Foster Care Children are Worse Off than Children in Bad Homes – The Child Trafficking Business

[Created4]

Social worker and Sheriff deputy removing a homeschool child from her family by force.

There have been numerous reports published over the past several years that clearly show the current foster care system is an abysmal failure. Children who stay with parents who are accused (but not arrested or convicted) of “abuse” or “neglect” clearly do better than most of the children being put into foster care.

In 2007 Joseph Doyle, an economics professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, published a study which tracked at least 15,000 kids from 1990 to 2002. It was the largest study of its kind at that time.

USA Today ran a story on the report – Study: Troubled homes better than foster care. Here are some excerpts:

Children whose families are investigated for abuse or neglect are likely to do better in life if they stay with their families than if they go into foster care, according to a pioneering study. Kids who stayed with their families were less likely to become juvenile delinquents or teen mothers and more likely to hold jobs as young adults.

Doyle’s study…. provides “the first viable, empirical evidence” of the benefits of keeping kids with their families, says Gary Stangler, executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a foundation for foster teens. Stangler says it looked at kids over a longer period of time than had other studies. “It confirms what experience and observation tell us: Kids who can remain in their homes do better than in foster care,” says Stangler.

Joseph Doyle did another study, one year later in 2008, comparing children left in troubled homes with foster care children to see which group was more likely to be arrested as adults. The study looked at 23,000 children, and it found that “children placed in foster care have arrest, conviction, and imprisonment rates as adults that are three times higher than those of children who remained at home.”

Why Is This Failed System Allowed to Continue?

In his 2007 study, Joseph Doyle gives clear evidence as to why the foster care system is still in existence, even with such abysmal results:

Although foster care is meant to be a temporary arrangement, children stay in care for an average of two years, and there are currently over 500,000 children in care (US Department of Health and Human Services 2005). Roughly 60 percent of foster children return home; 15 percent are adopted; and the remainder “age out” of foster care (Fred C. Wulczyn, Kristen Brunner Hislop, and Robert M. Goerge 2000). Three quarters of these children live with substitute families, one-third of which are headed by relatives of the children. These families are paid a subsidy of approximately $400 per month per child (Child Welfare League of America 1999), and states spend over $20 billion each year to administer these child protective services (Roseana Bess et al. 2002).

The foster care system is a $20 billion taxpayer funded business, employing tens of thousands of people in the United States. Do we really expect government employees, which include not only social service workers but juvenile and family court judges and employees, to advocate putting themselves out of a job?

What is the Solution?

There is only one solution, since the system is so corrupt and beyond reform: Abolish it.

All federal funding for foster care and adoption should immediately be abolished. Let local law enforcement arrest and prosecute criminal parents the same as any other suspected criminal, rather than incarcerating the alleged victims by kidnapping them. Criminal parents are the ones who should be removed from homes, not innocent children.

Without the more than $20 billion in federal funding used for trafficking children, far fewer children will be taken from their homes. In cases where parents are removed with due process of law, the incentives in local communities would be to place the children with relatives, rather than the State. For the very few remaining children who have had their parents incarcerated and have no relatives, local communities can develop their own programs without federal funding, which would include adoption to parents who can afford to take care of children without the aid of federal funds.

It is time the American tax payer stops funding the U.S. child trafficking business, which is nothing more than a modern-day form of slavery.

Full Article.

[donnay]

This makes my stomach churn. The corruption is out-of-control.

[Terry1]

Before anyone gets too hyped about this OP, you really need some more facts as well. My husband and I were going to adopt a child through the foster care system. We didn't have the child in our home, but the child was in the care of another foster family. We had to go through what's called "MAPP training" as well before we were eligible to adopt.

What we found out was shocking as well. Almost 100 percent of the children taken from their own families were sexually abused--most of them were girls and many boys as well. We hesitated adopting a child with this kind of emotional baggage because we just didn't feel able enough to know how to deal with it.

There are some bad apples in the foster care system that really cast a dark shadow over the rest that do provide good care for the children. And while some might complain about the amount of taxpayer money spent to house these abused children other than shuffling them around from institution to institution through the state. The foster care system costs the state and taxpayers far less than the housing them in temporary institutions.

There's a lot more to consider here before anyone points a finger at the foster care system--which isn't perfect, but given the amount of children they have saved from sexually and physically abusive, drug addicted parents using them as their tickets for free housing, healthcare, food, drugs and sexual entertainment--I would think that one might stop to pause and take another look at the pros and cons before casting judgment upon something they know very little about to begin with.

I have been taking care of the same two severely disabled people in my home for almost 11 years now through the Adult Foster Care program. They are a part of our family and if not for our home, care and love for them--they would have been placed in nursing homes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars more a year than I get paid for doing this work. This program not only saves the taxpayers money and the state, but allows these people to continue their lives in a family atmosphere that is monitored through state agencies as well and trust me--they do monitor and take note of everything to ensure that these people who are at risk are being well cared for.

So--don't believe everything you read based upon someone's "study"--there are pros and cons to everything and it helps to understand how this system works before condemning the program as a whole because there were some bad apples.

[donnay]

Before anyone gets too hyped about this OP, you really need some more facts as well. My husband and I were going to adopt a child through the foster care system. We didn't have the child in our home, but the child was in the care of another foster family. We had to go through what's called "MAPP training" as well before we were eligible to adopt.

What we found out was shocking as well. Almost 100 percent of the children taken from their own families were sexually abused--most of them were girls and many boys as well. We hesitated adopting a child with this kind of emotional baggage because we just didn't feel able enough to know how to deal with it.

There are some bad apples in the foster care system that really cast a dark shadow over the rest that do provide good care for the children. And while some might complain about the amount of taxpayer money spent to house these abused children other than shuffling them around from institution to institution through the state. The foster care system costs the state and taxpayers far less than the housing them in temporary institutions.

There's a lot more to consider here before anyone points a finger at the foster care system--which isn't perfect, but given the amount of children they have saved from sexually and physically abusive, drug addicted parents using them as their tickets for free housing, healthcare, food, drugs and sexual entertainment--I would think that one might stop to pause and take another look at the pros and cons before casting judgment upon something they know very little about to begin with.

I have been taking care of the same two severely disabled people in my home for almost 11 years now through the Adult Foster Care program. They are a part of our family and if not for our home, care and love for them--they would have been placed in nursing homes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars more a year than I get paid for doing this work. This program not only saves the taxpayers money and the state, but allows these people to continue their lives in a family atmosphere that is monitored through state agencies as well and trust me--they do monitor and take note of everything to ensure that these people who are at risk are being well cared for.

So--don't believe everything you read based upon someone's "study"--there are pros and cons to everything and it helps to understand how this system works before condemning the program as a whole because there were some bad apples.

Terry1,

The Child Protective Services lie through their teeth to strip children from their families. One of the goals is to destroy the family unit, and this agency does a bang-up job in accommodating that agenda.

I do not know if you are familiar with the child sex slave industry? The CPS is one agency that helps facilitate it. CPS should be abolished, plain and simple.

[Terry1]

Terry1,

The Child Protective Services lie through their teeth to strip children from their families. One of the goals is to destroy the family unit, and this agency does a bang-up job in accommodating that agenda.

I do not know if you are familiar with the child sex slave industry? The CPS is one agency that helps facilitate it. CPS should be abolished, plain and simple.

I'm not trying to defend either side of the issue here, but what I think needs to be considered is the fact that in all cases where CPS gets involved--there's been reports of abuse--otherwise--CPS knows nothing except what they're being told by those reporting others. Whether all cases are true or not--they have to be investigated because a report was made against these people.

One thing I know for a fact because I have been personally involved in the adoption process of a foster child--they *never* take a child away from the own families unless they have proof and even when they have proof the real parents are given ample time to clean up their act and get their children back. They're very strict about keeping the children with their real families--even if the parents never straighten themselves out--if there is anyone in their real families that will take the children--that is first and foremost where they go.

I'm all for less government in all cases--but if I knew beyond a doubt that there was a child or anyone being physically or sexually abused, I would want to help and do something about it. The problems I'm seeing isn't CPS itself--it's the false reporting by people abusing the system to get revenge on someone for whatever reason. Once these reports are filed--they have to be investigated. I'm not so quick to judge and condemn the system as a whole because I actually believe that they do more good than bad in most cases regarding abused, neglected children. I mean does anyone want to return to the days of Oliver Twist and the work houses for the poor and neglected? Yeah--there's certainly alternatives out there, but are they better than what we have now?

[dannno]

I'm all for less government in all cases--but if I knew beyond a doubt that there was a child or anyone being physically or sexually abused, I would want to help and do something about it.

A government agency is required for that?

Yeah--there's certainly alternatives out there, but are they better than what we have now?

I would think so..


I think what donnay is saying is that CPS is a business, they have incentives to take kids away from parents just like cops have incentives to arrest people in the war on drugs and we have seen ample evidence that in both cases they are known to go after innocent people. Planting drugs on someone is easy. Saying there is "proof" of sexual abuse is easy and they probably use sexual abuse as a catch-all for getting more kids into their program.

That doesn't mean they don't ever take kids away from families that are mistreating them and that all foster parents are bad or anything like that. It's good in a sense that there is some sort of mechanism to get kids help, but science is now telling us what we have known for a long time... they are in fact ripping kids away from their parents and putting them in worse situations when things were arguably better, from 1990-2002.. Now things are so PC and the statists have gotten so bold I'll bet if this study was done from 2000-2012 you would see that things have gotten exponentially worse.

[Terry1]

A government agency is required for that?




I would think so..


I think what donnay is saying is that CPS is a business, they have incentives to take kids away from parents just like cops have incentives to arrest people in the war on drugs and we have seen ample evidence that in both cases they are known to go after innocent people. Planting drugs on someone is easy. Saying there is "proof" of sexual abuse is easy and they probably use sexual abuse as a catch-all for getting more kids into their program.

That doesn't mean they don't ever take kids away from families that are mistreating them and that all foster parents are bad or anything like that. It's good in a sense that there is some sort of mechanism to get kids help, but science is now telling us what we have known for a long time... they are in fact ripping kids away from their parents and putting them in worse situations when things were arguably better, from 1990-2002.. Now things are so PC and the statists have gotten so bold I'll bet if this study was done from 2000-2012 you would see that things have gotten exponentially worse.

I'm all for better alternatives if anyone has one. Got any suggestions?

[Created4]

I'm all for better alternatives if anyone has one. Got any suggestions?

Yes. Abolish the system. Foster care clearly does NOT work, and it is a $20 billion BUSINESS. Did you click through and read the article posted, and the accompanying articles where CPS whistleblowers testify to the corruption?

Bad parents need to be prosecuted like any other suspected criminal, with due process of law. They are the ones that should be removed from the home and incarcerated - not the alleged victims. But as it is now, parents have fewer rights afforded to them than rapists, murderers, terrorists, etc. - and the alleged victims are kidnapped and incarcerated.

If the federal funding were eliminated, along with all the kangaroo courts called "juvenile" or "family" courts that do everything in the cloak of secrecy, then local law enforcement would take over and deal with suspected criminals, incarcerating them with due process of law like any other criminals, in CIVIL court. Local communities would then need to decide what to do with children of parents arrested and incarcerated, and with no federal funding in place, I guarantee that the majority of them would go to relatives (which does NOT happen in the current system because the State gets more funding by keeping them in foster care - See: Report Exposes Why Corrupt CPS Agencies Seldom Place Foster Children with Family Members.)

Then very few children would fall into the category of not having any family members to take care of them, and local communities with parents that can afford to take care of children without federal funding would still have an avenue to either foster or adopt these children. Non-profit groups (like churches) would also be in place for the few that needed help.

But the federal funding must be abolished. It is a child trafficking slavery business.

[Terry1]

Yes. Abolish the system. Foster care clearly does NOT work, and it is a $20 billion BUSINESS. Did you click through and read the article posted, and the accompanying articles where CPS whistleblowers testify to the corruption?

Bad parents need to be prosecuted like any other suspected criminal, with due process of law. They are the ones that should be removed from the home and incarcerated - not the alleged victims. But as it is now, parents have fewer rights afforded to them than rapists, murderers, terrorists, etc. - and the alleged victims are kidnapped and incarcerated.

If the federal funding were eliminated, along with all the kangaroo courts called "juvenile" or "family" courts that do everything in the cloak of secrecy, then local law enforcement would take over and deal with suspected criminals, incarcerating them with due process of law like any other criminals, in CIVIL court. Local communities would then need to decide what to do with children of parents arrested and incarcerated, and with no federal funding in place, I guarantee that the majority of them would go to relatives (which does NOT happen in the current system because the State gets more funding by keeping them in foster care - See: Report Exposes Why Corrupt CPS Agencies Seldom Place Foster Children with Family Members.)

Then very few children would fall into the category of not having any family members to take care of, and local communities with parents that can afford to take care of children without federal funding would still have an avenue to either foster or adopt these children. Non-profit groups (like churches) would also be in place for the few that needed help.

But the federal funding must be abolished. It is child trafficking slavery business.

As far as I know--state foster care systems are not federally funded anyway--it's all through the states taxpaying systems. Another thing is that what happens to those who fall through the gaps where and when there isn't anyone to take care of them? Should they be put out on the streets then?

[donnay]

I am all for people minding their own business. Government has a knack of making people guilty regardless of the facts.


STOP... Child Protective Services (CPS) From Abuse of GOOD parents
https://www.change.org/p/mike-huckab...f-good-parents

[Created4]

As far as I know--state foster care systems are not federally funded anyway--it's all through the states taxpaying systems.

You are 100% wrong. It is all Title IV funding originally funded via the Social Security Act, and then even more federal funds became available in 1997 through the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which Hillary Clinton basically crafted, the Republican-led majority in both the House and Senate led by Newt Gingrich handed to Bill Clinton to sign into law (Yes, this is a bi-partisan child trafficking system.)

Adoption and Safe Families Act

Another thing is that what happens to those who fall through the gaps where and when there isn't anyone to take care of them? Should they be put out on the streets then?

I already addressed that. No federal funding does not mean no local programs, whether on this issue or any other issue for that matter.

[Terry1]

I guess child foster care is federally funded to a degree as I checked here. I do adult foster care, so it must work differently for adults.

http://stepupforkin.org/resources/myths-facts/

[Terry1]

You are 100% wrong. It is all Title IV funding originally funded via the Social Security Act, and then even more federal funds became available in 1997 through the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which Hillary Clinton basically crafted, the Republican-led majority in both the House and Senate led by Newt Gingrich handed to Bill Clinton to sign into law (Yes, this is a bi-partisan child trafficking system.)

Adoption and Safe Families Act




I already addressed that. No federal funding does not mean no local programs, whether on this issue or any other issue for that matter.

Lol--well okay--I just said I had no idea that child foster care was being federally funded and I agree that is something that should change to a state based issue.

Look, I'm not arguing with you here, what I'm attempting to do is get you to see that tossing the baby out with the bathwater isn't the answer either because the entire foster care system is not evil and does a lot of good. I'll leave you to it then.

[Created4]

because the entire foster care system is not evil and does a lot of good. I'll leave you to it then.

The studies done prove you wrong, unfortunately. They prove that foster care is doing a LOT of bad, and that there are very FEW that are doing good. Cut the federal funding, and most problems go away - but so do tens of thousands of government jobs, so it will not go down without a fight. People need to wake up and get angry first. And we do that by calling the system what it truly is: A child trafficking business that is a form of slavery.

[Terry1]

The studies done prove you wrong, unfortunately. They prove that foster care is doing a LOT of bad, and that there are very FEW that are doing good. Cut the federal funding, and most problems go away - but so do tens of thousands of government jobs, so it will not go down without a fight. People need to wake up and get angry first. And we do that by calling the system what it truly is: A child trafficking business that is a form of slavery.

Well, I don't agree with you there that the entire foster care system is corrupt. I work with other providers all of the time and see the difference myself. Maybe it's different from state to state, but here in MA--it's saving the state money and placing people in a family atmosphere that they wouldn't have otherwise. I've been doing this for 11 years now. Maybe you should see my two peeps for yourself and see if you still have the same opinion. My gentleman is severely brain damaged from a car accident and my other lady has cerebral palsy, partially crippled and mentally handicapped. If not for our home, love and care--they would be costing the feds and the state hundreds of thousands more a year by placing them in the nursing homes. Just how many very wealthy families do you think are able to absorb the cost for caring for these severely disabled people who need 24/7 care along with special transportation, handicap equipment and constant monitoring? Maybe you need to rethink tossing the baby out with the bathwater again as well.

[Created4]

Well, I don't agree with you there that the entire foster care system is corrupt. I work with other providers all of the time and see the difference myself. Maybe it's different from state to state, but here in MA--it's saving the state money and placing people in a family atmosphere that they wouldn't have otherwise. I've been doing this for 11 years now. Maybe you should see my two peeps for yourself and see if you still have the same opinion. My gentleman is severely brain damaged from a car accident and my other lady has cerebral palsy, partially crippled and mentally handicapped. If not for our home, love and care--they would be costing the feds and the state hundreds of thousands more a year by placing them in the nursing homes. Just how many very wealthy families do you think are able to absorb the cost for caring for these severely disabled people who need 24/7 care along with special transportation, handicap equipment and constant monitoring? Maybe you need to rethink tossing the baby out with the bathwater again as well.

There are always exceptions, and I acknowledged that. But the studies prove you wrong. Justina Pelletier made national news in your state last year for being medically kidnapped, and it happens to many others in your State. It is actually one of the worst states:

Another Medical Kidnapping at Boston Children’s Hospital: Baby Seized Over Formula Disagreement

Vermont Teen Drugged Against Her Will, Held in Custody in Massachusetts Mental Health Facility

[Terry1]

There are always exceptions, and I acknowledged that. But the studies prove you wrong. Justina Pelletier made national news in your state last year for being medically kidnapped, and it happens to many others in your State. It is actually one of the worst states:

Another Medical Kidnapping at Boston Children’s Hospital: Baby Seized Over Formula Disagreement

Vermont Teen Drugged Against Her Will, Held in Custody in Massachusetts Mental Health Facility

I'd be willing to make a bet that the amount of cases you can find or dig up that influence people against the foster care program, there's probably triple that amount more that prove otherwise as well. You can find rotten apples in all barrels if you dig hard and deep enough too. I know far too many wonderful care providers and I sort of resent this attack on them as well. Surely you can understand why.

[donnay]

Government has no right to remove children from families. Government is the problem, not the solution.

[Created4]

I'd be willing to make a bet that the amount of cases you can find or dig up that influence people against the foster care program, there's probably triple that amount more that prove otherwise as well. You can find rotten apples in all barrels if you dig hard and deep enough too. I know far too many wonderful care providers and I sort of resent this attack on them as well. Surely you can understand why.

I don't need to argue with you. I have provided the studies that were done that prove you wrong, and providing examples does not discount those studies published at MIT, which looked at tens of thousands of kids....

USA Today ran a story on the report – Study: Troubled homes better than foster care. Here are some excerpts:

Children whose families are investigated for abuse or neglect are likely to do better in life if they stay with their families than if they go into foster care, according to a pioneering study. Kids who stayed with their families were less likely to become juvenile delinquents or teen mothers and more likely to hold jobs as young adults.

Doyle’s study…. provides “the first viable, empirical evidence” of the benefits of keeping kids with their families, says Gary Stangler, executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a foundation for foster teens. Stangler says it looked at kids over a longer period of time than had other studies. “It confirms what experience and observation tell us: Kids who can remain in their homes do better than in foster care,” says Stangler.
Joseph Doyle did another study, one year later in 2008, comparing children left in troubled homes with foster care children to see which group was more likely to be arrested as adults. The study looked at 23,000 children, and it found that “children placed in foster care have arrest, conviction, and imprisonment rates as adults that are three times higher than those of children who remained at home.”

[Created4]

Government has no right to remove children from families. Government is the problem, not the solution.

This is the kind of "logic" and push back we are going to see, even in places like RPF, when someone threatens their government-funded job....

[wizardwatson]

Government has no right to remove children from families. Government is the problem, not the solution.

Why not? Just let the children stay in the rape dungeon then?

[donnay]

Why not? Just let the children stay in the rape dungeon then?

And YOU know this because that seems to be the government's narrative to justify their kidnappings!

[Terry1]

This is the find of "logic" and push back we are going to see, even in places like RPF, when someone threatens their government-funded job....

Well now--just hold here one minute. I agreed with you on the fact that federal funding should be abolished--but now you've gone on to attacking the care providers with some isolated cases as if everyone in the foster care programs are all demented abusers of children. I think you should have stopped with your attack at the federal level--now you're broad brushing the entire system of care providers as well with these other links.

Yeah--I'm done here--not worth arguing over with you or anyone who's thinking at your level either.

BTW--I'm not federally funded $#@!.

[dannno]

Well now--just hold here one minute. I agreed with you on the fact that federal funding should be abolished--but now you've gone on to attacking the care providers with some isolated cases as if everyone in the foster care programs are all demented abusers of children. I think you should have stopped with your attack at the federal level--now you're broad brushing the entire system of care providers as well with these other links.

Yeah--I'm done here--not worth arguing over with you or anyone who's thinking at your level either.

BTW--I'm not federally funded $#@!.

He isn't saying that every care provider is bad, just that the system overall does more harm than good, according to the study. That doesn't mean there aren't individual care providers and institutions that make things better on the whole. These beneficial care providers are good to have when the system as a whole is not functioning well, but they shouldn't be a reason to continue the bad system.

[Created4]

Why not? Just let the children stay in the rape dungeon then?

That's where many of them go, tragically, when they are taken by the government and put into foster care.

A former CPS Investigator exposes the seedy underworld of foster homes in the United States, where children are routinely physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. Foster kids are 7-8 times more likely to be abused, nearly half will end up homeless at the age of 18, they are 3 times more likely to be put on psychotropic drugs, seven times more likely to develop an eating disorder, more likely to have PTSD than veterans of war and less likely to recover from that PTSD, more likely to become pregnant as a teenager, 20% more likely to be arrested, and are 6 times more likely to die than if they stayed in an abusive household.

[Terry1]

Teri and Brian Hrabovsky

Louisiana
Teri and Brian Hrabovsky started talking about their desire to adopt on their first date. The two had met at church and had lunch together the next day. Within a year they were married and Teri was pregnant with the first of three daughters.

As the girls grew up and life started getting easier, Teri and Brian’s thoughts returned to adoption, but the timing never seemed right. It was during a prayer time that both Brian and Teri felt like God was directing them to move forward.

In 2007 they received their foster/adoption certification through the state of Louisiana. Their hearts were moved by the tremendous need for foster parents in their area. Teri and Brian have fostered more than 40 children, including sibling groups, children with shaken infant syndrome, and physically and sexually abused children. They have had children stay as short as one day and as long as a year. During this process, they have adopted two children—Isaac and Brie—who came to them as babies born with disabilities.

“At first we were reluctant to adopt such young children. We thought we might be too old,” said Teri. “But we have a family motto: If we are going to err, always err on the side of compassion. So in faith we moved forward trusting God.”

Today Isaac and Brie are beautiful thriving children. But the Hrabovsky’s work is far from over. With the support of members of their church—many of whom witnessed the transformation in Isaac and Brie—Teri and Brian have founded a foster ministry.

While several people have decided to become foster parents through their involvement with the ministry, Teri says their work is about much more than recruiting foster parents.

“We strongly believe that everyone has a role to play in the lives of foster children. Not everyone can foster or adopt, but everyone can do something. We are providing an avenue for folks to participate in the care of foster and adopted children through various means, including donations of clothes, beds, cribs, and toys.”

Beyond making donations, members of the growing foster ministry offer support to foster parents in many other ways. Some members lend a hand with babysitting, provide respite care, and bring meals to families. Others help organize events, such as a luncheon honoring foster parents during National Foster Care Month in May, a National Adoption Day event in November, and picnics for foster families.

“Members of our group are paying attention to the needs of our foster families in the community. People really want to help but don’t know how, so we give them an avenue to participate in a way that works for them. Together, with each of us doing our part, we can make a difference in the lives of children.”

[Terry1]

That's where many of them go, tragically, when they are taken by the government and put into foster care.

Or kids can be left in the care of low-life drug addicted parents prostituting them out for more drugs and worse. There's all kinds of stories--you keeping digging up the dirt and I'll keep showing you the opposite where many kids have been saved from a horrible life of pain and abuse just the same.

[Terry1]

How My Foster Mother's Love Saved My Life



Why A Loving Parent Raises A Child's Expectations In Life
Written by Exavier Pope for Portrait of an Adoption
The Scene
“I’m actually going to sell crack,” I said to myself disappointedly.
The cold, dank, gray December morning rotated like an excruciatingly deafening silent three-ringed circus around me.
Every project building in the crime-ridden Southeast Chicago neighborhood leaned toward me as if they were expecting me to call a play in a football huddle.
Every barren tree threw its branches back in disbelief and watched intently to see what I would do next.
The ground appeared to move under my feet like an airport moving walkway.
On this trip however, I was on a road to nowhere.
How Did I Get Here?
My foster mother Emma Lily Mitchell did quite the fine job loving me, teaching me, and pushing me to be an upstanding young man. She taught me to love all people regardless of background, stressed education, and constantly reminded me of how special I was and my destiny as a great leader one day.
I believed her.
Alas, she died when I was 14 and I was left to the wiles of the world around me on my own. Her last great gift to me was getting me tested to enroll in Whitney M. Young Magnet High School’s Academic Center in 7th grade.
Whitney Young was a gift to me because it allowed me to escape my gang infested neighborhood every day. I had the fantastic opportunity to go to the most diverse high school in Chicago where kids were just as smart as me and high ambitions were not only encouraged but channeled to institutions of higher education.
My entire years of high school were spent without a parental figure. I was responsible for getting myself up and going to school. I was also responsible for where I ate and slept. I forged my foster mother’s signature on grade reports so my high school would not know I did not have a parent. I was afraid of being sent to a group home or worse.
I spent most of high school bouncing from one friend’s house to another. Some nights when my friends’ parents would not allow me to stay over I would sleep in a car. I had extra incentive to find a girlfriend so I could sneak into a window and sleep over some nights with whoever I was dating at the time. Sometimes I slept in the park.
My condition did not stop me from ultimately getting into college and spending my freshman year at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa and Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois respectively.
Unfortunately, I was not ready for college. I partied like the world was coming to an end and wound up back in Chicago out of school with no job and no prospects.
I was lost. I pretty much wandered around for several months with zero thought to my future. I mostly thought about how depressed I felt and how much of a loser I had become. Oddly enough the same derelicts in the neighborhood I avoided in high school I started spending more time around. They were more than happy to have me join them.
I soon wandered to a family member’s house in one of the worst neighborhoods in the City of Chicago. It seemed as if every night the night air crackled like the 4th of July with gun shots. There was never a time I left the project building where I temporarily resided without a knife in my pocket and my fists clinched. I had to be on a constant state of alert.
Meanwhile, the cold unfurnished apartment where I slept nights on a hard floor was littered with gang activity. My family member was a gangbanger. Gang meetings took place in the living room, marijuana sale transactions occurred around the clock at the front door, and the kitchen became a laboratory for cooking and cutting crack cocaine.
One evening a shooting occurred and a gang member ran into the house and stashed a hot revolver in the linen closet. The situation was completely out of control.
My mind was completely off school. I often cried myself to sleep, clueless as to where my life was headed; until, I was asked to do the unthinkable.
From Rock Bottom to Rock Climbing
One unpredictable, giant, Michelin Man of a young man approached me in the apartment one December morning. He could care less about my past, present, or future promise. He proceeded to inform me my life was headed nowhere and I needed to start “hustling”. He briefly gave me a lesson on drug math and proceeded to put a bag made of a sheet of plastic wrap containing multiple even smaller sheets of plastic wrap containing urine colored stained white crystalline rocks.
It was crack.
Next: Seeing what my foster mother saw

I walked out to the cold air. I looked around and proceeded to walk toward the nearest corner, my head on a swivel. My legs felt like they were tied to a ball and chain. I labored with every single step.
Normally the project courtyards teemed with people and activity. On this particular morning, I was the only person in the world.
“This can’t be my life,” I announced to myself. I closed my eyes and started praying. My whole world soon became dark and I had a moment of clarity I have yet to forget.
I saw my entire life unfold in an instant. My first vision consisted of the path I was on. The second vision consisted of taking another path. I saw my wife, my children, my struggles, my triumphs, everything. I saw my future, even writing this post. Most importantly, I saw the expectation my foster mother placed in me to become someone special.
At that very moment I believed her again and my prayers were answered.
I immediately walked to find the gentleman who gave me the crack to sell and told him I could not and would not sell his crack for him. Normally that would be a problem, a huge problem. Nonetheless, I looked at him with a knowing and determination that made him cower from me like tumbleweed being chased by the wind.
My life was never the same. Within a month I found a mentor who helped me to enroll in Roosevelt University in the Spring semester even after classes had already started. He even helped me to get financial aid and even a dorm in downtown Chicago.
That semester I earned all As and one B and stayed on for another two semesters before transferring to University of Illinois at Chicago. I graduated three years later from the College of Business Administration with two degrees -– one in Economics, and the other Finance.
I interned at The Chicago Stock Exchange and Merrill Lynch before taking my first job out of college auditing investment portfolios for Northern Trust. Soon thereafter I went to law school, passed the bar, became an attorney, started a family, and the rest is history.
The Point of It All
As a child growing up under the wings of my guardian angel and foster mom, my expectation was always set as being someone special. Even after she died, the circumstances around me never dimmed my expectations –- until I faced a bout of failure in my life.
My expectations went from promise to despair. My outside circumstances mirrored my expectations. Those circumstances did not happen overnight. Day by day, little by little, I sank deeper and deeper into a hole.
Finally, when I made the decision to change my expectations, my life changed. It has never been the same since.
It is the love, attention and support of a parent which can make or break the people we turn out to be. Although my foster mother died when I was at a precarious age, the substance she raised me with has been a foundation upon which my life has been built.
The love she gave to me saved my life long after her life was gone.
Everyone else is not as fortunate.
I pray more Emmas would step up and become permanent guardians or adopt children.
The need is certainly there.
The world could use more success stories to celebrate and more mountains climbed to champion.

[Terry1]

He isn't saying that every care provider is bad, just that the system overall does more harm than good, according to the study. That doesn't mean there aren't individual care providers and institutions that make things better on the whole. These beneficial care providers are good to have when the system as a whole is not functioning well, but they shouldn't be a reason to continue the bad system.

I know exactly what he's sayin--I got it.

[donnay]

Fostering Profits

A BuzzFeed News investigation identified deaths, sex abuse, and blunders in screening, training, and overseeing foster parents at the nation’s largest for-profit foster care company.

Aram Roston
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Jeremy Singer-Vine
BuzzFeed News Data Editor

In the summer of 2004, a 15-year-old boy, needy and eager for attention, was driven down a road that stretched through the endless flatlands of Maryland’s eastern shore. The boy, known in court records as R.R., arrived at a dirt driveway, where a sign on top of a wooden post announced Last Chance Farm.

Four separate couples lived at Last Chance Farm. All were related to one another and all earned money taking care of troubled children who had been placed in foster care, including R.R.

But R.R.’s new guardians weren’t directly supervised or paid by the government. They had been signed up as foster parents by a giant corporation called National Mentor Holdings, which, over the last three decades, has turned the field of foster care into a cash cow. At any one time the company has an average of 3,800 children and teenagers in its foster homes in 15 states around the country.

Continued...