The Foster Care Machine: Well-Oiled or Broken Down

The Foster Care Machine: Well-Oiled or Broken Down?

By Sherrie Clark

The foster care system gets a lot of bad publicity. Debatable is whether its reputation is warranted and whether what you read and hear is factual or an over exaggeration. What isn’t debatable is that the foster care system does exist, that it’s alive and well, and that it’s a much bigger machine than given credit.

So, let’s examine the different components of this machine. From what I’ve seen, the parts of the machine are the workers. The energy that generates it is the law, some of which are subjectively construed based on a worker’s agenda. Although we would hope it would be all about following the letter of the law, it doesn’t always happen that way. As a result, that part becomes faulty.  

A corrupt part, of course, causes a machine to become dysfunctional. A prudent person would replace that part lest the whole machine breaks down. Not so with this machine. It keeps the corrupt part and continues operations, or so it seems.

All along the way, families are inserted into this machine to be “fixed.” If these items are placed without considering balance, it could cause the machine to wobble. After awhile, the wobbling causes the gears to be stripped, and the machine stalls. The items are removed, still in the same condition as when first placed into this machine. They are then declared as they should be instead of how they really are. And you’re left with thinking, well, what about the children?

Now we have an issue of reality. Just saying something is fixed doesn’t make it true, especially if the tool that was intended to fix it breaks down. Taking a child from a home for a period of time—and sometimes that period can be quite lengthy—and then returning that same child into a situation that’s been declared as it should be instead of how it really is has the potential to lead to calamity.

When a child is removed from a home, his or her parents or caregivers are given twelve months to complete the tasks given in a case plan. These are supposed to be customized based on what it was that caused them to be caught in the foster care system’s web.

But fear not! The system works hard, and I mean it works hard to return a child back to a home. In many cases, the real motto appears to be “Ready or not, here they come.” The system chants “reunification, reunification” as the square peg is forced…crammed into the round hole. This is especially true for those who have bought into the pervasive apathy that’s more the rule than the exception. In reality, this reprehensible indifference toward the welfare of a child is more of a cancer to its ideological mantra of “in the best interest of a child.”

What’s ironic is that the foster care system was created for children, but somewhere along the way, these same children have somehow managed to be reduced to by-products of a system gone awry. What has topped the priority list appears to be power aspirations and a healthy financial bottom line. And we’re left questioning, what about the children?

I’m sure that many of you are thinking that I must be a bitter, former client of the foster care system, and that I’m venting my frustrations. Well, yes and no. I was once a foster parent who unwittingly got inducted into this secret society. And the experience provided quite an education, one that you can’t get from any book, any training class, or from the latest statistics. We related to Alice and what she must have felt like after falling down the rabbit hole and into the unique world of Wonderland. In our unique world, though, children appeared to be an expendable commodity. And we were left feeling perplexed and asking, but what about the children?

So my origin of complaint isn’t from anger that evolved from pain but from a righteous anger that erupted from the injustices I personally witnessed. I once rode the mad merry-go-round of dysfunction where fear led to secrecy which led to dysfunction which led to fear which led to secrecy and so on. But I jumped off a long time ago, yet I see that the very things that drove me away are still very integrated in the engine that propels the system.

You may ask, “What things?” Well, how much time do you have? Suffice it to say that the misinterpretations of laws initially designed to protect children continues status quo. Let’s say that what’s actually in the best interest of a child is not necessarily what’s pursued in all cases. These are only a few issues (and don’t even get me started on the emotional roller-coaster ride they make foster parents suffer through).

What I see as the crux of the system’s problem are the actions by many of this society’s members that adhere to the very definition of corruption: “impairment of integrity; a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct” (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary). And we’re left frustrated, still wanting to know—what about the children?

My complaint isn’t so much against the system; in some cases, it has worked and done the job it was meant to do. My complaint isn’t against reunification with parents who once had their children removed from their custody; reunifying a child to parents who have worked hard to remedy their situation has got to be one of the most gratifying experiences for the system. No, my complaint goes much, much deeper. I take issue with any entity, person, or institution that insists on returning vulnerable and innocent children to those who either can’t change or refuse to change or simply haven’t finished changing. That’s the monster. When a system turns a blind eye to atrocious actions just to get another “reunification” on their record and just to save a few bucks at the cost of a child, it is in dire need of its own rehabilitation. And we’re left demanding, what about the children?

But will the system ever fess up to its shortcomings? My guess would be no, not until society has been made aware of what this system is capable of doing for the sake of anything but the child. And that’s what I hope I’ve initiated in my recently released, award-winning book Small Voices Silenced. Although this true story doesn’t lash out at the system as harshly as this article, it does expose some of the most horrid practices among foster care agencies. Although it includes all the components of a juicy fiction novel, remembering that it is a true story will deliver an extra emotional punch that can shake readers to their core.

And hopefully justice will eventually prevail, and we’ll come to a satisfying conclusion—that the world of foster care has returned to its roots of great intentions, where what’s in the best interest of a child once again takes priority.