  Magnasco Member Username: Magnasco Post Number: 154 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.73.6.202 |
Since these terrible articles got kicked to non-detroit because someone tried to shamelessly use these tragedies to support killing people, I am bringing them back. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060826/M ETRO/608260362/1003 http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=2006608290417 What the heck is going on? And how much longer are we going to tolerate this? This is very Detroit relevant considering that half of the foster care population for the state of MIchigan is in Wayne County. We have three major problems. 1. We are bringing way too many kids into foster care for reasons that are more based on socio-economic factors, rather than the welfare of the children. I can confidently say that the life with the parents could not have turned out any worse in these cases! In many cases the parent just needs some help. Real help. Not just a parenting class, but maybe some real dollars to get on their feet. Compared to the $100 K or so a year it takes to care for a foster kid, the cost of these services is probably minimal. Especially considering an average stay in care is several years. 2. We are not taking care of the kids when they are in foster care. The state is abrogating their responsibility by passing the reponsibility for care to third parties who then try to also claim govermental immunity. Thank God, or your higher power of choice, that the courts are finally starting to rule that these people do not get immunity and are actually criminally liable. The state needs a better system for caring for the kids that it chooses to remove from the homes. And going back to point one, the less they remove from the homes, the less they have to care for. 3. The state is not preparing these kids to take care of themselves as they leave care. Considering that those foster kids who are still in care into their teens have a better chance of aging out of the system than of being adopted, the state needs to start aggressively preparing these kids to be productive. Instead, the state hides behind the argument that permenancy with an adoptive family is the goal, and that preparing them for independence is not a permanant goal. Well unless they allow the kids to be killed in care, there is a pretty good chance these kids will become adults, and so will be independent, whether they like it or not. What happens more often than not is that the young adult just moves from the juvenile social services to the adult social services. Well duh! Where did you think this person was going to get help paying their rent, when you never properly trained them? The State has gotten marginally better with some aging out programs, but the story is still that once they hit 18, there are a few resources available to them to get it together at that point, but within two years there will be nothing. And more than likely, there was very little before 18 in the way of preparation. If these kids had lived long enough to grow up in the foster care system, and had gotten the minimal preparation and training that is available to them right now, they probably would have ended up like many of their peers, which is homeless, pregnant, and/or in jail. There has to be a better way! |
