Having grown up in the child welfare system...

Jan 23, 2024 7:24 PM

atxfilmguru

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I can attest this is a scam. Study after study shows kids who spend 3 years or more in child welfare have far worse outcomes in early adulthood. There are long term studies on going for middle/late adulthood.

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Also, just to point out the flaw here, I could easily say "children who go through chemotherapy have shorter lifespans on average than kids who never get chemo". This doesn't necessarily mean the kids in the second group actually needed chemo just like your study doesn't say if the kids in the second group needed services either

2 years ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 0

This is an understandable but oversimplified view. Having been involved in CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, I know of countess cases where the parent(s) were a path to addiction, abuse and a shorter lifespan. One of my best friends has saved two children from certain death by Foster and then adoption.

2 years ago | Likes 55 Dislikes 0

This is misinformation. Having worked providing counseling to at-risk teens for years, and having made innumerable calls to CPS, they are VERY reluctant to remove a child from a home period, and lack of resources is basically never the reason unless there is also something else going on.

2 years ago | Likes 114 Dislikes 8

No, it's because they only want to take kids who are easy to control.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 7

When my boys were taken from their bio parents all they had to do to get them back was sign up for anger management classes. Not complete, not attend, just sign up for. Couldn't be bothered after the better part of two years. Some time after we adopted them they started doing things like joining public protests about the government stealing children from poor families and giving them to rich families. The foster system is full of stories like mine.

2 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 3

I don’t think children are removed solely for lack of resources, not in the 100s of cases I was in.

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

It's sad about how many ways it can go wrong. More support for parents is obviously important, but also better CPS, courts, foster parenting.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 4

You have a wonderful gift for simplification.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This is fake news. Children aren't removed from their families just because they're poor. They're removed because of abuse, endangerment, or neglect. There are unfortunately plenty of people whose kids go to bed hungry, but their children aren't taken.

And you can "attest this is a scam"? Were you a foster kid, or did you just read a study? And the study makes sense anyway. If the kids were removed from parental custody, they weren't being treated right. They probably have trauma from that.

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 3

So much more confused. I’m preparing to retire in 6 months and seriously was considering fostering these children in need.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

...correlation/causation mate

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You know these studies will be used by the R's to justify not spending at all on children, right?

2 years ago | Likes 26 Dislikes 9

Like Rs need actual studies to justify anything. They are just fine making up reasons to do what they want, and their base is just fine accepting those reasons. Hell the base is fine just accepting R politicians doing what they want because that’s what they want to do.

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

Isn't the "family of origin" far worse, which is why … they were removed from it?

2 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

I was taken from my abusive family, and sent to live with a family that had a houseful of illegal gun carried by teenagers. Foster homes are such a scam.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 6

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2 years ago (deleted Jan 24, 2024 4:00 AM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

That's the thing, I was never kept from the abuse too long. They always made me go back. And yes, between strange teenagers with guns or my crazy drunk parents, I'll take the drunks.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

“Studies show convicted murderers have a history of dreaming.”

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

everyone in the comments saying it's not true: my sister and i were removed from our parents' care several times all because our house. was /messy/. no attempts to find support were made. we were just taken.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

"Study after study shows kids who spend 3 years or more in child welfare have far worse outcomes in early adulthood" - compared to what? Kid's in non-broken homes with a stable family situation?

2 years ago | Likes 59 Dislikes 5

Not only that, they underperformed by 13 wellness units. 13!

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Compared to all kids who were not in the child welfare system. The first breakthrough study was called "The Midwest Study." Several since then have refined and corroborated the Midwest Study results.

2 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 13

So yes, kids not in an unstable or broken home. Shockingly, comparing the outliers to the average results in the outliers remaining outliers. Any meaningful comparison NEEDS to compare like to like. The kids removed from terrible homes vs the kids who stayed. Good luck with the ethics of THAT study.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Correlation does not equal causation. You need an apples to apples comparison between kids who were in the same sort of situation and compare the success rates of those sent into the foster system and those who were left.

2 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

Isn't that like saying that studies show that people who have brain surgery tend to have worse health than those that don't, so we shouldn't give anyone brain surgery?

2 years ago | Likes 33 Dislikes 0

Yeah, that was my point - noone enters the child-welfare system voluntarily unless the situation they are leaving is even worse.

2 years ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 2

Well it makes sense if the family of origin is using their resources for drugs and tattoos instead of taking care of the kid.

2 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 4

Others take care of their kids with what? Whole foods and balanced nutrition? Stimulation and nurturing? YouTube/PS5/Netflix all day? Frozen Corn dogs/burritos and pizza rolls? Is the definition 3 hots and a cot?

2 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Probably use the same needles for both. That's smart financing there.

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 4

Money for booze and cigarettes and somehow 3 cats but not the kid.

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

I never really thought of it that way, but it’s so heartbreakingly obvious in hindsight. Is there even any logical rationale for this that is not based in intentional cruelty?

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 9

OP is spreading misinformation. Kids don't get taken away just because the family is poor. They get taken away due to abuse, neglect, or endangerment.

2 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 2

This does not reflect my experiences or that of anyone I know with experience with the foster system. IIRC all but two states are "family first" states meaning everyone involved is working to put the kids back in their bio home. In my case all the parents had to do to get their kids back was sign up for anger management classes

2 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 2

Abusive/neglectful birth parents. Which honestly strikes me as probably the majority of foster kid situations, I doubt many kids are being taken from their families just because they're poor

2 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

I’m not familiar with this topic, so this is an honest question: aren’t some children removed from their homes because of unsafe conditions? As in, I’ve read stories where the state took a kid away because they didn’t have their own bed. Misconception? Or maybe relevant in some countries but not others?

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

They are only rarely removed due to unsafe conditions. The unsafe conditions have to be a direct byproduct of actively poor choices by the parent (e.g leaving a 3 year old unsupervised while also using an open over door to heat the apartment) before it falls under "neglect" as a category of abuse which gives CPS the green light to take action. I can't say it has never happened, but in over 10 years of making calls to CPS i've never seen a child taken for "they don't have a bed."

2 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Thank you for the info.

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I was a foster parent for 3 years in one of the poorest states in the country. The states do not remove children from homes for being poor. States don't even remove children from homeless parents, unless there is deemed another circumstance that requires it.

2 years ago | Likes 264 Dislikes 7

It's amazing how this made it to fp when all the top comments are pointing out that it's factually incorrect

2 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 2

I know two sets of foster parents. One set of bio parents was in and out of prison for stabbing people, including each other. The other bio mom had 7 kids by 7 men and tested positive for hard drugs on every single test she ever took. Both of those bio homes inflected massive trauma on the kids for the foster parents to try and work through.

2 years ago | Likes 38 Dislikes 1

Yep this is some big misinformation being posted. However, one can agree that socioeconomic status does has a large parallel towards children entering the foster care system

2 years ago | Likes 79 Dislikes 2

They can't use poverty as the excuse, no. But they do use poverty to accuse neglect in order to take the child, even if poverty is the only grounds for the accusation. There's even an article about how not every child living in poverty is being neglected, because it's a situation that keeps occurring.
https://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/article/2020/december-january/its-time-to-stop-confusing-poverty-with-neglect/953840031b92c150517620efe54bcbd9

2 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 1

This link comes back with an error

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

I've tried it with multiple browsers, it works every time. What error are you getting?

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

2 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

CloudFront is an Amazon distribution platform.

cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov is the official site for the Administration for Children & Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

If you're still having trouble, it looks like either Amazon or the US government is blocking you for some odd reason

2 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0