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Essay On Foster Care

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My parents are divorced, and have been since I was about seven years old. I hardly remember what life was like before then. But despite my parents separation I have never been without proper care, and in this way I am fortunate. On any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States. The average age of a child in foster care is nearly 9 years old, and in all states in the US at least 50% of the kids in foster care are males. Until now, I personally, have never known much about the process. I have a few friends who were adopted and I’ve watched a few seasons of the show The Fosters. But I hardly think that qualifies as quality knowledge about the issue. What I have learned is this: Children are suffering in …show more content…

“ In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years” (Children’s Rights). There are simply not enough people looking to adopt or to foster individually. Many kids, especially teens, are immediately placed in group homes. These homes do not provide the same stability and support that a foster (or adoptive) family might. Group homes are actually 7 to 10 times more expensive per child than placement with a family. Not only do many children spend years waiting to be adopted, in many cases after a certain age children will be subjected to “aging out of the system.” While there are different laws in each state, for the most part this means that after a certain cut off the state no longer actively looks for adoptive families and instead waits for the child to turn 18 and therefore, become legally independent. According to TheForgottenInitiative.org, more than 30% of homeless people in the US were previously in Foster Care. An estimated more than 40% of youth who age out of the foster system won’t complete high school. Very few teens are emotionally ready to be completely independent at 17 or 18, regardless of family support. The foster system is simply not designed to fully take care of children, and it certainly

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