Dear future President,

About 40,000 children are put into the foster care system each year. They get moved from foster homes to group homes, to facilities to orphanages. Rarely in a stable home, never with a loving parent. With no stable future, the fear of being mistreated and the consequences of being in the system, foster and orphaned children go through a lot, maybe even more than we’ll ever go in this lifetime. Dear future President, will you do something about this? Passing laws and reforms may not fix all of it but it’s a start, a start of re-shaping the current foster care system. Foster and Orphan children need a voice, will you be theirs?

As a teenager I cannot imagine living in an unsafe environment, in a place where I'm not safe, where I live in constant fear. Not only abused sexually but emotionally, physically, mentally and medically. Over 28% of children in state care are abused while in the system. In group homes, children are more likely to be abused by either their foster parents or peers. Beatings are common and they traumatize kids Take this excerpt from a former foster child. "There were regular beatings, sometimes with a board, sometimes with a razor strap, you had to memorize a portion of the Bible, and if you didn't, you'd get a beating. Once I got beaten so badly I thought I was going to pass out." Why has nothing been done about this you may ask? One simple answer; money. Foster agencies receive money for each child they place in a temporary home.  If said child is removed from their placement, the agency can lose the commission. This means social workers and fostering agencies most likely overlook the child’s best interest and place them at the first home they can. It can be a safe or unsafe place. In order to prevent this from happening we should have more spontaneous home visits from professional social workers. Daily management and supervision of homes suspected of abuse. One last solution is for social workers and fostering agencies to be more careful when placing children. Not everything's about money; ensuring a child’s safety is far more important.

It is a proven fact that foster children are less likely to be successful. Is it because of the education system or the foster system? Every year about 23,000 children age out of the foster care system with no family by their side to support them. Nationally only 3% of foster children achieve college education. The average reading level of a 17-18 year old foster teen is 7th grade. Only 50% of 17-18 year old foster youth want to graduate high school and only 50% of that 50% want to attend college. These statistics are dramatically low, even for foster children. Not only are children influenced by their poor education but by their damaged past. Foster youth who experience more placements are nearly 15% less likely to complete high school when compared to their peers. Not only their past affects them but their placement. Across the United States, 52% of foster youth attend schools that rank in the lowest 30 percent. I propose that the government helps fund a special after school program that helps them shape a better future. These kids have no one to encourage them, no one there for them, and I believe this has an effect in their effort put towards their future. I think that if they receive help while they’re in school, they'll become more likely to attend college and make something better of their future. With your help funding more after school programs focused on foster youth, they can achieve a more secure future.

The Foster Care System shouldn’t be defined by numbers or statistics, it shouldn’t come down to showing facts and studies to prove that this issue matters. Children suffer daily and nobody is doing anything to stop it. The suffering needs to stop, but not only do you future president have to step up, but we all do as a nation. We together can bring an end to the damage done to the foster youth and help them achieve a happy, healthy future.

Sincerely,                                                                                              

Emily Ordonez

Sources:

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“9 Powerful Stats About The Orphan Crisis.” http://showhope.org/9-stats-about-the-orphan-crisis/ June 19th, 2015. Web. October, 20th, 2016.

“Fostering Success in Education: National Factsheet on the Educational Outcomes of Children in Foster Care” http://www.fc2success.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/National-Fact-Sheet-on-the-Educational-Outcomes-of-Children-in-Foster-Care-Jan-2014.pdf National Working Group on Foster Care and Education. January 2014. Web. October 21st 2016.

“Foster Care Facts”http://promises2kids.org/facts-figures/ Promises 2 Kids. Web. October 21st 2016.

Helping Hand Home for Children Development Department. “Facts About Child Abuse and Foster Care.” helping hand home, ”http://www.helpinghandhome.org/IMAGES/Facts%20about%20Child%20Abuse%20and%20Foster%20Care.pdf

“Child Protective Services” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Protective_Services#cite_note-18 Wikipedia. Web. October 22nd 2016.

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“Foster Care Facts”http://promises2kids.org/facts-figures/ Promises 2 Kids. Web. October 21st 2016.

Ramaglia, Helen. “Suicide and the Foster Chid.” The Chronical of Social Change, https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/featured/suicide-and-the-foster-child/3317

Mertaban, Muhammad and Ross, Cordelia. “Children in foster care have poorer physical and mental health.” 2 minute medicine, http://www.2minutemedicine.com/children-in-foster-care-have-poorer-physical-and-mental-health/

“Foster Care Facts”http://promises2kids.org/facts-figures/ Promises 2 Kids. Web. October 21st 2016.

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Boyd, John. “Americans rank the nation's 12 biggest problems.” chron, http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/nation/article/Americans-rank-the-nation-s-12-biggest-problems-5318832.php