There are nine people in my immediate family, including myself. I have one dad, one mom, four sisters and two brothers. These facts may seem insignificant and most people are probably confused, wondering why on earth I am explaining my family dynamics. Well, out of the nine, three are different from the rest. They are not different in a bad way, nor a good way, they simply have a different life story tell. My little sisters Adriana and Sophia, they are adopted; my younger brother Carter, he is a foster child. 

I can remember in grade school my parents would always talk about becoming certified foster caregivers. At the time, I had no idea what this meant or the extensive amount of time and effort that would be put into the process. They discussed taking six hour long classes every week, being interviewed by multiple different social workers, even our whole family had to receive background checks. As a young girl, I was oblivious to why all of these steps were being followed to become foster parents. What did fostering a child mean? What did adopting a child mean? I tried to comprehend the situation, but I do not think I fully understood the process until my little sisters first arrived at my house. Two children, alive and breathing, were now under the care of my family. I had finally become the big sister that I had always wanted to be, yet this was not permanent. One day they could return home to their biological family or move to a different foster home. I began asking similar questions from when I was younger. How do kids enter the system and why? How does the system even work? What is “the system?” Many of you may be asking similar questions and I hope to clear up your confusion. Through my personal experience with foster care I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will not sit here and explain to you how the organizations associated with adoption and foster care are perfect. I will not say the processes of fostering or adopting are easy. However, I do understand that these systems and organizations have the purest of intentions and change lives for the better. They provide children with a safer environment and new opportunities, but they are far from perfect. These systems and organizations must be altered to improve the children’s lives. As a reader, you have to maintain a basic understanding of what the foster care system is and how it works before I can address what needs to be changed. 

The foster care system “is a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birthparent is unable to care for them” (Adopt). In 2012, in the United States “397,122 children [were] living without permanent families in the foster care system and 101, 666 of th[ose] children [were] eligible for adoption” (FC). Contradictory to popular belief, the average age of children in foster care is nine. The average length of time a child waits to be adopted is three years, but this can vary depending on the case (Burdick). There are several reasons a child could enter the system. Their parents could be abusive, drug addicts or alcoholics. Often times parents are reported and charged with child neglect. It could also be because of financial reasons or the parents personally deem themselves unfit to handle the responsibility of a child (Youtube 00:03:25- 00:03:45). A child can be unknowingly taken away from their families because of the reasons listed above, or they can be voluntarily placed into foster care as an infant. In a nut shell, foster care “is where children go when their parents cannot, for a variety of reasons, care for them” (Adopt). My little sisters, Adriana and Sophia were placed with my family because their birth mom had a history of abusive behaviors. My little brother, Carter, his birth parents were charged with child neglect. Beside the reason(s) the child is in the system, there is one factor that is always constant: the goal for a child in the foster care system is “reunification with their birth family” (Adopt). This may be changed to adoption, only when this is seen as the child’s best interest. My sisters are an example of this situation. They were brought into my family as foster children and five years later were adopted. As you have read, children are placed into foster care for a variety of reasons, but the most concerning problem is the system is not doing its main job of improving the child’s life.  

One pressing issue that needs to be addressed are the low per diem rates for foster families. Per diem is the money that foster families receive when caring for a child. This money is meant to cover the cost of living for the child. These “costs” may include items like clothing, food, school supplies, etc. To be clear, per diem “is not considered income, but simply a reimbursement for expenses” (Kenny). Foster care families are supposed to receive payment to even out the expenses they have spent on the child or children they are taking care of. The money that they receive all goes towards the child’s expenses, not for their personal gain. The amount of per diem varies throughout the United States, because there is no established national minimum (Kenny). Each state is able to establish their own per diem rate for foster families. Some foster parents get 10$ a day while others get 100$ a day. The amount of money received varies depending on where the family lives. However, the overlaying issue is that nationally, foster parents are not nearly given enough money to repay their expenses. In 2016, a survey went around, analyzing annual living expenses for family’s state by state. The study showed that in order to adequately cover the cost of raising a child, twenty- eight states would have to raise the per diem they receive by fifty percent (Kenny). If the government created a national minimum reasonable to maintain the expenses of a foster child then foster families and children would benefit greatly. 

Often times, children are passed from home to home because families are not given enough money to be able to support the child. In return, this causes more emotional damage to the child on top of the issues they inherently already have. If the per diem rates were raised, children would not be passed around as often as they are. Recruiting families to foster will also become easier, because financially, they will know that they are capable of taking on the responsibility (Youtube 00:05:30- 00:06:30). It will simply improve the lives of the children effected, providing them with a more stable environment and equal opportunity to the kids who are not in the system. My point is not to say foster families need to be paid, but that they need to receive sufficient funds to provide for the children they are voluntarily taking into their homes. This one factor could improve several aspects of the system and the overall livelihood of the children. Sadly, there are some children, teens and young adults who are never placed into foster homes and never become adopted. They are passed around from group home to group home until reaching the ages of eighteen or twenty- one. These cases are children who “age” out of the system. This is another feature of foster care that needs to be altered. 

“Aging out” is when you reach a certain age within the system that no longer categorizes you as a “foster child.” This age varies between, eighteen and twenty- one and it also varies from state to state (Burdick). Once you reach the age your state adheres by, you are placed into the real world with little to no guidance from the government or the foster care system. The Department of Children and Family Services reported that “many youths who age out are frequently unprepared to handle the realities of the real world: They are also more likely to experience unemployment, homelessness, substance addiction and incarceration” (Talamo). In 2012, nearly 25% of the youth who aged out had not received a high school diploma or a GED. A mere 6% had received a two or four-year college degree and a study completed earlier that year showed that 70% of all youth in foster care have the desire to attend college (FC). The lack of government programs provided for these youths supports why the negative statistics of aged out adults are so high. More than one in five will become homeless after age eighteen and 71% of women are pregnant by twenty- one (Miller 17). In, 2010 a study showed that almost 60% of young men who had aged out of the system within that year had been convicted of a crime (FC). However, even with these facts it is not to say that there are no government programs or classes already provided for the aged-out youth. The programs that currently exist are poorly organized and enforced, plus there is a huge shortage of these programs nationally. 

In an interview Htet Htet Rodgers, a woman from Louisiana, explains how she had been required to complete a self- mandated independent living program at the young age of fourteen. The program covered everything from hygiene to opening bank accounts. She describes how at fourteen this class was the least of her worries and she paid little attention to what she was being “taught,” making note that this class was the only help provided for her in preparation of aging out. Akiva Robinson is another native of Louisiana who aged out at eighteen. She stated that, “when you’re in foster care, they shelter you and aging out is scary because you don’t know where to go or how to pick up the pieces” (Talamo). She explained how many people, including herself are unwilling to reach out and ask for help due to their pride. She wanted to feel that she could survive on her own, when in actuality she had been given zero resources to do so. 

From the stories above it is shown how little help is provided for the aging out youths in their preparation of taking on the “real world.” The age for aging out should be nationally defined and not change between eighteen and twenty- one depending on the state. The programs and courses already established need to one, be enforced, but two altered so the young adults can make the most out of the information they are being taught. If the classes are taught to these kids at fourteen then the information goes directly over their heads. If the classes are taught to these kids at eighteen or twenty- one then the information they learn can actually be utilized and carried out into their everyday lives. The government has an obligation to nationally standardize the aging out age. The laws and programs associated with aging out must also be reformed, along with family preservation laws. 

As stated previously, the ultimate goal of foster care is reunification with the birth parents (Youtube 00:04:56- 00:05:10). This factor stems both ways. What is meant by this is that child protection officials “follow a mandate to preserve families and avoid placing children in foster homes whenever possible” (Wood). In simpler terms, child protection agencies will wait until they absolutely have to take a child out of its home. In the Families First program “a caseworker provides troubled families several weeks of intense intervention” before taking the child away (Wood). A kindergarten teacher from Six Lakes Michigan recalls one of her students coming into school with choke marks all around her neck. The young girl described how her mommy had gotten mad at her the previous night and grabbed her. This child often arrived at school tired, withdrawn and with marks all over her body. At a parent teacher conference the girl’s mother explained how she could not wait to “get rid of her.” A Families First caseworker was assigned to the family and three years later, the girl was still living the same life. Her kindergarten teacher asked her current teacher how she was doing and she responded, “as well as one could expect given her home situation” (Wood). This is an example of a child who is being abused at home, but still after three years of officials working with her mother, has not been taken away. Before the Families First act “children seemed to be removed from dangerous homes sooner” (Wood). It is extremely unfair to let children suffer longer that they have to when it is apparent they should be taken away. The sad truth is that “some parents will never or can never care for their children in even a minimal way” (Wood). There needs to be stricter rules on what mandates a child to be taken away from their families. Developing a policy or limiting how many chances a family receives is necessary. Abused and neglected children can grow to be contributing citizens or they can become their parents. As a society “we can perpetuate the cycle or break it” (Wood). We have to shape these policies to become stronger and more efficient to protect innocent children sooner. 

The issues within the foster care system that I have explained all have one major thing in common. If we mend the foster care agencies and policies we break the cycle of the foster care system. Providing sufficient per diem rates will attract more people to become foster parents as well as stop the children’s movement from home to home so frequently. If the government establishes and implements better aging out programs than the number of homeless, pregnant and incarcerated foster youths will diminish. Taking children away from their unfit parents sooner will provide them with ample opportunity and keep the kids from repeating their parent’s mistakes. Yes, these problems our outliers, and do not affect everyone, but we cannot push them aside just because they only effect a certain group of people. These issues are large enough that our society should recognize and strive to change them. The foster care system is good and it does amazing things for children in need. It provides food, shelter and opportunity to kids who in different circumstances wouldn’t be receiving these items. It works to re-unite parents and their children, often giving several chances to those who previously messed up. However, we do need to recognize that nothing in life is perfect and there are always steps that could be taken for improvement. The foster care system is not all bad, but it’s not all good either. Now is the time to implement change to reshape the system into the best organization that it can be. 
