Before you go any further with the idea that dogs don't do anything for children, please remember that, without sniffer dogs, many more children would have been killed by hidden bombs and landmines. When a child is kidnapped, the FIRST thing they do is get a scent dog to give the police an idea of which way they went. When violent offenders escape from prison, scent dogs are used to find them. Some children have such horrible childhoods with alcoholic or drug addicted parents that the family dog is the only love and care they receive and as a result are far less damaged by the abuse.
It has been proved that taking dogs into wards to visit terminally ill children in the UK has a significant effect on their pain levels.
I could go on but I have to walk my dogs...