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The Foster Care System


tinytherese

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Are there other reasons why US kids aren't adopted? The personal story I related was foster parents in Lake County, Florida. They had already been foster parents for more than ten years., were actually foster parents for the child, but it still cost them over ten thousand dollars and process around three years to get approved first as adoptive parents then get parental rights restricted. They moved across State to limit some of the BS from the DNA family.
There isn't the privacy and anonymity that's provided in foreign adoptions.

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I do think that parental rights should be easier to sever. I also like the idea of state swaps. If you let someone in Nebraska adopt a kid from Florida, it would get them away from DNA donors, and a real chance to start fresh.

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PhuturePriest

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1350254709' post='2493399']
I do think that parental rights should be easier to sever. I also like the idea of state swaps. If you let someone in Nebraska adopt a kid from Florida, it would get them away from DNA donors, and a real chance to start fresh.
[/quote]

And getting away from their friends, don't forget that. My foster brothers would have been fine if they were out of State and were away from their ding-dong friends, but their influence was always with them and it is difficult and nearly impossible to sever all relations with their friends when they live in the same town of twelve hundred people and go to the same school.

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Groo the Wanderer

[quote name='Anomaly' timestamp='1350228979' post='2493280']
Are there other reasons why US kids aren't adopted?
[/quote]


Cause we are all fat, lazy, and spoiled rotten. We can;t read and write, but we can play video games and text all day.














hyperbolic, but with a whiff of truth....like a fine chianti

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[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1350255719' post='2493410']


And getting away from their friends, don't forget that. My foster brothers would have been fine if they were out of State and were away from their ding-dong friends, but their influence was always with them and it is difficult and nearly impossible to sever all relations with their friends when they live in the same town of twelve hundred people and go to the same school.
[/quote]

That's the reason rehab counsellors try to get their clients out of their old neighbourhoods.

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To me from a Catholic point of view, it's really not valuable to penalize international adoption like that. I mean yes, it's horrible there are foster kids being warehoused in the United States, but it's also horrible that small children are being warehoused in Guatemala or Russia or China. Really we're just as much obligated to help them.

The children in the States do have the advantage of living in a free society with a (sometimes) effective social safety net. For instance if you adopt from Ethiopia you are taking an AIDS orphan from a part of world where they have so few resources, it's equivalent to Washington, DC having only 17 doctors to provide treatment or any and all diseases. You are bringing that child to a country that has Medicaid and Medicare, where you don't have to die from diarrhea. WOW that's a big difference.

The key I think is to make fostering and adoption of all types of children more attractive, easier and more popular, regardless of age or nationality.

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Archaeology cat

[quote name='Maggie' timestamp='1350263976' post='2493476']
.

The key I think is to make fostering and adoption of all types of children more attractive, easier and more popular, regardless of age or nationality.
[/quote]true. Though they also need to be honest about the potential problems and support the foster/adoptive parents in dealing with that. Just thinking of two cases I personally know where the foster/adoptive parents weren't told everything and it was rather disastrous. Had the parents been informed, in at least one case, they still would've taken the child, but would've been prepared and gotten the necessary support.

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If they allow gay people to adopt or be foster parents then that would mean at least 10% probably more orphaned children will have loving parents to care for them.

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That was my perception. Doing a google search I discovered that it isn't all that clear, maybe from 5%-10%, somewhere in between.
I'm thinking that because gay couples can't concieve of themselves then they might be more likely to adopt (just a theory). But it is quite significant. Many kids could have loving parents rather than being stuck in orphanages and foster care.

I understand that Catholic belief consider homosexuality a sin, but they also consider all humans to be sinners.
So I am wondering, do you think it is better for kids to be in an orphanage or in a loving family, despite the parents being gay?

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[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1350142433' post='2493061']
In adoption services you usually get to pick the parents, and [b]I can tell you from experience foster care is extremely careful in the parents[/b]. I'm pretty sure my parents were waterboarded for information.
[/quote]

Maybe in some area's, but not everywhere. My city is desparate for foster homes. What do you think of a 17 year old girl being placed in a "foster home" with a 20 year old guy and his 19 year old girlfriend? "Extremely careful" isn't the vibe I get from that.

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[quote name='Slappo' timestamp='1350419414' post='2494050']
Maybe in some area's, but not everywhere. My city is desparate for foster homes. What do you think of a 17 year old girl being placed in a "foster home" with a 20 year old guy and his 19 year old girlfriend? "Extremely careful" isn't the vibe I get from that.
[/quote]
That is actually kind of terrifying.

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PhuturePriest

[quote name='Slappo' timestamp='1350419414' post='2494050']
Maybe in some area's, but not everywhere. My city is desparate for foster homes. What do you think of a 17 year old girl being placed in a "foster home" with a 20 year old guy and his 19 year old girlfriend? "Extremely careful" isn't the vibe I get from that.
[/quote]

I wouldn't say that is always necessarily terrifying. If I were put under my sister and her husband-to-be's care I would do perfectly fine. They are both wonderful people who would do nothing but help me. This is not always the case, but it is in some cases. And yes, it's probably not always so careful which is why it needs definite reform. But there have been many successful stories in foster care.

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[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1350426213' post='2494072']

I wouldn't say that is always necessarily terrifying. If I were put under my sister and her husband-to-be's care I would do perfectly fine. They are both wonderful people who would do nothing but help me. This is not always the case, but it is in some cases. And yes, it's probably not always so careful which is why it needs definite reform. But there have been many successful stories in foster care.
[/quote]

The situation mentioned didn't sound as if they were related though.

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PhuturePriest

[quote name='tinytherese' timestamp='1350539141' post='2494372']

The situation mentioned didn't sound as if they were related though.
[/quote]

Well, that's not the point I was trying to make. My point was there are people that age who would do a good job. I would certainly say there are many who would not, but some would, so we shouldn't automatically dub it terrifying until we know the people.

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