The dangers behind America's foster care system
Although America’s foster care system is designed to be a place where children are rescued from abusive and negligent situations, they are instead sent into a severely unstable system which demonstrates terrifying statistics, such as 60% becoming involved in human trafficking cases, and 33% becoming homeless.
Washington foster care parents Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove their SUV off a cliff on California Route 1 into the rocky Pacific Ocean, killing them and their six adopted children on March 26, 2018. What soon came to light was a personal history of mass abuse and a failure on the part of multiple state social services. The Harts beat and starved their children all while giving the appearance of a perfect, normal family. The family, who lived in Minnesota, Oregon and, finally Washington, somehow managed to avoid any serious punishments. Neighbors, though, did take notice and let the proper authorities know. However, besides the odd check-in, social services were unable to resolve the situation due to a variety of reasons.
“The documents released this week show that child welfare officials in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington State — three states where the Harts lived during the past seven years — knew of reported abuse, but, in one case, apparently stepped aside after completing their assessment; could not gather enough evidence to corroborate the claims of neglect in another; and, in a third case, learned of the allegations too late,” reported the New York Times.
Not only are there many horror stories that root from the corruption within the American foster care system, there are also many alarming statistics that put it all into perspective. On their website, the nonprofit organization Foster America shared data from their research. They revealed that only human trafficking cases were once in foster care, and 33% of homeless adults had spent time in foster care during their youth.
The Northwood Howler, a high school news site located in Spokane, Washington, reported that in 2013, 4,500 children ran away from their foster homes and group facilities. They also claimed that less than half of those once in the foster care system were unable to earn any money from employment later in life. The site also reported that 25% will enter the criminal justice system within only two years of leaving foster care.
A Seattle investigative newsroom website called InvestigateWest, which does stories on different social issues, also reported more shocking information surrounding the nation’s foster care system. Since there is a critical imbalance of children in the foster system, and those willing to take care of these children, states are very desperate to acquire more foster parents. Because of this, foster parents are often paid over $300 only for an overnight stay. Still, there are not enough caregivers in the system. It is speculated that this decrease in foster parents correlates with the increase in heroin and opioid addictions in the country.
Among the excessive moving, these children are often left to spend many nights at hotels.
“In June alone, foster kids as young as two had 211 hotel stays — more than any other month since the state child welfare ombudsman began receiving complaints about the practice two years ago,” Abramo reported.
“Earlier this year, for example, a four-year-old was moved between 10 different families over three months and also spent several nights in hotels, according to records obtained by InvestigateWest.”
-Investigative reporter and author Allegra Abramo, who has written for several national news outlets.
This uncertainty in these children’s lives pushes them to seek stability elsewhere, even if it means leaving to go on their own. In these situations, they are not only led into harm, but they are also being set up for trauma, behavioral issues, as well as other mental and emotional troubles. Whether they leave the system or not, most foster children are never adopted and never have a legal guardian. This absence of care and nourishment takes heavy tolls on children, setting them up for substantial amounts of difficulty and struggles throughout their adult life.
AACAP (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) reported that only half of the children who enter the foster care system are able to actually return to their families, and it is often made difficult for parents to gain back their parental rights. AACAP also stated that up to 30% of children who enter the foster care system are already dealing with severe emotional, developmental, and behavioral issues, along with varying physical problems. Many more children are likely to acquire more issues during and after being in the foster care system.
More appalling information was reported by law school professor Josh Gupta-Kagan, who founded the Family Defense Clinic, where he works with caregivers and parents who have been accused of child abuse. In his article, America’s Hidden Foster Care System, Gupta-Kagan discussed the legal side of America’s foster care system. He reported that adults are not required to obtain any kind of license before becoming a foster parent.
“They avoid requirements to provide foster care maintenance payments to kinship caregivers, thus leaving caregivers without the financial support available to formal foster parents and jeopardizing their ability to take care of children,” said Gupta-Kagan.
Gupta-Kagan also reported that states are not required to provide documentation of cases in which children are sent to foster care.
“This system is literally hidden in that existing data-tracking and reporting laws do not require states to count how frequently they use this system, let alone what happens to children who are in it,” Gupta-Kagan said. “Despite the lack of data, it is clear the hidden foster care system is large--roughly on par in size with the number of children CPS agencies remove from their families and place in formal foster care every year,” Gupta-Kagan said.
There are many experiences told by children who were in the foster care system that are shared on the internet, that also give another perspective on what happens in foster homes.
“My foster parents- although responsible and attentive to my needs- failed to understand how hurt I felt when they required me to call them Mr. & Mrs. X, nor did they understand how painful their teasing of me affected my fragile adolescent personality and heart,” said Sharon Karow, a newsletter editor and national resource for Foster Care and Permanence Planning, who wrote on her experience in the foster care system on the website Fostering Perspectives.
“Foster care saved my siblings and me from a life of terror at the hands of a violently abusive father, but family foster care could have been so much more than a safety net for most of us. Little effort was given by our caseworker or our foster parents in helping us maintain contact with one another and with our mother- contact that would have been a great source of comfort and emotional support for each of us. And no help was given to us in coping with the numbing loss of our family, with our constant worrying about each other, and our mother, and with our fears and concerns for our future. Some of my siblings grew up to have serious problems with drugs and alcohol and to have great difficulty in personal relationships problems,” Karow also said in her article.
However, not all news is bad news. According to KTVZ Bend, the number of Oregon children in foster care is the lowest it’s been in 16 years. There was also no out-of-state placement, with Oregon keeping kids in-state. The state has also sought to increase funding, safety measures and update the system overall. With all of these changes, it seems that states are truly making an effort to fix this broken system.