How to fix the foster care and adoption industry?

O wow...

1... foster care.. needs a ton more money. Foster parents are often required to use their own money to provide for the basics

2...more thourough investigation of foster homes. Make them get a liecense that must be reviewed every few years, so that they must be continually improving to meet standards

3.... Both foster & adoptive start included extensive psychological testing prior to the placement of a child

4....One serious complaint, shut it down. No more chances taken with the children.

5.... Have the children go through informal interviews to evaluate the foster home every year.

6.....Remove the secrecy from adoption. No more changing OBC's to refect our new families. Let it bear the names of our birth families.

7... Remove the need to search. Make the system easy enough for an adoptee that it's a matter of filling out a form, showing id and walking out with the names of your birth parents & their last known address (perhaps by connecting to the motor vechile database)

Basically the entire system needs to be stripped down to nothing. Rebuild it from scratch. The kids are worth it. Show us that

I'm going to base my answer on 2 sources:

1. The Lost Children of Wilder (a book about the struggle to change the foster care system).

2. My experiences as a New York City teacher.

My answer is that the foster care system can't really be fixed. With all the changes and extra funding, it's no better now than it was 40 years ago. A foster family can NEVER replace the love, nurturing, and guidance that a real family has. A child only thrives if they know they're there to stay.

Half my students were raised by grandmothers, aunts, or foster parents. These kids were shunted between relatives constantly. Because the actual "parent" was never the same, they had no familial authority to answer to. Therefore, they acted out as they pleased.

Here's what we can do to improve the situation for the next generation:

BIRTH CONTROL!!!!!!!

A teenager who gets pregnant should probably seek an abortion. A teenage girl who isn't pregnant should be using either:

1. The pill

2. Depro-Provera shots

3. I.U.D

4. Norplant

A man who can't keep his penis in his shorts and doesn't want to use take care of his children should have a VASECTOMY. A woman in a similar situation should have her TUBES TIED.

If the Federally sponsored clinics offered these things at a fixed price (to make them more affordable), then more men and women would use them. We'd have fewer kids in foster care in the next 10 years.

As a foster parent my license is redone every year. What I am tired of is the people that get into foster care for the money and not to help benefit the children. We have adopted through foster care and my kids don't have any problems outside of the norm. My son has ADD but that could happen with my own birth children. I have to say that with my experience and years in the system most of the parents that I have dealt with have been avid drug users and alcoholics, if they haven't used drugs they have mental in-capabilities. The problem I keep seeing is the fact that this is a perpetual problem. The parents I have been dealing with have been in foster care as a child and their children will likely have children in the system when they get older. It's hard to fix a problem when no one wants to delegate the proper funds to the real problem. We need workers that have smaller case loads so that they CAN focus on the kids. We need better classes for the foster parents, so that they don't get burnt out either. Foster parents need to be "reimbursed" more than we are. Do they realize that the cost of raising a child is more that $17- $19 a day? I agree that foster parents need to be looked at more than they are. Yes, we have background checks and fingerprints done, but there needs to be more. These children need to be in a good family setting so that they can learn that there are families out there that are good. That a meal isn't something you have to earn. That nice clothes are something that you can have and will have. That you doon't have to be alone in a house waiting for your parent to maybe show up. I have not yet seen a middle class parent in this situation but if they are out there they need help not foster care! Unfortunately foster care just gives the parents a break and then places the kids right back with them where they end up taken again. We really need to help the parents and if they can't do it end it before it cause irreparable damage to both the children and the parents. And I'm sorry but after the fourth child, let's do something about birth control and parents with kids in the system.

The best way to avoid it is to go through foster care. You can learn about the ethical concerns in adoption, but most of them do not involve foster care (although some do, depending mainly on the state). Most of the time, foster care adoption IS ethical, as it is in the best interests of the child. Most other forms of adoption are unethical more often than not, and are not in the best interests of the child. You CAN find other forms of adoption, sometimes, that are ethical, but it would be difficult to ensure that everyone involved has good intentions. Better to just go with foster care and trust your instincts. Good for you for doing your research first! You wouldn't believe how many people just want a baby, and don't care how they get "it".

Samone's list is great. I'd also like to see smaller DCFS caseloads so more frequent visits can be made. Yes, that means more money for more caseworkers. But, the children's living situations need to be closely monitored.

I'd also like to see pre-birth matching end. A child shouldn't be practically placed before it's even born.

Agencies aren't necessary in order to have adoptions occur. They weren't originally in the picture and still don't need to be. This is something that should occur directly through the DCFS. This would eliminate exorbitant fees and potential birthmother "counseling" from agencies who stay in business by making adoptions happen.

Fathers' rights need to be restored. This idea of putative father registries and how they are used to circumvent fathers' rights is ridiculous. With DNA, it's simple to be certain whether or not someone is the father. It's funny how that's used to determine paternity in order to get child support. But if a man actually wants to raise his child, he has to jump through hoops. DNA isn't good enough. What a crock.

help for the parents of children in foster care:

rather than taking these children permanently, we should od more to help the parents (with treatment) to become the parents thier child needs. It CAN BE DONE! It is not a quick-fix, and the parents have to be willing. It is hard, hard, work, but well worth it.

? I am a foster parent

My license is reviewed and renewed every single October.

I have to spend x amount of class time hours and x amount of reading materials to get it renewed. we have to meet lots of state standards and we have Id's now. My pet peeve is the TV programs scaring the crap out of kids that are going to be in care. I have not put a child in a box in the basement or chained anyone inside a room on a dirty mattress. My husband has not had sex with any of them and I barley know what the heck the rebirthing process is all about( well I do...in theory). We do not make children get up and milk the cows we don't even have a cow...we don't make them eat Tabasco if they swear. We are just like any other family.....that worries if their child is going to kill the while family in the middle of a dark stormy night...oooh!

NOT!!!!!!!!

What it would take to fix the problem I am passionate about would be for ignorant, self serving, morons to stop the implications that natural mothers are crack whores or JIB TECHS. Look up some stats, most nmoms are from a middle class background and are in college. So much for that theory huh?

Everyone else has already answered how to fix my other passionate causes in the adoption arena and they did DAMN good doing so.

Samone's ideas are very good.

There also needs to be more funding/training in the Child Protective Services section. These poor people have caseloads beyond any one person's ability to handle, with a very high burnout rate. Go figure.

I would also like to see parental rights severed in a more timely manner when it becomes apparent that they are not going to get their act together. Yes, I know I'm going to get some heat from that. It's my experience, in working with troubled children/adolescents in the foster care system, that much of their issues stem from not being in a stable home enviornment for any length of time. These kids have learned that there is nothing in the way of home/family that they can depend on. And while I do believe family preservation is a priority, there comes a time where the needs of the child supercede the needs of the adult. Let these poor kids have a chance at some happiness! Also, I've seen many, many cases where older kids/teenagers who are tired of being bounced from foster home to their parent(s) and back again, want to sever ties themselves. This needs to be able to happen.

Not sure what to say or where a person could get true facts. Going to the state or gov would be like giving honey to a bear. Only thing I see that would help is a lot of parents should think and be more responsible. That would help the children who lost their parents. It would give more funds to foster care and adoption industry,and be able to focus more on the problem of fixing the system.