Life as a Foster Child - Facts and Stories
Every year, thousands of children get put into the care of local authorities and the majority of them end up in foster care. When I was working as a Juvenile Detention Officer, I saw first hand how this affects children both physically, emotionally and Psychologically. The purpose of this post is an attempt to help you become stronger and more determined to do every thing in your power to help the families in this community and across the world save their children from the horrors of CPS.
Facts
• There are an estimated 400,000 kids in foster, some waiting to be adopted. Some will be returned to their parents and other will age out or run away.
• Foster kids can suffer from PTSD at almost two times the rate of veterans returning from war. PTSD can resemble other mental illnesses. Some of it’s symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, fight-or-flee responses, anger outbursts, and hyper-vigilance.
• The average age of a foster child is 9 years old and most have been so traumatized that it carries on into their adult lives
• Almost half of all foster kids are in non-relative foster homes, 8% in institutions, 6% in group homes, and 4% are in pre-adoptive homes.
• A lot of foster children have experienced multiple placements, some as many as eight or more. They lose both adult and other kids that they have bonded with and are moved from on school to another.
• The average foster child remains is in the system for around two years before they are reunited with their biological parents, adopted, aging out, or other outcomes. 8% of these children remain in foster care for over five years.
• One-quarter of former foster kids end up homeless within four years of getting out of the system.
• Children that have been in foster homes and either adopted, returned to parents, or aged out) are most likely to suffer serious mental health issues and are four-five times more likely to be hospitalized for attempted suicide and five-eight times more likely have serious psychiatric disorders in their teen years
• Half of all foster care children do not graduate from high school. Only 3 percent graduate from college.
• Most states do not provide job training, counseling or any type of support for foster care kids after they turn 18.
• Children in foster care are 12 times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs than children who are allowed to stay with family members.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE PLACED IN FOSTER CARE?
VEDA’S Read her full Story here
At a very young age, about six months old, Veda was removed from her parents care and placed in the foster care system. It took months for her caseworker to get in contact with hr maternal grandmother. By the age of two, her grandmother was able to gain full custody of hr. She was in kinship care until the age of eighteen, after losing her grandmother due to a disease called multiple sclerosis, commonly referred to as MS. Throughout high school, she endured many hardships with her identity and belonging, her grandmother's’ illness, and her sexuality. Shehad troubles with her identity because shedidn’t know where she belonged or what group at school she was to associate myself with. She struggled due to her ethnicity. She is multi-racial: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African-American. Hispanic individuals would tell her she was not Hispanic because she did not speak Spanish, or sh was accused of only being a race when it benefited her even though she identified as multiracial. “Growing up, and even now, society labels individuals and if a person may not fit in, they are often left to feel outcasted.”
ISAIAH – Read his full story here
Isaiah was the oldest of five and grew up with a single mother. Because of this, he took on many responsibilities to help his mother support my siblings. Some would have said he played a parent role by ensuring his siblings did their chores and homework, as well as making them food. He entered foster care due to issues in the home - it was no longer safe for him and my siblings to continue to live with their mother. It was tough being separated from his family because he took care of them for so long and made sure their needs were met. Because of this, though, he forgot to pay attention to myself.
“I lost a lot of friends and got my fair share of being made fun of, rejected by others and feeling unwanted. I became scared with the idea of being gay.” “Of the five foster children and three biological children in the foster home, I was the only one to be singled out and treated differently.”
JAMES – Read his full story here
James was put in the foster care system when he was only 1 year old. For the next 18 years, he was in and out of abusive homes. In one home his foster father saw him hanging out with a black friend, he beat James, drug him outside, clasped a dog collar around his neck, and cuffed his hand to a Confederate flag rail in front of the doghouse. His foster father left him outside overnight in the cold of December with no clothes. The next morning, he said, "If I see you hanging with that [N-word] again, you will be out here for a week."
Melissa was placed in foster care when she was 2. She was in and out of homes, back and forth between new placements and her biological family for Over years, (which she believes should not have been afforded so many chances with her).
"I spent five years with a lady who blew the monthly stipend from DCFS on her own kids while we lowly fosters got to eat maybe once a day, if we were lucky. But she was very generous with the beatings, which often bordered on torture (making us kneel for hours on uncooked rice seemed to be her favorite)."
Gary Malkasian
Read - My Personal Story of Sexual Abuse in My Family - Part 111 - Under The Tree House
Read - My Personal Story of Sexual Abuse in My Family - Part IV - What Happened to the Abusers?
Read - My Personal Story of Sexual Abuse in My Family -The Conclusion
If you would like to read some of the previous stories of "My Life as a Detention Officer," You will find the links listed on this post by @canadian-coconut:
CPS and Foster Care Abuses: -- INDEX of PUBLISHED STORIES now on the Steemit Blockchain
Please take the time to read, upvote and resteem the above post to show your 100% support for this cause. Also, please visit the blogs of these authors and consider doing the same. Most of these cases are still on-going and any financial support you can give them could make a difference in whether these family units can be saved!
What Is @familyprotection? What Are The Rules? How Do I Donate?
If you are concerned about where these funds are going, please take the time to read this post:
We are Family Protection, Keeping Families Safe, Together
@markwhittam grew up in the care of CPS and then many years later he and his family had to flee their country under threats from the state to take their child because they home schooled.
Linda, @canadian-coconut, started @familyprotection because she has helped several families who have been torn apart at the hands of the legal kidnappers aka. Child Protection Services.
It is up to us as a Community to uncover the truth and spread this truth worldwide!
If you or someone you know have children that are now wards of the state and/or government, we encourage you to share your story. If you are an underage youth caught up in this insane cycle of abuse and control..Please share your story..If you have friends in abusive situations..Please have them share their story. We here at steemit.com have caring people that that are willing to help you in anyway we can.
If you wish to donate in support of this project, please do so by sending your donations in the form of Steem, Steem Power and or SBD to @familyprotection
Show your support for @familyprotection, @markwhittam, and @canadian-coconut by visiting their blogs, leaving comments revelent to this most worthy cause, upvoting and resteeming as many of these posts as you feel drawn to do.
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MAHALO FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
This article is truly horrifying. There, but for the grace of God, am I. My biological mother had to give me and my sister up when I was eighteen months old and my sis about six weeks old. We could easily have landed in the system, but God provided us with parents that eagerly adopted us and raised us as their own.
My heart goes out to each and every one of these children. I was involved with a foster home a few years back, until it got closed down. I helped with fund raising, and I visited every week, mostly just to be there as an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. The stories were heartbreaking. I tried to keep tabs on the children after the failure of the foster home. Unfortunately, some of them disappeared from the map, some ended up in prison, some are drug addicts today.
But we have two beautiful success stories as well. One of the girls who, frankly, I thought, would never make it in life, is happily married today, with two beautiful children of her own. She sometimes visits me, and she shines with an inner light that is indescribable. God is with her and her family.
The other girl became head girl in the last year of her school career, and she is now a secretary for a big company. She is still single, but she has settled well in the mainstream of the world.
Reading the statistics makes me so very, very sad. It is such a cliche already, but is it too much to long for Utopia?
It's always a blessing to be a part if these youths success stories. I still stay in contact with a lot if my job corp youth and a few of my ex juvy girls. Several are married, have successful careers and families of their own. It's a great feeling knowing that I in some small way helped them trasition to happy adults. We can't change their past but we can teach them how it to get past their tramas and create a better now and future. Thanks so much much for your input and support! And no, it is never too late for Utopia.
the number of infants who are in the hands of these monsters is worrying and beyond that the number of children who are sexually abused is alarming, those who go to the social service for illogical causes and illegal processes also clothe us. Since Monday I am working in the social service as a psychologist and during that time I did not attend anyone, simply because my bosses have not called the children to do their evaluations, many of them depend on going to shelters, with their parents, families substitutes or simply psychotherapy to evaluate the repercussions that that process causes in them, the truth fills me with sadness totally, I have related it in a post with sadness rather than anger
Well social services and the children are fortunate to have a caring person like youself!
thank you that was very good resources....i upvoted you
You are welcome my friend and thanks for the support!
Very good information My support
Thanks!
The children are the future of humanity .. They deserve all our support and all the attention and care ... If people hold on to their religion well, we would not find children suffering such suffering ... thank you for this initiative very much
Yes they are and they do! Thank you for your support.