From The Advocates For Self Government:

Ask Dr. Ruwart

Dr. Mary Ruwart is a leading expert in libertarian communication. In this column she offers short answers to real questions about libertarianism. To submit questions to Dr. Ruwart, see end of column.
 How Can We Help Vulnerable People?

QUESTION: How would libertarians handle these situations?

* An emotionally disturbed adult friend, family member or associate who seems to really need psychiatric care but won't get it? Who might be headed for self-destruction or hurting someone else?

* A child you know whose family is emotionally abusive/neglectful but is not breaking current child welfare laws?

MY SHORT ANSWER: What you are asking is how to help vulnerable people, who don’t always cooperate with their caregivers. The truth, sadly, is that some will “fall through the cracks” under any system of governance.
 Today, bureaucrats can take children from their parents with relatively little due process. I have received many horror stories from readers of this column about families destroyed by well-meaning social workers who felt that the children were poorly treated. The trauma experienced by the children, who were ripped from their families and rotated through multiple foster homes, sometimes makes such intervention a poor tradeoff.

In a libertarian society, a concerned adult, most often a member of the child’s extended family, would be most likely to notice abuse and appeal to a court for custody. The child’s preference would likely play a greater role in determining the outcome than it does today.

However, no system is perfect. The child may be intimidated by the parents into rejecting the overture of the concerned family member. When a victim does not cooperate, bringing aggressors to justice is always more difficult.

Similarly, an emotionally disturbed adult, who doesn’t realize that he or she needs guidance, cannot always be helped under any system of governance. If we give government and families more power to make involuntary commitments, many innocent people will be stripped of their freedom for political or financial gain. If we depend upon individuals to commit themselves, some will invariably refuse to do so and become a danger to themselves. No matter where the bar is set, some people will either fall through the cracks or be exploited.

People who are a physical threat to others would likely be required by a libertarian court to accept treatment as part of a restitution program. However, if they are simply a threat to themselves, the court might not have the grounds to make a forcible commitment. The families of the afflicted would either care for the loved one themselves, bring in professionals to assist them, or work with a charitable organization to provide treatment.

Of course, the marketplace and private service organizations sometime surprise us with their ingenuity. A free society is more likely to discover the cause of such afflictions and provide ingenious options that are not available today.

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