The Numbers
This post is part 2 in a series of 3. Read about The Need in part 1.
Currently there are almost half a million children in foster care in the United States of America (427,910 as of the last officially published numbers). This includes both children who have been removed from their home and placed into a foster home while their parent(s) work toward reunification and also the over 100,000 children whose parents have completely lost their rights and are just waiting for families to step up and adopt them. The numbers are staggering. But why should we care?
Statistically kids who have spent time in foster care, and especially those who have aged out of foster care (reached adulthood and are released from foster care) are at a severe disadvantage in life. Take a moment and read the statistics in the graph. Former foster kids are much more likely (by a landslide) to commit crimes, become homeless, develop ptsd, be unemployed, not go to college, and/or develop drug or alcohol dependence. (foster club graph). In fact, it is being reported that the majority of children being sex trafficked in the US have spent time in foster care.
“Every year more than 20,000 kids are released out into the world on their own, without parents or a loving family and little to no resources”
Each year over 20,000 kids (age 18-21) age out of the foster care system. Meaning every year more than 20,000 kids are released out into the world on their own, without parents or a loving family and little to no resources. They are left without anyone to move them into college, help them find their first job, welcome them home at Christmas, celebrate with them on their birthdays, walk them down the aisle on their wedding day, cuddle and spoil their babies, or pick up their phone calls when they need someone to talk to for guidance and support.
There is an undeniable need for these children in crisis (from newborn to teen) to be placed into loving and supportive families who are willing to step into their pain and trauma, care for them, guide them, pray over them, give them a fighting chance at a different path in life than what the the statistics tell them they will become, and to instill in them worth when the whole world is shouting out their worthlessness. But there is yet another problem. A huge problem. There are simply not enough foster families to house and care for these kids.
Let’s look at Los Angeles county numbers in particular (since that is the county we live in). LA county has more children in foster care that any other county in the country (approx. 29,000). Los Angeles Unified School District itself has 8,500 foster children enrolled in its schools. Even though there is an overwhelming need for homes for these kids (or beds as the county refers to it, because each foster child must have his or her own bed) there are only 9,000 beds currently available! That is a difference of 20,000 available beds (homes) for these children!
Because of this critical shortage, children are often spending days at a time in DCFS offices (like the little guy in our last post), being placed in temporary group homes, or being housed in facilities not intended for children to be living in. Even if they are able to be placed in an actual foster home, there is no guarantee that they will be kept safe there and not experience the same types of abuse that they were just rescued from.
Local DCFS offices nationwide are literally begging people to consider becoming foster parents and help them with these vast numbers of children needing to be in out of home care. The numbers are overwhelming; the outcomes look bleak. Where are the families willing to step up. Where is the hope? Where is the church?