Foster Care Homes

U.S. Politics Today headlined:

The High Cost of Foster Care Abuse

“More than 500,000 children in the U.S. reside in some form of foster care. Within one year of their initial placement, at least 15 percent of them will experience neglect, abuse, or other harmful conditions. Six times as many children die in foster care than in the general population. Children in placement are also far more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse than other children. In group homes, where many of the residents abuse each other, there is more than ten times the rate of physical abuse and 28 times the rate of sexual abuse as in the general population. And these are just the reported cases. Since foster care agencies cannot always be relied upon to police themselves, the actual rates are likely to be much higher”.

A few years back I was a foster care mother. My teenage daughter had a friend who needed a foster care home. She begged and pleaded for me to become a foster care mother. As a single mother working at times three jobs to hold my head above water I wasn’t sure I wanted to take on this job but at my daughter’s insistence I finally jumped through all the hoops required to take this task. I was paid several hundred dollars per month for this job. When the young lady who I was to care for showed up at our home I sat her down and explained to her how much money I was receiving and where it would go: certain amounts was allocated for her medical care, for her share of household expenses, for school expenses, for clothing, for food, for entertainment and for her allowance. I also had a percentage allowed for a savings account for her to access once she became 18. She was stunned. She had lived in many foster care homes and had never been given an allowance. She had always had chores she’d had to do but had never received any money much less a savings account established in her name. Her foster care parents had always been given free rein with the funds they received for her care. That meant they could have fed her oatmeal for breakfast, a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and a cup of soup for dinner. That meant her foster care parents could have her wear hand me downs or rummage sale clothes. That meant, like Cinderella, she could have done all the chores in the house and received no allowance, no pay for it at all. That might even mean no medical care. I don’t think my young friend believed I was actually going to do all that I had said. But do it I did. I tried my best to treat her as if she were one of the family and as time went on she began to relax. When it was time for her to leave our home I cashed in her savings account and handed her the money.

During the time she spent with us I heard many stories from this young gal about abuses in various homes. It opened my eyes to something I found hard to believe. But believe it I did. Today, as per the first paragraph of this article, Foster Care homes need a major overhaul. The lawsuits that are filed as the result of abuse that occurs in the foster care homes is the largest monetary expense but it is only the beginning.

As per U.S. Politics Today: “New Jersey has spent $51.7 million in 317 lawsuits brought on behalf of abused foster children dating as far back as 1996. Since 2005, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) has paid out more than $3.4 million in civil lawsuit settlements. In a recently settled class action lawsuit involving foster care abuse, Oklahoma DHS spent $7 million in outside attorney fees in defense of the lawsuit, with $2 million more set aside for future costs. Additional class action lawsuits are pending on behalf of thousands of foster children in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Texas. Even when such cases do not result in monetary awards to the original plaintiffs, attorney fees can run well into the millions.”

The highest cost is in what it does to children who are already emotionally torn with no parents, no family, no love and no real sense of belonging. And you’re upset because of what? Your folks won’t buy you a new car, you think your bedroom needs redecorating, you want a more expensive prom dress………. Can you imagine starting life off with the kinds of handicaps foster care children have? Can you imagine the loneliness, the fear, the confusion, the rejection? And that’s only the beginning. Again…….I cried because I had no shoes, till I met a man who had no feet.

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