Foster Care

It was close to midnight, only a few days before Thanksgiving. There was a certain calming silence as my mother was preparing to go out to Lounge 46 with her friends. I was studying for the SAT which, at the time, I believed to be the most important exam of my life. I received an unexpected call from my grandmother, I could barely understand her. She was unable to stop sobbing long enough to tell me what happened. After she calmed down, she told me that three of her grandchildren, my cousins, were taken away by Child Protective Services. She explained that if my mom and I do not take them, they will be sent to live in a foster home.

According to the Department of Children and Families of New Jersey, Child Protective Services …show more content…
Trudy Festinger, head of the Department of Research at the New York University School of Social Work, determined that over 28% of the children in state care had been abused while in the system. In Babbel’s experience, however, former foster children whom she worked with believe that the incidents of in-foster-care abuse are much higher than 28%. A woman who spent over seven years in the foster care system as a child told Babbel that nine out of ten foster children she met claimed that they had been abused by their foster parents. The former ward of the state explained,“A foster child is already taught that you don't speak up. It's dangerous and don't forget that mom and dad already gave you up, so best to shut your mouth, or you could end up moving again.” Foster children often do not report being abused by their foster families because they are taught by their circumstances not to speak up and think that abuse is …show more content…
In fact, what were supposed to be “surprise” visits, were announced days in advance. Susanne Babbel, a somatic psychologist, recalled her own experience working with foster care agencies and group homes,“I often witnessed the agency staff become overwhelmed with the number of children they were required to monitor-not to mention the pressure of completing mountains of paperwork. The paperwork would often trump the actual visits in priority because it was required in order to keep the agency funded and our jobs intact. There seemed to be incentives in place to keep children with foster families they were assigned to, which sometimes led to lenience when evaluating conditions. Foster agencies receive money for each placement. If a child is removed from a placement, the agency can lose the commission…Ex-foster children I've spoken with reported jaded caseworkers who always seemed to ‘turn a blind eye,’ never asking probing questions or visiting the sleeping areas of their charges.”

It is heart-breaking to watch children being taken from their families and homes as a result of neglect and abuse, but it is even more heartbreaking to watch children being taken from their homes only to be placed in more abusive homes and worse