Front Street Weekly; Special Parents

Item Information

Title:
Front Street Weekly; Special Parents
Description:
This episode looks at the growing community of MRDD (Mentally Retarded or Developmentally Disabled) families. In these families, the parents, while not incapable of caring for themselves, have intelligence levels that fall well below average. Reporter Marilyn Deutsch visits four of these families as part of a special 30-minute story. """During the past two decades the basic rights of mentally handicapped Americans have been expanded considerably. But the rights that are taken for granted by most citizens can have unexpected complications for people who are mentally retarded or otherwise developmentally disabled. The right to be a parent is one of these complex issues. ""Since routine sterilization of the mentally handicapped has been discontinued, more and more of them are now having children. The key question is what happens when the right to be a parent conflicts with the right of a child to grow up in a good home environment. ""This report focuses on several families in Oregon which are headed by these 'special parents,' and it points out the difficulties faced by the parents and their children. This is an issue that will be of growing importance in the years ahead but is getting virtually no attention at present. ""These families are sometimes scorned in their neighborhoods; more often they are simply anonymous. The situation is complicated by the fact that many of them depend on welfare payments to make ends meet. This fact will have serious implications as taxpayers become increasingly reluctant to pay for expanded social services. ""There are no simple answers to the questions raised by this report. It is hoped that by making the public more aware of this situation we can spur new efforts to find solutions.""--1987 Peabody Awards entry form." Front Street Weekly is a news magazine featuring segments on current events and topics of interest to the local community.
Production company:
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Producer:
Graham, Lyle
Producer:
Deutsch, Marilyn
Producer:
Shaffer, Jeff
Host:
Swenson, Jim
Host:
Booth, Gwyneth Gamble
Performer:
Deutsch, Marilyn
Editor:
Gosson, Steve
Date:
November 24, 1987
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Magazine
News Report
Location:
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia > Front Street Weekly
Subjects:
Social Issues
Local Communities
News
Parenting
Extent:
00:29:23
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-153-591898ht
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 707