What about parental rights to family?
- I ADOPTED MY NIECE SHE WAS ABUSED BY , I WENT THROUGH MUCH TO GET HER .NOW IM IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING HER BROTHER HAVING SUCH A HARD TIME GOIN ON THREE YEARS WITH THE SYSTEM WISH THEY WERE HARDER ON THE REAL PARENTS, FOR ME BEING A FAMILY MEMBER I DONT ALL THE BENEFITS LIKE A FOSTER CARE DOES TO ME THAT SHOULD CHANGE. CAUSE I LOVE THEM AS MY OWN BUT BEING single mom with four kids and working full time is hard, and the the foster parents who abuse the system that they don't even care for the children get more support that's whats wrong with the system.
- —Guest r4\gv40
Foster parents Deserve More Respect
- I am a foster parent and do foster care because I love children and truly want to help them. However, knowing that foster children often act out and have learned to manipulate because of their past life situations does not give them the right to disrespect you. Nor does it give the system the right to disrespect you by believing everything the children say against you when they don't get their way. This is not right. As a parent, I had proof from FaceBook messages that my foster child was instigating fights at school and lying about them. The principals saw the messages, but when the child lied to the system, they chose to believe her. This child continues to lie, runaway, be sexually active, cheat, be involved in fights, etc. Turns out she was bi polar and had oppositional defiant disorder. Why does the system not back up their foster parents more and give them help when they ask for it?
- —mamawince
Provide Assess to the Foster Home
- To be a foster parent one should have to provide a key to every lock in house and car plus out of house sign papers say the case workers can enter your home any time day or night and walk to the child’s room and talk to them without prior warning. If the foster parent is unwilling to agree to these terms they are not able to be foster care parents. No more calling a head and letting the foster parents know when they are coming; if you are not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear. For too many kids die in foster care every year and that has to stop now!
- —Guest Dennis
Foster Carers Should Follow Own Rules
- I'm only 15 years old, I was in care from a couple of months old and then got adopted at age 4, the adoption placement lasted 8 years , most of the time I was fairly happy but there are a lot of occasions where I didn't feel part of the family and this was from a young age, plus my adoptive mum and I always used to fall out , when I was 12 there was a big argument and my adoptive mum said she didn't want me in her house any more, without going into detail because that would take really long to go through, I ran away, was brought back and was passed through 4 different family members from my adoptive family, when the final placement broke down and with a lot of meetings I was placed back into foster care and went though two families, I am currently with one family now and cant wait to live independently as I'm sick of being placed with different families. The system is twisted and I don't receive what was discussed with me prior to being placed, money is a big issue. I can't fit everything in.
- —Guest nisha
Ignorant Foster Mom and Biological Mom
- I'm adopted and I think that after you let all 5 of your kids get taken away you shouldn't be allowed to have any more. Then when the kids you've let get taken away come find you and see you've only kept them that eats them up inside. And they should hide cameras inside the foster parents house for the first couple of months to really see how those people are. My foster mom had 8 foster kids and only adopted for cash so I think there should be a limit on how many people can adopt we're not animals you cant just take us in and not care. Even animals shouldn't get treated like this!!
- —Guest desiree shannon
Have Non-biased Investigators
- Make sure that kids would not be kidnapped from school because of a very elaborate storyteller (whether that be nurses, teachers, workers or the child themselves) No state funding for number of kids adopted out or fostered out... P.S. I would also fire all the pedophiles that work with the agency "legally" kidnapping kids.
- —Guest CouldBeU
Create Different Laws for Infants
- Just like the 6 month termination suggested already. Infants/newborns that enter the system should be legally made crown wardship at 6 months and be available to adopt with no red tape. People that have newborns removed and can't prove themselves or get their act together after 6 months don't deserve to mess up a kid's life. Plus the newborn has already bonded with their foster family so let's stop screwing up their trust and ability to bond! The 6 Month Law should be put into place now across the board.
- —Guest Cath
Change the System
- Well, I grew up in the foster care system. By the time I was 14 I had been in 11 different homes. I think that it should be harder to become a foster parent and if you become one that you should be in mandatory classes to learn how to care for foster children. I also feel if you bring a foster child into your home you should treat that child like you have given birth to him/her and love that child unconditionally because that is the one thing all foster children are wanting and they will do ANYTHING to get your attention. I also would say that there is a need for more social workers so kids don't fall through the cracks. Lastly I believe that if a parent gets their child taken away that they should not be allowed to have another one. My biological mother had 4 kids all of which ended up in foster homes and we all are paying the price as adults.
- —Guest sunsprite
Create Unity
- There are many misconceptions to what foster care is & what it isn't. It's about families helping families & not about "shopping" for children. There is no money scheme going on when it comes to caring for children, as some think. The public needs to be educated to the role foster care plays. With that said though, there needs to be unity throughout the system so that everyone is on the same page. Yes, parents are given way too many chances most of the time, but it all boils down to the judicial system. If there are laws/policies that state a certain criteria then they need to be upheld. Everyone wants to point fingers at who's fault it is, or at who isn't doing their job. The foster care system is imperfect & broken. The best interest of the children needs to come first. If you have never provided foster care it is easy to think bad things. Foster parents do what biological parents should have been doing. Who is up with the child when they are sick, for example? Foster parents need to be treated with more respect!
- —Guest April
Better match children and foster parents
- Find out the child's likes and dislikes and match the parents accordingly.
- —Guest concerned
Long Process
- Speed up the process. The scrutiny and rules/regulations imposed on potential foster parents is unreasonable. The training takes too long. Background checks s/b sufficient. Children need care and wait for good people to finish training.
- —Guest Anonymous
Real Change
- I believe the foster children in foster care need real love and I believe that Christianity can play a huge role in changing the way the foster care system is. but we need christian caseworkers christian supervisors and christian foster parents. without them there's no real and lasting change. I know many people disagree with Christianity for 1 or more reasons that they feel are appropriate enough to cross out Christianity but I think it would help if people would talk to Christians who have really shown themselves true for a long time and ask them a series of questions and jot down any answers they receive and consider thinking about them and studying Christianity to see what its really all about and maybe someone can get enough info to write an awesome book explaining what Christianity is really all about. I figure that if a non christian would do something like this it would impact more people than it would if a christian wrote it only because so many people are against Christianity.
- —Guest nicole
Change The System
- My heart goes out to the Foster Children , because I know some people only get them to receive a check! I think if a person budget is not enough to take care of them or if they getting all these children and when they leave they have nothing to show for it you know it's a paycheck . I think the government should open up homes have a 24hrs staff to make sure these children are taken care of. It would be easier for the social workers to maintain and the so called foster parent can not hide their illness and lies. I know two parents of foster children that used the money for their own benefit so social services are not doing their job!!!!
- —Guest Brenda
Agencies Need to Be Up Front and Honest
- My husband and I just finished all the classes needed to be foster parents. We also turned in all the paperwork and was waiting on our last homestudy. The day of our homestudy we were told that we were not eligible to foster because of my husbands mental disease, which he has been med compliant for years and you would not even know he had a problem now. We told the agency before filling out any paperwork about his condition and was told it would not be a problem. I feel the agencies need to know who can cannot be foster parents from the beginning instead of getting peoples hopes up. This was our last resort to have children and now we cannot even have that. The agency kept telling us how they needed more people like us, and then would not even go to bat for us when it came down to it.
- —Guest Honesty
Parental Rights Terminated
- ...after six months! Period. Especially if children have been abused/drug addicted at birth etc.
- —Guest Action NOW
