According to abcnews.go.com, “Thirty percent of the homeless in America and some 25
percent of those in prison were once in foster care.” This statement means a little more than 50
percent of the children going into foster care are likely to either go to prison at one point in their
life or be homeless. A small child’s life was taken by a foster care parent with cruel and unusual
ways of punishment, the child complained to many people, such as her birth mother, her social
worker, etc. Even after many complaints, the child remained in the home, child received a
punishment that ended her life. People’s general lack of knowledge or unwillingness to pay
attention are the main reasons why tragic incidents like that happen. Many people that know little
to nothing about the foster care system believe the best interest of the children are being met,
however, it has been proven that they are not.
As a result of the failing foster care system, complaints are not being followed up.
According to abcnews.org, “Six weeks before she was killed, Logan was on a visit to her birth
mother when, in the presence of a child-welfare worker hired to supervise the visit, she
complained that her foster mother was hurting her. "She did this to me and I cried 'cause it hurts
me," the child is heard saying on a videotape, although she is not seen. Despite this information,
there was no immediate investigation, and Logan's child-welfare worker failed to make a
required quarterly visit to the foster home (McFadden).” This is an example of when a complaint
was not followed up with, and a child lost her life due to this. According to The Foster Care
System Exposes Children to Abuse,
I called my social worker at the foster care agency that oversaw my placement and I asked him to investigate this woman. He said I complained too much. I went to his supervisor, who also ignored me. I went so far as to call ACS. The city investigator set up an appointment with my foster parent when I was not around. During the interview she denied all my complaints and the case was dismissed, It does not take a genius to know that an investigator should interview the person making the complaints. But he did not.
Multiple incidents have or could have happened due to an unwillingness to listen and pay
attention to foster children. Children are also being taken out of their homes without any
explanation. An excerpt from The Foster Care System Exposes Children to Abuse says,
Imagine yourself a child, at home watching television one afternoon with your brothers
and sisters. Suddenly the doorbell rings. Your mother goes to open the door and it's the
police. You sense some kind of confusion and as you approach the front of the house, a
policeman grabs you, gathers up your other siblings and says, "Get ready, let's go. You
are coming with us. You will see your mother soon. You will be gone for only a few
days." You are terrified. You try to say "No" and put up some kind of resistance. And no
matter...
