Foster Care is Part of the Problem

I feel like I have been keeping my mouth shut more in the last few months than I have most of my life.

Let’s call it 25% not being able to find the words, 15% feeling like it isn’t my place and 60% being wrapped up in my own issues. Pretty selfish, I know, but they keep talking about self-care, as if that takes away the guilt. It doesn’t 

Amidst all of my “self-care”, the world around me caught fire and the frustration felt by my friends of color bubbled to the surface. Justifiably. You all know the lopsided numbers by which young black kids enter care. Or, stay in care. Or, have the most trouble getting adopted. Or, not given proper representation in court. The list goes on. You’re aware. 

Foster care is one of the systems in which systematic racism is prevalent. 

That’s just the truth. I don’t like it anymore than you do. I want to research the numbers and come up with opposite numbers. I want to look in the eyes of a black foster youth, tell he or she that life is going to be okay. I want to tell them it gets better. That, even after care, life will get easier. I can’t say those things because that’s not the truth. Has never been the truth. Some find their way to a happy life. Most fall by the wayside, lost in a system intended to help them, climb into the pipeline that runs from care to prison. Just because it is my job to simply report, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t rip my heart out when I see the statistics. 

This is the part where I tell you what to do with that information. This is supposed to be the part where I offer you hope. Can’t do that. Don’t want to do that. I want you to look right into the mouth of this damn beast. Look at it. Don’t turn away. Don’t think it isn’t your fight because you aren’t in one of the marginalized groups. Don’t think that your opinions and actions don’t have an impact on future generations. It absolutely does. They absolutely do.

I write a lot of important things. I also write a lot of inconsequential nonsense. Not sure which this will be. Not sure if I have anything to add to the rhetoric of the last few months. Whether or not I have the skills or the right to say the things that need to be said. Maybe I can find the right words but do I have the right? I do. I’ve been a part of this fight since I learned who the fight was for and what it was against. I’ve listened to my friends of color (I don’t call them that. I call them friends. But this is journalism and tradition dictates that I use the right words.) as they vented about the injustice of the day. I’ve worked shoulder to shoulder with the thousands and thousands of talented, driven and if I’m being honest, much, much smarter than I am, men and women of color who populate the foster care system. Working everyday to level the playing field. I’ve been here before. Age has afforded me the time needed to see all sides of an issue, to draw from the past. This is my third or fourth go around with the world screaming for equality, fair treatment from authority and more opportunity. I remember the 90’s vividly. It was when I came of age. I remember Ferguson. I remember Trayvon. I remember Freddy Gray. I remember the frustration. I remember the tears. I remember the fear. The anguish. I remember the anguish. 

Finally, it’s my job. It’s my job to write about foster care. To write about the kids. About what they face. About the state of things in the world and how it impacts foster care. I signed up for this. I cannot turn a blind eye when the subject matter becomes so heavy.

Man, I wish I had the answers. I pride myself on my intellect but this is all way above my paygrade. I can speak to the foster care aspect of it all. I believe in a preventative attack. If we can strike early, remedy problems at their earliest signs. Do the things necessary to strengthen a family unit and keep kids out of care. The top reasons kids end up in care are neglect and abuse. What if we could take action before the neglect or abuse settle in? What if we could give parents the tools and resources before they feel frustrated or angry? Could these steps prevent kids from entering care, shutting down that dreaded pipeline from care to jail? I don’t know. But I am optimistic. The light has been shined on the systematic racism that plagues our nation. Maybe some of foster care’s problems will come to light. I know there is an army of advocates addressing these issues at the highest levels. My hope is that they will find the answers.