KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - Perhaps you have already seen the video made by my fellow Tennessean, Lacey Buchanan of Woodbury. If you have not, I recommend that you join the millions of people around the world who have seen it. I have included it at the top of this page. It is an inspiring story about human tragedy and the power of faith and love.

The short homemade video presents the story of baby Christian and his mother and father's determination to bring him into this world despite being told to abort him, and the subsequent suffering and joy their decision brought them over the past couple years.

In her blog, Lacey explains that she did the video because of a similar video she saw about a young, disfigured woman who was told that the world would be better off without her. The thought of someone ever saying that to Christian pained her deeply. Lacey expressed the pain she felt for her baby when she wrote, "It may not be me that looks different, but the stares at my son hurt no less than if they were at me. . . ."

The story of Lacey, her husband Chris and their beautiful child, Christian, is precious, and it inspires us all. Lacey does not speak in the video. She communicates to us in two ways: though handwritten signs that she holds up to the camera and through her emotions made visible by her facial expressions. As the story unfolds, we watch Lacey reliving key moments as if they were happening right now.

This is what most inspired me. Watching Lacey's expressions reminded me that no one can love a child like its mother, that a mother's love is a special kind of love. Furthermore, witnessing Lacey's love for her child reminded me that all children, not just Christian, need a mother's love. And this made me think that most people and societies cannot thrive without this special kind of love, so it needs to be protected.

Blessed John Paul II gives us an idea how we can protect a mother's love in his Apostolic Letter, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women. He reminds us that Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. This kind of love, Blessed John Paul II says, affirms women as persons on a fundamental level and makes it possible for the female personality to fully develop.

Consequently, in the normal course of God's plan, it would seem that a mother's love finds its first and most basic protection within family life. Unfortunately, families are under attack. This attack is coming from many directions, but the one I most thought about as I watched Lacey's video was the aggressive intervention of the state and so-called professionals into our families.

This intervention reminds me of cancer treatments. Early chemotherapy treatments not only killed cancer cells, they also killed healthy cells (today, the treatments are better focused). The power of the state, regardless how noble its intentions, is such a blunt instrument that it is often like the early cancer treatments. This means it should be used with great caution, but this has not been the case.

You only need to turn on the news to find examples, so I will not repeat them. We all know that parents and their children can be arrested and hauled away in handcuffs based on nothing more substantial than an anonymous accusation.

A partial explanation for this destructive trend can be found in the seventh edition of a college-level textbook, Social Work, by Armando T. Morales and Bradford W. Sheafor. The explanation is based on the enormous growth of social work in the wake of former President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs in the 1960's and two concepts--professionalism and prevention.

As their influence grew, social workers organized and lobbied hard for professional status. They defined professionals as recognized experts possessing a monopoly in their field with exclusive rights to make judgments and give advice. According to the textbook, "In granting this professional authority, society, in essence, gives up the right to judge the competency of these professionals except in extreme cases of incompetence."

After receiving this undeserved professional status, social workers revised their traditional mission which emphasized service and the motto "do no harm." Their new mission was to change society, individuals, families, and other groups. As a result, social work has largely become a vehicle for social and political activism, and it is often funded by the government with our tax dollars.

With the help of new and ever growing legislation concerning child welfare, child abuse, family preservation, violence against women, and homosexuals, etc., social workers have carried out their new mission of change.

Besides legislation, one of their primary tools used for change has been "prevention." It is defined as the "anticipation of future consequences and ...