Step 1: Prevent Children from having to enter the system (if able to take on responsibility)
Step 2: Help Children Deal With Unresolved Grief and Loss
Step 3: Educate the Public About the Issues
Once the action is completed, check off the list
Danielle Joseph is a former foster child, and a contributor to City Limits, a New York City Urban affairs news magazine points out that removing a child from a neglectful or abusive home situation to place them in a more secure home is a myth. Linda Sanchez, a friend of Linda Sanchez, shared an anecdote revealing that, “My foster mother almost never bought us any food to eat...Her son and her son-in-law tried to molest me. They even offered me money [for sex]” (Joseph). In one foster home, Sanchez had suffered in numerous ways. She mentioned that neither herself nor the other foster children in that home were provided an adequate supply of food, she had been sexually harassed and assaulted. Linda Sanchez was placed in foster care for protection, but she only experienced true suffering.
When the government places a child with a foster parent, the care provider isn’t always the most suitable to uptake the responsibility. Statistics have shown that foster care providers have turned out to be alcoholics, addicts, and in several cases, they have inflicted pain upon the children they have decided to care for. The article, “Teen in Foster Care Tells of Sex Abuse,” tells the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who has been sexually harassed by her foster father and watched the girls in her house be abused as well. The author mentioned an anecdote of a young girl who was in the same foster home as the teenager, telling a story of how the guardian had ill-used her. The girl shared that “ ‘I was scared, I was thinking he was going to be rude to me’ ” (Laurie). The carer not only assaulted the girl, but he mistreated her from a psychological and emotional stance as well. The teenager experienced the same predicament as the foster child. As the teenager’s foster care provider led the girl on, she feared he would sexually assault her. She clung on to the hope she would be safe but her foster parent took advantage of his power and hurt a child he was meant to protect. In Laurie’s article, deputy chairman, Craig Somerville, admitted that “...powerful individuals...used their positions to perpetrate abuse...caregivers...should be reassessed and it should determine how widespread the problems are…” (Laurie). The government, the authorities, and everyone involved in foster care placement should be one- hundred percent committed to helping the children. By conducting more research on foster care providers, children would be more likely to be placed under proper custody. Laurie’s article shows how severely children need to be rescued from the foster care system and is a detailed example of how corrupt the organization is. Foster care providers should be assessed in detail before giving them the responsibility of taking care of a child.
Life after foster care usually ends up in indigence. Once the youth is discharged from the system, some are unable to turn to family or friends for assistance. They apply for welfare as their sole source of income to help with their living situation and survival, but that often leads to homelessness. Adequate living conditions are very rare, and therefore people begin speaking to casework early. The very limited options include public housing and supportive housing. When people apply for work after leaving the system, their lack of experience and adequate education leads to a search for a job in the retail or food industry. Foster youth are provided assistance and aid, but after some time, they are left to be on their own. James J. Golden, the executive director of the Edwin Gould Academy in East Harlem, admitted, “ ‘They get a lot of resources until they are 21, and then essentially none.’” Foster youth face several struggles, especially financially, once leaving the system.