Foster Care System Quotes

Because we’ve been lied to and lied to, and it hurts to be lied to. It’s ultimately just about that complicated: it hurts. It denies you respect for yourself, for the liar, for the world. Especially if the lies are chronic, systemic, if hard experience seems to teach that everything you’re supposed to believe in’s really a game based on lies. Young Voters have been taught well and thoroughly. You may not personally remember Vietnam or Watergate, but it’s a good bet you remember ‘No new taxes’ and ‘Out of the loop’ and ‘No direct knowledge of any impropriety at this time’ and Did not inhale’ and ‘Did not have sex with that woman’ and etc. etc. It’s depressing and painful to believe that the would-be ‘public servants’ you’re forced to choose between are all phonies whose only real concern is their own care and feeding and who will lie so outrageously with such a straight face that you just know they have to believe you’re an idiot. So who wouldn’t fall all over themselves for a top politician who actually seemed to talk to you like you were a person, an intelligent adult worthy of respect?

I came to this house for safety. They came because the foster care system ran out of homes. We stayed because we were stray pieces of other puzzles, tired of never fitting.

While some folks wouldn’t understand, in our neighborhood we knew what the foster care system did to a child.

Pink Balloons My name is Olivia King I am five years old My mother bought me a balloon. I remember the day she walked through the front door with it. The curly hot pink ribbon trickling down her arm, wrapped around her wrist . She was smiling at me as she untied the ribbon and wrapped it around my hand. "Here Livie, I bought this for you." She called me Livie. I was so happy . I'd never had a balloon before. I mean, I always saw balloon wrapped around other kids wrist in the parking lot of Wal-Mart , but I never dreamed I would have my very own. My very own pink balloon. I was excited! So ecstatic! So thrilled! i couldn't believe my mother bought me something! She'd never bought me anything before! I played with it for hours . It was full of helium and it danced and swayed and floated as I drug it around from room to room with me, thinking of places to take it. Thinking of places the balloon had never been before. I took it in the bathroom , the closet , the laundry room , the kitchen , the living room . I wanted my new best friend to see everything I saw! I took it to my mother's bedroom! My mothers Bedroom? Where I wasn't supposed to be? With my pink balloon... I covered my ears as she screamed at me, wiping the evidence off her nose! She slapped me across the face as she told me how bad I was! How much I misbehaved! How I never listened! She shoved me into the hallways and slammed the door, locking my pink balloon inside with her. I wanted him back! He was my best friend! Not her! The pink ribbon was still tied around my wrist so I pulled and pulled , trying to get my new best friend away from her. And it popped. My name is Eddie. I'm seventeen years old. My birthday is next week. I'll be big One-Eight. My foster dad is buying me these boots I've been wanting. I'm sure my friends will take me out to eat. My boyfriend will buy me a gift, maybe even take me to a movie. I'll even get a nice little card from my foster care worker, wishing me a happy eighteenth birthday, informing me I've aged out of the system. I'll have a good time. I know I will. But there's one thing I know for sure I better not get any shitty ass pink balloons!

We should pick our battles carefully, while simultaneously attempting to empathize a bit with the so-called enemy. We should approach the news and media with a healthy dose of skepticism and avoid painting those who disagree with us with a broad brush. We should prioritize values of being honest, fostering transparency, and welcoming doubt over the values of being right, feeling good, and getting revenge. These “democratic” values are harder to maintain amidst the constant noise of a networked world. But we must accept the responsibility and nurture them regardless. The future stability of our political systems may depend on it. There

If you have the choice of being abused by your mother or abused by a stranger, you’d choose your mother. It’s abuse either way.” This came from Arelis Rosario-Keane, a twenty-two-year-old college student and a veteran of the foster care system, referring to the likelihood of getting mistreated in care.

What if our foster care systems, in every one of our communities, knew that the churches are the first place willing to help families and children in crisis?

She had to save herself from every last one of them. All of them, the people at the orphanage, the foster care system, the middle school, they were all outsiders and strangers and a possible threat.....The counselor couldn't prove otherwise.

A father is not to act harshly in word or deed toward his children, goad them to frustration and anger, discourage or demean them, neglect them, or harm them in any way. He is instead to be a blessing from the Lord to his children by taking responsibility to raise them rather than leaving it to the mother and various institutions, such as schools, churches, foster care systems, adoption agencies, and prisons. In short, fathers are supposed to be Pastor Dad, actively involved in the development of every aspect of their children’s growth with love, humility, and wisdom.

And a funny thing happens. The man begins to like the Thermos woman. Not love, but like, which is something the man has never experienced before, and finds different, because it involves directing a lot more emotional attention to the actual other person than the old uncontrollable passionate love had involved, involves caring about the whole other person, including the facets and features that have nothing whatsoever to do with the man.

Principles of Liberty 1. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law. 2. A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong. 3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally strong people is to elect virtuous leaders. 4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained. 5. All things were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible. 6. All men are created equal. 7. The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things. 8. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. 9. To protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law. 10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people. 11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. 12. The United States of America shall be a republic. 13. A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers. 14. Life and Liberty are secure only so long as the Igor of property is secure. 15. The highest level of securitiy occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations. 16. The government should be separated into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. 17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power. 18. The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution. 19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to the government, all others being retained by the people. 20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority. 21. Strong human government is the keystone to preserving human freedom. 22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. 23. A free society cannot survive a republic without a broad program of general education. 24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong. 25. "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." 26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity. 27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest. 28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

There is a long history, in the U.S. and elsewhere, of removing children as a means of political control. If this strikes a nerve with you—as I hope it does—please learn more about the many instances, both past and ongoing, in which children have been taken from their families: the separations of enslaved families, government boarding schools for Indigenous children (such as that in Carlisle, PA), the inequities built into the foster care system, the separations of migrant families still occurring at the U.S.’s southern border, and beyond. Much more attention needs to be brought to this subject, but Laura Briggs’s Taking Children: A History

My instincts and experiences warned me that children in foster care should not have to figure out the system alone. Navigating social services and CPS custody by myself was akin to swimming in peanut butter. There had to be a better way, and I concluded it was better with a supportive CASA. There is no excuse for a child to face the foster care system alone in this era. If you know of a child swimming in peanut butter—be their jelly!

If Roe v. Wade is ever overturned, the foster care system will likely be flooded with special needs cases. Will we, as God’s people, be prepared to take care of the children who were not aborted, but then abandoned? If we claim to be “pro-life,” we must be willing to take an honest look at our attitudes toward children with disabilities. We must be honest with ourselves about how the church has handled and in some cases even mishandled this issue.

We got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can't have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven't found the end. Anyway, Leo, if you don't mind sleeping in a dead man's bed, it's yours-Jake Suddenly Leo didn't feel like kicking back. He sat up, careful not to touch any of the buttons. The counselor who died-this was his bed-Leo Yeah. Charles Beckendorf-Jake Leo imagined saw blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows. He didn't, like, die IN this bed, did he-Leo No. In the Titan War, last summer-Jake The Titan War, which has NOTHING to do with this very fine bed-Leo "The Titans," Will said, like Leo was an idiot. The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destoyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them-Will I'm guessing this wasn't on the news-Leo It seemed like a fair question, but Will shook his head in disbelief. You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St Louis-Will Leo shrugged. Last summer, he'd been on the run from another foster home. Then a truancy officer caught him in New Mexico, and the court sentenced him to the nearest correction facility-the Wilderness School. Guess I was busy-Leo Doesn't matter. You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then-Jake Your cabin's been cursed-Leo

Being adopted felt like reading a book that had the first chapter ripped out. You might be enjoying the plot and the characters, but you'd probably also like to read that first line, too. However, when you took the book back to the store to say that the first chapter was missing, they told you they couldn't sell you a replacement copy that was intact. What if you read that first chapter and realized you hated the book, and posted a nasty review on Amazon? What if you hurt the author's feelings? Better just to stick with your partial copy and enjoy the rest of the story.

So what are people actually referring to when they talk about "deregulation"? In ordinary usage, the word seems to mean "changing the regulatory structure in a way that I like." In practice this can refer to almost anything. In the case of airlines or telecommunications in the seventies and eighties, it meant changing the system of regulation from one that encouraged a few large firms to one that fostered carefully supervised competition between midsize firms. In the case of banking, "deregulation" has usually meant exactly the opposite: moving away from a situation of managed competition between mid-sized firms to one where a handful of financial conglomerates are allowed to completely dominate the market. This is what makes the term so handy. Simply by labeling a new regulatory measure "deregulation," you can frame it in the public mind as a way to reduce bureaucracy and set individual initiative free, even if the result is a fivefold increase in the actual number of forms to be filled in, reports to be filed, rules and regulations for lawyers to interpret, and officious people in offices whose entire job seems to be to provide convoluted explanations for why you're not allowed to do things. (p. 17)

Both women were mothers of children caught up in mind control cover-up, one of which paralleled Kelly’s and my case. She, too, had volumes of documents and evidences whereby it was inexcusable that justice had not prevailed. The other mother conveyed a story that touched me so deeply it undoubtedly will continue to motivate me with reverberating passion forever. This mother was very weak from the final stages of cancer and chemotherapy, and tears slid down her pale gray cheeks as she told me her story. When she reported sexual abuse of her three daughters, the local court system took custody of them. The children appeared dissociative identity disordered from their ordeal, yet were reportedly denied therapy and placed in Foster care “since the mother was dying anyway.” When she finally was granted brief visitation with her precious daughters, they looked dazed and robotic with no memory of her or their sexual abuse. Mind control was apparent to this mother, and she struggled to give voice to their plight to no avail. She explained how love and concern for her children had kept her alive far longer than her doctors thought possible. She embraced me and said, “Now I can die in peace knowing that you are out there talking, raising awareness with the same passion for justice and love for children that I have. Thank you. Please keep talking. Please remember my daughters.

Since we began with a felt sense of safety this day, several neural streams are initially supporting the renewal of our connection. In our midbrain, the energies of the SEEKING system are animating the CARE system, which can both foster the good feelings between us and support offers of repair should we have a rupture (Panksepp & Biven, 2012). Once in connection, our ventral vagal parasympathetic system is affecting the prosody of our voices, our facial mobility, and the attentiveness of our listening, maintaining social engagement (Porges, 2011). Since ventral lateralizes to the right hemisphere, we more easily stay rooted in the right-centric way of attending that keeps us in connection with this moment and with each other (McGilchrist, 2009). In this intimacy, our brains are coupling in many regions, so there is an experience of social emotional engagement and embodied communication as we become a single system in two bodies (Hasson, 2010). Because we are trustworthy partners in this healing process, social baseline theory tells us that our amygdalae are calming just because we are together (Beckes & Coan, 2011). All of this is happening without doing anything, even without saying anything, in microseconds below conscious awareness because of the safe space we have cultivated over time. We can more clearly understand why Porges says, "Safety IS the treatment".

Competition has taken place at the wrong levels, and on the wrong things. It has gravitated to a zero-sum competition, in which the gains of one system participant come at the expense of others. Participants compete to shift costs to one another, accumulate bargaining power, and limit services. This kind of competition does not create value for patients, but erodes quality, fosters inefficiency, creates excess capacity, and drives up administrative costs, among other nefarious effects.

There has long been an iron rule in American social welfare policy: conditions must be worse for the dependent poor than for anyone who works. The seldom-acknowledged corollary is that the subsidized care of other people's children must be undesirable enough, or scarce enough, to play a role in this system of deterrence. In the late nineteenth century, charity reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell expressed this view when she insisted that the "honest laborer" should not see the children of the drunkard "enjoy advantages which his own may not hope for.

We got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can't have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven't found the end. Anyway, Leo, if you don't mind sleeping in a dead man's bed, it's yours-Jake Suddenly Leo didn't feel like kicking back. He sat u, careful not to touch any of the buttons. The counselor who died-this was his bed-Leo Yeah. Charles Beckendorf-Jake Leo imagined saw blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows. He didn't, like, die IN this bed, did he-Leo No. In the Titan War, last summer-Jake The Titan War, which has NOTHING to do with this very fine bed-Leo "The Titans," Will said, like Leo was an idiot. The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destoyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them-Will I'm guessing this wasn't on the news-Leo It seemed like a fair question, but Will shook his head in disbelief. You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St Louis-Will Leo shrugged. Last summer, he'd been on the run from another foster home. Then a truancy officer caught him in New Mexico, and the court sentenced him to the nearest correction facility-the Wilderness School. Guess I was busy-Leo Doesn't matter. You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then-Jake Your cabin's been cursed-Leo

We should pick our battles carefully, while simultaneously attempting to empathize a bit with the so-called enemy. We should approach the news and media with a healthy dose of skepticism and avoid painting those who disagree with us with a broad brush. We should prioritize values of being honest, fostering transparency, and welcoming doubt over the values of being right, feeling good, and getting revenge. These “democratic” values are harder to maintain amidst the constant noise of a networked world. But we must accept the responsibility and nurture them regardless. The future stability of our political systems may depend on it.

THE notion of dogma terrifies men who do not understand the Church. They cannot conceive that a religious doctrine may be clothed in a clear, definite and authoritative statement without at once becoming static, rigid and inert and losing all its vitality. In their frantic anxiety to escape from any such conception they take refuge in a system of beliefs that is vague and fluid, a system in which truths pass like mists and waver and vary like shadows. They make their own personal selection of ghosts, in this pale, indefinite twilight of the mind. They take good care never to bring these abstractions out into the full brightness of the sun for fear of a full view of their unsubstantiality. They favor the Catholic mystics with a sort of sympathetic regard, for they believe that these rare men somehow reached the summit of contemplation in defiance of Catholic dogma. Their deep union with God is supposed to have been an escape from the teaching authority of the Church, and an implicit protest against it. But the truth is that the saints arrived at the deepest and most vital and also the most individual and personal knowledge of God precisely because of the Church’s teaching authority, precisely through the tradition that is guarded and fostered by that authority.

There is no guarantee that a socialized economy will always succeed. The state-owned economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union suffered ultimately fatal distortions in their development because of the backlog of poverty and want in the societies they inherited; years of capitalist encirclement, embargo, invasion, devastating wars, and costly arms buildup; poor incentive systems, and a lack of administrative initiative and technological innovation; and a repressive political rule that allowed little critical feedback while fostering stagnation and elitism. Despite all that, the former communist states did transform impoverished countries into relatively advanced societies. Whatever their mistakes and political crimes, they achieved—in countries that were never as rich as ours—what U.S. free-market capitalism cannot and has no intention of accomplishing: adequate food, housing, and clothing for all; economic security in old age; free medical care; free education at all levels; and a guaranteed income. Today by overwhelming majorities, people in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe say that life was better under communism than under the present freemarket system.

Punishment is not care, and poverty is not a crime. We need to create safe, supportive pathways for reentry into the community for all people and especially young people who are left out and act out. Interventions like decriminalizing youthful indiscretions for juvenile offenders and providing foster children and their families with targeted services and support would require significant investment and deliberate collaboration at the community, state, and federal levels, as well as a concerted commitment to dismantling our carceral state. These interventions happen automatically and privately for young offenders who are not poor, whose families can access treatment and hire help, and who have the privilege of living and making mistakes in neighborhoods that are not over-policed. We need to provide, not punish, and to foster belonging and self-sufficiency for our neighbors’ kids. More, funded YMCAs and community centers and summer jobs, for example, would help do this. These kinds of interventions would benefit all the Carloses, Wesleys, Haydens, Franks, and Leons, and would benefit our collective well-being. Only if we consider ourselves bound together can we reimagine our obligation to each other as community. When we consider ourselves bound together in community, the radically civil act of redistributing resources from tables with more to tables with less is not charity, it is responsibility; it is the beginning of reparation. Here is where I tell you that we can change this story, now. If we seek to repair systemic inequalities, we cannot do it with hope and prayers; we have to build beyond the systems and begin not with rehabilitation but prevention. We must reimagine our communities, redistribute our wealth, and give our neighbors access to what they need to live healthy, sustainable lives, too. This means more generous social benefits. This means access to affordable housing, well-resourced public schools, affordable healthcare, jobs, and a higher minimum wage, and, of course, plenty of good food. People ask me what educational policy reform I would suggest investing time and money in, if I had to pick only one. I am tempted to talk about curriculum and literacy, or teacher preparation and salary, to challenge whether police belong in schools, to push back on standardized testing, or maybe debate vocational education and reiterate that educational policy is housing policy and that we cannot consider one without the other. Instead, as a place to start, I say free breakfast and lunch. A singular reform that would benefit all students is the provision of good, free food at school. (Data show that this practice yields positive results; but do we need data to know this?) Imagine what would happen if, across our communities, people had enough to feel fed.

you'll wonder again, later, why so many psychologists remain so vocal about having more and better training than anyone else in the field when every psychologist you've ever met but one will also have lacked these identification skills entirely when it seems nearly every psychologist you meet has no real ability to detect deception. You will wonder, later, why the assessment training appears to have been reserved for the CIA and the FBI is it because we as a society don't want to imagine that any other professionals will need the skills? And what about attorneys? What about training programs for guardian ad litems or anyone involved in approving care for all the already traumatized and marginalized children? You'll have met enough of those children after they grow up to know that when a small girl experiences repeated rapes in a series of households throughout her childhood, then that little girl is pretty likely to have some sort of "dysfunction" when she grows up. And you won't have any tolerance for the people who point their fingers at her and demand that she be as capable as they are it is, after all, a free country. We all get the same opportunities. You'll want to scream at all those equality people that you can't ignore the rights of this nation's children you can't ignore them and then get pissed when any raped and beaten little girls and boys grow up to be traumatized and perhaps hurtful or addicted adults. No more pointing fingers only a few random traumatized people stand up later as some miraculous example of perfectly acceptable societal success and if every judgmental person imagines that I would be like that I would be the one to break through the barriers then all those judgmental people need to go back in time and prove it, prove to everyone that life is a choice and we all get equal chances. You'll want anyone who talks about equal chances to go back and be born addicted to drugs in complete poverty and then to be dropped into a foster system that's designed for good but exploited by people who lack a conscience by people who rape and molest and whip and beat tiny little six year olds and then you will want all those people to come out of all that still talking about equal chances and their personal tremendous success. Thank you, dear God, for writing my name on the palm of your hand. You will be angry and yet you still won't understand the concept of evil. You'll learn enough to know that it's not politically correct to call anyone evil, especially when many terrible acts might actually stem from a physiological deficit I would never use the word evil, it's not professional but you will certainly come to understand that many of the very worst crimes are committed by people who lack the capacity to feel remorse for what they've done on any level. But when you gain that understanding, you still will not have learned that these individuals are more likable than most people that they aren't cool and distant that they aren't just a select few creepy murderers or high-profile con artists you won't know how to look for a lack of conscience in noncriminal and quite normal looking populations no clinical professors will have warned you about people who exude charm and talk excessively about protecting the family or protecting the community or protecting our way of life and you won't know that these types would ever stick around to raise kids you will have falsely believed that if they can't form real attachments, they won't bother with raising children and besides most of them will end up in prison you will not know that your assumptions are completely erroneous you won't understand that many who lack a conscience keep their kids close and tight for their own purposes.

Sally is going to be in the foster system for those six months whether she is in your home or not.

Lost and alone… After her mother’s death, Lyra grew up in the foster care system, struggling to hide who she is from the humans who found enough wrong with her. Never fitting in anywhere, she learned to adapt, hiding the damaged parts of herself as best she could. Until the night three men tore her world apart—one with a cry to come home, one with a desire to hurt her, and one with a possessive look that calls to the spirit inside her. A mated mongrel… Aleksy Costas is a primal beast in human skin. Part Bengal, part panther, part lion, he’s a creation of spliced DNA that even other shifters give a wide berth. When a mission takes him into a bar in the heart of Chicago, he finds the one person he never believed existed. Now, he’ll do anything to save her. Mine… Captured and tortured, Lyra prays for a savior, never expecting the man who steps out of the shadows and breaks her free. It’s not safety he brings, but a cataclysm of lust and need that only his touch can quench. A bond is forming between them, but is it strong enough to withstand the battle brewing around them, one that will change everything in the war between hunters and shifters?

Her act of cowardice that resulted in her death had catapulted Cara and Hana into the challenging and unfair foster-care system where they’d floundered for the rest of their childhood.

Mary slips her handbag onto her shoulder and she straightens her suit jacket as I digest this, and then she adds very quietly, “If you ask me, if the state really wanted to help women like your sister, wouldn’t they put the thousands of dollars they’ll spend on her trial and incarcerating her into early intervention programs, or research into addiction? Or Lord, if it’s really all about the baby— wouldn’t you funnel the funds into setting up a better foster care system or maybe some parenting classes that actually help?” “So why don’t they?” I ask, and Mary sighs and shakes her head. “Well, it’s a little bit like this. Half the town is on fire, and the townspeople are all so busy hollering for the fire brigade that no one thinks to find out why people are still playing with matches.

Helping a foster child today may save a broken adult tomorrow.

For many of them, turning eighteen meant aging out of the foster-care system. They could find themselves with nowhere to live and no support system.

When you start graduate school, everyone thinks of the world so differently. You have this idealistic view that there’s this beautiful system put in place by the government and, ultimately, the universe that’s designed to keep kids safe and bring people to justice. It only took a few months in actual practice for my entire perception and worldview to shift. Not just on foster care; it made me question everything. Seeing humanity at its worst has that effect on people, and you never know how you’ll respond to a child who’s been kept in a cupboard and fed dog food until you meet your first one. Lots of people change programs or majors because they can’t make the shift.

But part of living in a democracy and a free society is that we all have to deal with views and people we don’t necessarily like. That’s simply the price we pay—you could even say it’s the whole point of the system. And it seems more and more people are forgetting that. We should pick our battles carefully, while simultaneously attempting to empathize a bit with the so-called enemy. We should approach the news and media with a healthy dose of skepticism and avoid painting those who disagree with us with a broad brush. We should prioritize values of being honest, fostering transparency, and welcoming doubt over the values of being right, feeling good, and getting revenge. These “democratic” values are harder to maintain amidst the constant noise of a networked world. But we must accept the responsibility and nurture them regardless. The future stability of our political systems may depend on it.

Infants and toddlers are the most vulnerable cohort of children in the child welfare system.  Infants and toddlers enter foster care at a rate that is three times the rate of older children, remain in foster care 22% longer than older children, and are significantly less likely to be reunited with their families than older children (Kemp & Bodonyi, 2000).  One study found that the median length of stay for children who entered the foster care system as infants under the age of one year was approximately 48 months (Kempy & Bodonyi, 2000).

Children who are permanently separated from their parents face a mourning process that is similar to children’s reactions to a parent’s death. In fact, the parents, with their connection and resources and care, are permanently lost to children. The literature that describes children’s reactions to a loss of the parent through death is quite relevant to the population of later-placed adopted children, or children in the foster care system who have lost attachment figures.

At the time of birth, a child’s brain weighs approximately 400 grams and is the only organ that is not yet fully developed (Scientific Learning Corporation, 1999).  By the age of three, the brain has grown to approximately 1100 grams, or approximately 80 percent of its adult size (Scientific Learning Corporation, 1999).  During the time between birth and age three, a child’s brain develops more connections and acquires more knowledge than at any other period in life.  According to Bruce Perry, “the human brain develops to approximately 85 percent of its adult size in the first three years of life and puts in place the majority of systems and structures for all future emotional, behavioral, social, and physiological functioning” (2009).  In addition, research shows that brain growth is cumulative; that is, future growth is dependent on the establishment of a healthy foundation during the early stages of development (Gamache, Mirabell, & Avery, 2006).

Presently, there are two foster parent training programs that are used and widely accepted as the gold standard.  The trainings are the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting Group Preparation and Selection of Foster and Adoptive Families (MAPP) and Foster Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education (PRIDE).  “Both include a wide focus on the knowledge and skills necessary to work within the child welfare system and emphasize core values of foster care.  Both have been criticized for their relatively substantial attention to procedures and policies and relatively brief attention to issues involved in effectively meeting the needs of troubled youth (particularly their scant focus on managing difficult behaviors)” (Dorsey, et al., 2008 p.).

the problems that exist for children in foster care today exist right up the chain of the administration that serves them. Professionals should be aware of their own personal feelings of insecurity (about the salient issues in adoption), confusion about their roles, manipulation, and fear of loss or change that is also replicated in the system as a whole. These problems, as they are played out by the government, the agencies, workers, caretakers, parents, and other adults, do not give a child much hope for change.

Sure, she was going to turn eighteen in less than a year. She’d been in the system long enough to know that eighteenth birthdays weren’t marked by celebrations. When the checks stopped coming, she’d be on her own. “Aging out” of foster care meant becoming homeless. She’d heard stories of kids ending up in jail and hospital emergency rooms, selling drugs, living on welfare and food stamps. How desperate did a person have to become before they broke the law to survive? For now, things were good, and she didn’t want to mess that up.

most of the cases follow a similar path that has four pretty distinct phases—the home study phase, the licensing phase, the matching phase and the finalization phase. Regardless of your state or your agency, you’ve generally got to successfully navigate these four parts of the process to complete your adoption through the foster care system.

the foster-to-adopt experience is not one of those times where trying to skate by with a bare minimum of knowledge is going to cut it. There are just too many decisions, too many forks in the road, too many implications to not be on top of your game. And really, this is probably one thing in life where you DO want to be on top of your game. It’s a crazy enough situation when you know what you’re doing! Not having an understanding of the system, the politics, or the twists and turns would be maddening at least and at most, could result in you making a bad decision or a mistake that has long term consequences on your life and the life of your child. So I hate to break it to you if you thought you’d picked up your last textbook back in school, but there are several steps along the way where you’ll need to do some research in order to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.

the estimated U.S. population in 2016 is over 322-million (322,762,018) and the worldwide population is estimated at over 7.4-billion, with fostered and adopted children "over-represented" in U.S. prisons and psychiatric facilities where they are subjected to a myriad of abuses in these systems.

What I resent most about the foster care system is that workers never made any genuine effort to reunite me with my family or at least help me to develop a relationship. I feel like I haven't been at home for 5 years because home to me was a little rundown farmhouse where I lived with my father and my brother. If child welfare systems are really in the business for the welfare of children, then my only advice would be to treat them as you would treat your own children.

In most states, on the day that a child in foster care turns eighteen, these supports largely disappear. The people who once attended to that child’s needs are now either unable or unwilling to continue; a new case demands their time, a new child requires the bed.

Try to imagine that you have just turned eighteen and have been put out of your foster home. You may have amassed some savings from a part-time job and received a one-time “emancipation” grant, but you don’t have a job. You have no idea where you’ll sleep tonight, let alone next week or next month. Your belongings are packed into two plastic bags. Your family is unable to help, and may even have disappeared. Further clouding your prospects are your educational deficits and a history of trouble with the law. You read at a seventh grade level. You were held back a grade, and you have a police record.1 What kind of future would you predict for yourself? Can you cope with: • Sudden homelessness, at least temporarily, while you wander through the referral maze? • Difficulty finding a job, since you don’t have a permanent address or even the basic documents you need—like a birth certificate and a Social Security card—to fill out a job application or a W-4? • An interruption in your education, not just because of the cost, but also because of complex eligibility requirements and your inability to document your school record? • The pressure to engage in unhealthy or even illegal behaviors as a means of survival?   Whatever you are imagining as your fate, the reality is much worse for many youth who age out of foster care. Data from several studies paint a troubling picture. Within a few years of leaving foster care: • Only slightly more than half of these young people have graduated from high school, compared with 85 percent of all youth eighteen to twenty-four years old. • One-fourth have endured some period of homelessness. • Almost two-thirds have not maintained employment for a year. • Four out of ten have become parents. • Not even one in five is completely self-supporting. • One in four males and one in ten females have spent time in jail.2

The psychological trauma created by the removal, combined with the neglect or abuse that preceded it, leaves the child forever changed and forever different from other children.

Although Hollywood commonly portrays children in foster care as toddlers clutching teddy bears, nearly one-half are eleven or older. And about one-fifth—103,500—are sixteen or older.

Although the rise in overall numbers has made it increasingly difficult to find family settings for all ages of children, this is especially true for teenagers. They are by nature rebellious and difficult to work with, so relatively few foster families are willing to try. As a result, only 60 percent of children fourteen and older live in foster or pre-adoptive homes, compared with more than 90 percent of younger children.

group homes or large residential institutions where many teens live, their caretakers are often poorly paid shift workers; despite the low wages, care in these settings costs taxpayers up to ten times the cost of family foster care. Over time, many teens experience stays in both settings.

Although white children and African American children land in foster care in roughly equal numbers, African American children are disproportionately likely both to enter foster care and to remain there until they become adults, a troubling phenomenon. African American children account for only 15 percent of all children in the United States, but they accounted for 27 percent of those entering care in 2003 (the last year for which national data are available) and 35 percent of those in care.8

Each year, between 18,500 and 25,000 teenagers “age out” of foster care by virtue of reaching the age at which their legal right to foster care ends

They projected an illusion of warmth with their home-cooking and hand-stitched quilts, yet underneath the facade was an institutional rigidity, as if they were running an orphanage where children would be fed and cared for but never loved. Love was such a key ingredient in molding humans, yet it was inaccessible to kids inside of the system.

There are many facets to the decline in fairness and opportunity in American life. Perhaps the worst are the conditions now imposed upon young children born into the underclass and subjected to the recent evolution of the educational system. They are related, and they reinforce each other; their combined result is to condemn tens of millions of children, particularly those born into the new underclass, to a life of hardship and unfairness. For any young child whose parents don’t have money, or who is the child of a migrant agricultural worker and/or an illegal immigrant, prenatal care, nursery, day care, after school, school nutrition, and foster-care systems are nothing short of appalling. And then comes school itself. The “American dream”, stated simply, is that no matter how poor or humble your origins—even if you never knew your parents—you have a shot at a decent life. America’s promise is that anyone willing to work hard can do better over time, and have at least a reasonable life for themselves and their own children. You could expect to do better than your parents, and even be able to help them as they grew old. More than ever before, the key to such a dream is a good education. The rise of information technology, and the opening of Asian economies, means that only a small portion of America’s population can make a good living through unskilled or manual labour. But instead of elevating the educational system and the opportunities it should provide, American politicians, and those who follow their lead around the globe, have been going in exactly the wrong direction. As a result, we are developing not a new class system, but, without exaggeration, a new caste system—a society in which the circumstances of your birth determine your entire life. As a result, the dream of opportunity is dying. Increasingly, the most important determinant of a child’s life prospects—future income, wealth, educational level, even health and life expectancy—is totally arbitrary and unfair. It’s also very simple. A child’s future is increasingly determined by his or her parents’ wealth, not by his or her intelligence or energy. To be sure, there are a number of reasons for this. Income is correlated with many other things, and it’s therefore difficult to isolate the impact of individual factors. Children in poor households are more likely to grow up in single-parent versus two-parent households, exposed to drugs and alcohol, with one or both parents in prison, with their immigration status questionable, and more likely to have problems with diet and obesity. Culture and race play a role: Asian children have far higher school graduation rates, test scores, and grades than all other groups, including whites, in the US; Latinos, the lowest.

He didn’t quite trust him but didn’t want to be responsible for creating an orphan. He knew firsthand what it was like growing up in the foster care system.

Placing them in a safe and stable environment where they can flourish may be the most important and fundamental service these young people require. As the authors’ personal histories reveal, the foster care system seldom provides either safety or stability. Perhaps

More and more, I am of the opinion that part, if not much of the problem with the child welfare system, is that most of those administering and leading the system have never experienced it as a consumer of its services and seldom do they seek guidance and input from their clients. This is a bit like asking a third-generation millionaire to explain poverty and develop methods to eradicate homelessness.

The lack of personal experience of child welfare executives and leaders might be a serious handicap in understanding and implementing the subtle nuances required for systemic improvement.

With respect to children who grow up in the care of the state, good intentions that lack follow-through pave the way to Hell for far too many of them. They deserve a system where the policies, programs and people entrusted with their care treat them as well as would loving parents who are caring for their own offspring. That is the raison d’etre for parens patriae, its “soul” purpose. The authors believe that most professionals who work with children strive each day to make a positive difference.

Screen foster families carefully, monitor them closely and train them well. Too many vulnerable foster children suffer physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect and even death at the hands of those charged with protecting us. Maltreatment by caregivers damages our emotional stability, creating trust issues and other psychological problems that fester deep inside, negatively affecting our behaviors and outlook on life, often . . . too often . . . translating into adjustment problems that handicap our potential to adapt and succeed in childhood and beyond. Monitor our progress carefully, being sensitive to sudden or dramatic changes that may symbolize our unsophisticated “cry for help.” Advocate on our behalf and safeguard us as you would your own children and we will flourish. Fail to do so, and as surely as day becomes night, we will suffer the consequences both during and after we leave the system.

There must be a holistic approach to developing transitional plans for youth aging out of the system. Dumping us onto the streets at eighteen without support and guidance further emphasizes our lack of value, and hamstrings our future.

What one thing would you do in your state to improve the foster care system?” I could only think about how much I missed my brother and sister. Frightened as I was, I put on my best smile and told them how important it is to keep siblings together because sometimes that is the only remaining connection to family we have left. Not knowing who your biological mother and father are is already too much to handle, but then losing your siblings in the system destroys any remaining sense of belonging.

Trust is another issue that threatens the well-being of children growing up in out-of-home care. Disconnected from loved ones and given little or no say over what happens to them, these young people develop defense mechanisms to guard their emotions and protect themselves from a system of caregivers that does not always treat them as loving parents would. Instead, too many of these children and adolescents become victims of the adults entrusted with their care.

the absurdity of conducting interviews in the presence of caregivers and expecting victims to expose abuse, maltreatment or other problems they have with the people responsible for their welfare. Danita Echols disclosed how the foster care system emphasizes completing bureaucratic paperwork over conducting social work with the children in its care. A system not in tune with its mission does not inspire trust in its clients.

After years of relying on strangers to supply nearly everything and to make the majority of important decisions about their lives and welfare, the system emancipates them at the tender age of 18. Already traumatized by the problems that required removal from their families, and then further distressed by a system insensitive to their emotional needs, these confused young people must now magically adopt the ways of mature adults and integrate into society successfully. This is a sequence of events doomed to undermine healthy adult outcomes. Only

The government and its systems of care are indeed poor parents, and vulnerable young people must endure the consequences. That is why so many foster youths exit the child welfare system unprepared to succeed, only to suffer disproportionately high rates of adjustment problems, such as poverty, imprisonment, homelessness, pregnancy, prostitution, substance abuse and premature death. This certainly is not how a loving parent serves the best interests of the child.

For as many as 25,000 other children who reach their eighteenth birthdays each year, the emotions are similar. But there is a defining difference. These are young people who step through a doorway into a world full of unknowns, without the connections and supports that other children take for granted. Something has happened in their lives that forever makes them different: Usually through no fault of their own, they were taken away from their families and placed in foster care.1 They entered a bureaucratic system peopled with strangers who had complete control over where they lived, where they went to school, and even whether they ever saw their families again. The supports in their lives were not people who loved them, but people who were paid for the roles they played—caseworkers, judges, attorneys, and either shift workers in group homes or a succession of often kind, but always temporary, foster parents. In most states, on the day that a child in foster care turns eighteen, these supports largely disappear. The people who once attended to that child’s needs are now either unable or unwilling to continue; a new case demands their time, a new child requires the bed. There is often no one with whom to share small successes. And with no one to approach for advice, garden-variety emergencies—a flat tire, a stolen wallet, a missing birth certificate—escalate into full-blown crises.

One must ask why government is so reluctant to publish factual data on children in its care.  Unlike the single issue anti-Vietnam War protesters of the 1960s, the more recent “Occupy Wall Street” protesters on the streets and on college campuses nationwide have been protesting not only the larger issue of "corporate greed" and the "buying of Congress," but also resulting issues of a bleeding economy such as the rising cost of tuition, insurmountable student debt, biased economics classes and 15%  unemployment. There has never  been mass protesting  against profits outweighing the needs of the children and adults trapped in America’s failed Foster Care, Adoption and Prison systems  --  in part because each of these complex industries separate, isolate  and effectively censor and brainwash its victims under color of state confidentiality laws. 

In a world pulsating with constant motion and demands, the pursuit of health often becomes a beacon guiding us through the tumultuous seas of life. Health is not merely the absence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. It is a precious asset, intricately woven into the fabric of our existence, impacting every facet of our lives. Understanding Health Holistically Health transcends the boundaries of the physical body, encompassing mental and emotional fortitude as well. It is the harmonious interplay between these dimensions that fosters a sense of equilibrium and vitality. Nurturing health, therefore, necessitates a holistic approach that attends to the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. Cultivating Physical Vitality The cornerstone of physical health lies in nurturing our bodies with proper nutrition, regular exercise, and ample rest. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains provides the essential nutrients to fuel our bodies and fortify our immune systems. Likewise, engaging in regular physical activity not only strengthens muscles and bones but also uplifts mood and enhances cognitive function. Adequate sleep is equally paramount, as it rejuvenates our bodies, bolsters immunity, and consolidates memories. Nurturing Mental Well-Being The mind, a sanctuary of thoughts and emotions, demands tender care and cultivation. Mental well-being flourishes in an environment of self-compassion, mindfulness, and resilience. Practicing mindfulness, through meditation or deep breathing exercises, fosters a sense of presence and tranquility, allowing us to navigate the ebb and flow of life with grace. Moreover, cultivating meaningful connections with others, nurturing hobbies and interests, and seeking professional support when needed, are indispensable tools in nurturing mental resilience and fortitude. Embracing Emotional Balance Emotions, the kaleidoscope of human experience, are an intrinsic aspect of our being. Embracing our emotions with openness and acceptance allows us to harness their transformative power, rather than being swept away by their tide. Emotional intelligence, the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions, empowers us to navigate the complexities of interpersonal relationships with empathy and grace. Furthermore, fostering a sense of purpose and meaning in life imbues our existence with a profound sense of fulfillment and contentment, nurturing emotional equilibrium. Cultivating Social Connections Human beings are inherently social creatures, wired for connection and belonging. Cultivating meaningful relationships with family, friends, and community fosters a sense of belonging and support, buffering against the storms of life. Engaging in acts of kindness and compassion not only enriches the lives of others but also nourishes our own sense of well-being and fulfillment. Conclusion In the tapestry of life, health is the golden thread weaving its way through every experience, illuminating our path with vitality and resilience. Nurturing health is not merely a destination but rather an ongoing journey, requiring diligence, self-awareness, and a commitment to holistic well-being. By tending to the interconnected dimensions of mind, body, and spirit, we pave the way for a life imbued with vibrancy, purpose, and fulfillment.

In a world pulsating with constant motion and demands, the pursuit of health often becomes a beacon guiding us through the tumultuous seas of life. Health is not merely the absence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. It is a precious asset, intricately woven into the fabric of our existence, impacting every facet of our lives. Understanding Health Holistically Health transcends the boundaries of the physical body, encompassing mental and emotional fortitude as well. It is the harmonious interplay between these dimensions that fosters a sense of equilibrium and vitality. Nurturing health, therefore, necessitates a holistic approach that attends to the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. Cultivating Physical Vitality The cornerstone of physical health lies in nurturing our bodies with proper nutrition, regular exercise, and ample rest. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains provides the essential nutrients to fuel our bodies and fortify our immune systems. Likewise, engaging in regular physical activity not only strengthens muscles and bones but also uplifts mood and enhances cognitive function. Adequate sleep is equally paramount, as it rejuvenates our bodies, bolsters immunity, and consolidates memories. Nurturing Mental Well-Being The mind, a sanctuary of thoughts and emotions, demands tender care and cultivation. Mental well-being flourishes in an environment of self-compassion, mindfulness, and resilience. Practicing mindfulness, through meditation or deep breathing exercises, fosters a sense of presence and tranquility, allowing us to navigate the ebb and flow of life with grace. Moreover, cultivating meaningful connections with others, nurturing hobbies and interests, and seeking professional support when needed, are indispensable tools in nurturing mental resilience and fortitude. Embracing Emotional Balance Emotions, the kaleidoscope of human experience, are an intrinsic aspect of our being. Embracing our emotions with openness and acceptance allows us to harness their transformative power, rather than being swept away by their tide. Emotional intelligence, the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions, empowers us to navigate the complexities of interpersonal relationships with empathy and grace. Furthermore, fostering a sense of purpose and meaning in life imbues our existence with a profound sense of fulfillment and contentment, nurturing emotional equilibrium. Cultivating Social Connections Human beings are inherently social creatures, wired for connection and belonging. Cultivating meaningful relationships with family, friends, and community fosters a sense of belonging and support, buffering against the storms of life. Engaging in acts of kindness and compassion not only enriches the lives of others but also nourishes our own sense of well-being and fulfillment. Conclusion In the tapestry of life, health is the golden thread weaving its way through every experience, illuminating our path with vitality and resilience. Nurturing health is not merely a destination but rather an ongoing journey, requiring diligence, self-awareness, and a commitment to holistic well-being. By tending to the interconnected dimensions of mind, body, and spirit, we pave the way for a life imbued with vibrancy, purpose, and fulfillment.

In a world pulsating with constant motion and demands, the pursuit of health often becomes a beacon guiding us through the tumultuous seas of life. Health is not merely the absence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. It is a precious asset, intricately woven into the fabric of our existence, impacting every facet of our lives. Understanding Health Holistically Health transcends the boundaries of the physical body, encompassing mental and emotional fortitude as well. It is the harmonious interplay between these dimensions that fosters a sense of equilibrium and vitality. Nurturing health, therefore, necessitates a holistic approach that attends to the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. Cultivating Physical Vitality The cornerstone of physical health lies in nurturing our bodies with proper nutrition, regular exercise, and ample rest. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains provides the essential nutrients to fuel our bodies and fortify our immune systems. Likewise, engaging in regular physical activity not only strengthens muscles and bones but also uplifts mood and enhances cognitive function. Adequate sleep is equally paramount, as it rejuvenates our bodies, bolsters immunity, and consolidates memories. Nurturing Mental Well-Being The mind, a sanctuary of thoughts and emotions, demands tender care and cultivation. Mental well-being flourishes in an environment of self-compassion, mindfulness, and resilience. Practicing mindfulness, through meditation or deep breathing exercises, fosters a sense of presence and tranquility, allowing us to navigate the ebb and flow of life with grace. Moreover, cultivating meaningful connections with others, nurturing hobbies and interests, and seeking professional support when needed, are indispensable tools in nurturing mental resilience and fortitude. Embracing Emotional Balance Emotions, the kaleidoscope of human experience, are an intrinsic aspect of our being. Embracing our emotions with openness and acceptance allows us to harness their transformative power, rather than being swept away by their tide. Emotional intelligence, the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions, empowers us to navigate the complexities of interpersonal relationships with empathy and grace. Furthermore, fostering a sense of purpose and meaning in life imbues our existence with a profound sense of fulfillment and contentment, nurturing emotional equilibrium. Cultivating Social Connections Human beings are inherently social creatures, wired for connection and belonging. Cultivating meaningful relationships with family, friends, and community fosters a sense of belonging and support, buffering against the storms of life. Engaging in acts of kindness and compassion not only enriches the lives of others but also nourishes our own sense of well-being and fulfillment. Conclusion In the tapestry of life, health is the golden thread weaving its way through every experience, illuminating our path with vitality and resilience. Nurturing health is not merely a destination but rather an ongoing journey, requiring diligence, self-awareness, and a commitment to holistic well-being. By tending to the interconnected dimensions of mind, body, and spirit, we pave the way for a life imbued with vibrancy, purpose, and fulfillment.

What I've learned from reading alien abduction romances: Women who grew up in the foster care system are 98 times more likely to be abducted by aliens.

Blame is like mould, like weeds, you can foster or inhibit it. Give it nooks and crannies to hunker down, and bits of detritus to feed on, and it grows. The more guidelines and criteria you publish, the more pressure points and feelings of entitlement you set up. Then the culture of blame flourishes, bogging us all down. But if policies come from above--" I pointed a finger heavenwards. "--based on our careful understanding of the system as a whole, then the day-to-day administration can be clean and smooth. There are fewer places for blame to put its roots.

The foster care system should not be used solely to house children but should be used to help them heal.

When we place children to fill beds, we are creating a system of temporary housing rather than a long-term solution of finding children their forever, safe, and loving families.

Name: Ava Mage Sign: Virgo Birthday: September 21st Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Straight Appearance: [ Mackenzie Foy Net (hide spoiler)] Face Claim: Mackenzie Foy Personality: She's generally outgoing and somewhat hyper. She's quiet when she's upset and is a good listener. Because of her past she gets triggered by certain smells like stale alcohol or cigarette smoke. She loves being outside and in nature, especially camping. She is loyal to those she loves and will never let you down. History: Ava Mage was born on September 21st and put straight into the foster care system where she was her entire life until she emancipated at 16. Each household she was in got progressively worse as she got older. As soon as she got out of the system she learned self defense so she would never be taken advantage of again. She bounced around for a little while not really making any friends. She's found a place to settle down and is an event planner/photographer. Likes: Photography Cheesecake Camping Hiking Coffee Dancing Fall Animals Reading Dislikes: Green beans controlling people Love language: Words of affirmation/gift giving/ physical touch Style:[ Drink Coffee Read Books Be Happy Sweatshirt Book Shirt - Etsy (hide spoiler)

My name is Olivia King I am five years old. My mother bought me a balloon. I remember the day she walked through the front door with it. The curly hot-pink ribbon trickling down her arm, wrapped around her wrist. She was smiling at me as she untied the ribbon and wrapped it around my hand. “Here, Livie, I bought this for you.” She called me Livie. I was so happy. I’d never had a balloon before. I mean, I always saw balloons wrapped around other kids’ wrists in the parking lot of Walmart, but I never dreamed I would have my very own. My very own pink balloon. I was so excited! So ecstatic! So thrilled! I couldn’t believe my mother bought me something! She’d never bought me anything before! I played with it for hours. It was full of helium, and it danced and swayed and floated as I pulled it around from room to room with me, thinking of places to take it. Thinking of places the balloon had never been before. I took it into the bathroom, the closet, the laundry room, the kitchen, the living room. I wanted my new best friend to see everything I saw! I took it to my mother’s bedroom! My mother’s Bedroom? Where I wasn’t supposed to be? With my pink balloon… I covered my ears as she screamed at me, wiping the evidence off of her nose. She slapped me across the face and reminded me of how bad I was! How much I misbehaved! How I never listened! She shoved me into the hallway and slammed the door, locking my pink balloon inside with her. I wanted him back! He was my best friend! Not hers! The pink ribbon was still tied around my wrist so I pulled and pulled, trying to get my new best friend away from her. And it popped. My name is Eddie. I’m seventeen years old. My birthday is next week. I’ll be the big One-Eight. My foster dad is buying me these boots I’ve been wanting. I’m sure my friends will take me out to eat. My boyfriend will buy me a gift, maybe even take me to a movie. I’ll even get a nice little card from my foster-care worker, wishing me a happy eighteenth birthday, informing me I’ve aged out of the system. I’ll have a good time. I know I will. But there’s one thing I know for sure. I better not get any shitty-ass pink balloons!

Name: Nova Jay Age: 16 Godly Parent: Hestia Years at Camp: 6 Preferred Weapon (no guns guys): Knives or her powers of fire Appearance: (Please include a link or something) (view spoiler). Personality: She's hyper. She loves reading and drawing and longs for a love that only exists in books. She enjoys the outdoors, and is always willing to help out. She loves watching animals, but doesn't have a pet herself. But under all of her upbeat personality she has a temper. But she has a huge sweet tooth and will forgive you if you bring her something sweet. History: Nova Jay was found as an infant in the remains of a burned down cabin and was put into the foster care system. After running away from a particularly bad home at the age of 10 she found her way to camp half-blood by chance and there was where she found out who her mother was. She came to her powers at the age of 12 Family (Outside the gods): Crush/Bf/Gf: None yet Strongest Skill: Creativity Weakest Skill: Her emotions and mind are just as crazy as her personality can be

Every American should be able to expect certain standards, freedoms, benefits, and opportunities form a twenty-first-century health system. If they are willing to participate and be responsible, they will gain: •Improved health; •Longer lives with a much better quality of life; •A more convenient, understandable and personalized experience -- all at a lower cost; •Access to the best course of treatment for their particular illness and their unique characteristics; •A system that fosters and encourages innovation, competition, and better outcomes for patients; •A system that truly values the impact that medical innovation has on patients and their caregivers as well as on society as a whole; •A government that facilitates and accelerates extraordinary opportunities to improve health and health care; •Continuous but unobtrusive 24/7 monitoring of their general health, chronic conditions, and acute health problems; •Access to the most modern medical knowledge and breakthroughs, including the most advanced technologies, therapies and drugs, unimpeded by government-imposed price controls or rationing; •The chance to increase their personal knowledge by learning from a transparent system of information about their diagnosis, costs and alternative solutions; •A continuously improving, competitive, patient-focused medical world in which new therapies, new technologies, and new drugs are introduced as rapidly and safely as possible -- and not a day later; •Greater price and market competition, innovation and smarter health care spending; •A system of financing that includes insurance, government, charities, and self-funding that ensures access to health and health care for every American at the lowest possible cost without allowing financing and short-term budgetary considerations to distort and weaken the delivery of care; •Genuine insurance to facilitate access to dramatically better care, rather than the current system, which is myopically focused on monthly or annual payments; •A health system in which third parties and government bureaucrats do not impede the best course of treatment that doctors and their patients decide on; •A health system in which seniors, veterans, or others under government health programs receive the same quality of care as their children in private markt systems. Big reforms are required to transform today’s expensive, obsolete health bureaucracy into a system that conforms to these principles.

Harmony King had been running for a long time. At first, she was always running toward something—more specifically, toward freedom. Growing up in the foster care system would not be how she’d chosen to start life,

relations.50 The idea of collective child-rearing was not unique to kibbutzim. It has been periodically attempted as a desired social disruption since antiquity. Plato believed that raising children communally would result in children treating all men as their fathers and thus more respectfully.51 Communist societies have also been associated with collective child-rearing; the family is seen as a threat to state ideology because it fosters a sense of belonging to a family unit, and totalitarian ideology requires that family allegiance be subordinated to allegiance to the party or state. Liberal political theory has also struggled with the issue of the family being an obstacle to an egalitarian society (for example, because child care and family life generally impose greater constraints on women).52 But attempts to fundamentally restructure or minimize the bond between parent and child have very rarely, if ever, endured.53 While mild forms of collective child-rearing are found in cultures all around the world (and in some other mammalian species, as we will see in chapter 7), they typically involve forms of alloparental care, whereby relatives share child-care duties. Dormitory sleeping arrangements for infants (of the kind initially attempted by the kibbutzim) are extremely rare. A 1971 survey of 183 societies around the world found that none maintained such a system.54 As in many utopian communities, the organization of child-rearing was motivated largely by adult imperatives. If men and women were to be treated truly equally, collective parenting might be seen as an obvious structural necessity, regardless of its implications for individual children and their development. Historian Steven Mintz noted in Huck’s Raft, his sweeping work on American childhood, that almost every innovation in child welfare in the United States, including orphanages and subsidized child care, has been driven primarily by adult concerns. Of secondary importance were philosophical and pragmatic convictions about what was best for children.55 As radical as communes may be in some key respects, they generally play by adult rules in regard to children, whose needs and concerns have never been, as far as I can tell, the primary motivation for any utopian community (even though some of them had amazing schools and treated children kindly). Setting up utopias seems to be like sex in at least one way: it is oriented to adult satisfaction.

If no relatives can be located who are willing to take the children, they may come into legal custody of the state and may be placed into nonrelative foster care-LEARN ABOUT KINSHIP CARE AND THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM,C Author, V J SMITH BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK BOOKS

moved to the aura-based system. That's part of development: You throw stuff out there, and it works or it doesn't." Ultimately, however, auras passed the Blizzard North test: If a proposal's merit held up after testing, it made the cut. Auras became a defining characteristic of the Paladin. His assortment of combat skills and defensive auras enabled solo players to survive and thrive on their own, while Paladin players were sought after on Battle.net for the benefits their auras granted to parties. To fully upgrade each of any hero's thirty skills would require 600 skill points. The maximum character-level is 99, meaning players will never receive enough points to master—fully upgrade—all thirty skills. That limitation forces them to make difficult choices: maximize proficiency in a few skills, focus on a half dozen, or potentially spread themselves thin to become competent in all abilities but a master of none. Because each hero's skills are exclusive, all players wind up specializing simply by choosing a class. From there they only specialize further, investing heavily in some skills, spending a single point in others to satisfy requirements for later abilities, and ignoring most of the rest. Those limitations are not meant to restrain players, but to encourage them to think carefully about upgrades. The thought they put into skill points creates a bond between players and their avatars, and the satisfaction that comes from seeing a character evolve—as well as choosing each and every piece of a character's equipment load—feeds into Dave Brevik's peacock mentality: No two players were likely to spec out the same hero. In fact, a single player could roll several Amazons or Paladins and develop each differently. In a way, assigning exclusive skills to Diablo II's heroes was more limiting than Diablo's spell books, which could be read and cast by any of the game's three heroes as long as players dumped enough experience points into their Magic stat. Blizzard North's team saw that limitation as a good thing. It fostered agency, asking players to play an active role in evolving their characters.

More than half the kids in the Canadian foster care system are Indigenous and yet they make up only 7.7 percent of the general population.

At the time this book was set, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder wasn’t widely known about. Now it’s thought to be the most common, non-genetic cause of learning disability in the UK. Research suggests that every year 7,000 babies in the UK are born with FASD. Adolescents and adults with FASD are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and more than 70 per cent of children with FASD have been in the care system. There is now a specialist clinic in the UK for assessing and treating children and adults with FASD.

Marion worked in a special needs school for years and she realised that once children with learning difficulties in the care system reach sixteen, there’s very little provision for them going forward. They’re either put into assisted living and struggle or else they’re put into care homes and end up completely institutionalised.

The fact that I forgo having a father precisely because I do not recognize him as my genitor is an altogether different matter. I seek a man for whom I can feel respect. This is possible even in Eumeswil, albeit exceptional. One finds spiritual foster fathers. The bonds one forms with them are stronger than those of blood. Of course, such a statement must be handled with care, for a material substratum will always be present. In this respect, one owes one's father the link to an infinite network. In the act of procreation, he celebrates a mystery that is unknown even to him. His intrinsic nature might perish in it. Thus, we could be more closely related to an uncle or a distant forebear than to him. Genealogists and also biologists are familiar with such surprises; they often shatter their system. The genetic burden is endless; it reaches all the way into the inanimate world. It can bring forth creatures that died out long ago. This digression may indicate why I prefer adoption to natural kinship. The fatherhood becomes spiritual; we are chosen rela­tives and not natural ones. Thus, Eros must also prevail in spiri­tual kinship; adoption is a more sublime repetition of godfather­ing. We pick the godfather, the pater spiritualis; and he recognizes himself in us—he accepts us. That is a contact to which we owe life, albeit in a different, an—I dare say—immortal manner. I do not wish to speak of the heart; this is not the right place. My birth and the surroundings in which I was put may explain why I felt this kinship with three academic teachers, three profes­sors. If I had had a vocation for craft, art, religion, war, I would have had different models—and different ones again had I opted for a criminal career. During the tuna fishing, I watch the rais and his fishermen performing the drudgery; their obedience is simply the equip­ment of the trust that binds them to him; he is their leader, they have elected him. More fatherhood is to be felt here—even when he treats them severely—than when I sit with my old man, who swims in stagnant waters.

Teenagers placed in foster care feel broken and unwanted. They have told me that they feel like lepers. They need the Advocate, Jesus himself. Often they feel marked and shamed. Outsiders. Rejects. Even the rules of the system work against them. They need grace. We need grace. Contagious grace.