie as a result of he had nowhere to go if he received out.
Random Ideas
- Silva lastly had greater than two strains! I appreciated her involvement on this investigation, particularly her astute remark that the physique was moved onto the mattress after the homicide.
- The place the heck was Fin? Even a throwaway line is best than no Ice-T!
- I hope nobody was enjoying a ingesting sport with Benson saying the system was damaged or she was going to save lots of this child from the system, as a result of in the event that they did they’d have been handed out by midway by means of the episode.
Over to you, SVU fanatics. What did you consider Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 10?
Vote in our ballot to rank the episode, then hit the feedback together with your ideas.
Legislation & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and on Peacock on Fridays.
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