Rory North Carolina

Help the Foster Kids Find Good Homes

Multiple kids are being put in foster homes and not being adopted. There are also many kids being abused and we are not doing anything about it. America needs to take a stand and stop abuse and encourage adults to foster and adopt kids.

Dear President Sir or Ma'am,

Congratulations on winning the election. Now that you are the president, you actually have the opportunity of helping America and its society. Maybe you will ignore this and not do anything, but I know for a fact that there are many issues in America. One of the issues that I'm concerned about is the increasing numbers of kids being put in foster care and the decrease in the numbers of kids being adopted. I don't know if you have noticed or not, but over the last couple of years the number of kids in foster care has increased and the number of kids being adopted has decreased. Mr.President, Sir or Ma'am, this is a mammoth problem. This is America. Our kids should be able to live with their own families and have no problems, or if they are put in foster care, then we should end up finding a good and loving home after the first couple of months or so. But no, there are multiple restrictions adults have to meet in order to become a foster parent, and those restrictions are holding multiple adults back; this is affecting America because more kids are being put in foster care and not finding homes. We need to fix this problem as quickly as possible.

According to https://www.fosterclub.com , there has been a 4% increase in the number of kids in foster care from 2012 to 2014. 415,129 children were in foster care on September 30th, 2014, Most of them are being put in foster care because of parent problems. Some of the main problems are sexual and physical abuse, drug addiction, parents being unable to feed and take care of them, lack of love, and neglect. This is a huge problem that we should not have to deal with: parents should not be abusing their kids, ignoring them, getting drunk, or not showing them love. Parents are a big part of a kid's life; they guide us and show us how to be, but if the kids end up growing up watching their own parents getting drunk and abusing them then they will learn to act like that. They will pick up after their parents. They will start doing drugs, then one day they will end up going too far and end up in jail. This is our generation and we are letting these things happen.

Kids are going from foster family to foster family and getting hurt/abused again. According to American SPCC (American Society For The Positive Care of Children), 14% of all men in prison and 36% of women in prison in the USA were abused as children. Also children who experience child abuse and neglect as kids are more likely to become involved in criminal activity. Abused teens are more likely to start getting involved in sexual things and to get tempted with sexual things as well. Since these possibilities are high, multiple kids end up getting involved in stuff they shouldn't then end up going to foster family to foster family. They also end up switching homes because of the adults in the foster home abusing them. Sure the foster parents' pass the criminal background check, but they end up abusing the kids. Not only do foster parents abuse kids, but biological parents abuse their kids. According to American SPCC (American Society For The Positive Care of Children), in 2014 there were 702,000 child victims of child abuse.

I have a personal connection to this issue. I was adopted. I was one of the kids who went from foster home to foster home. Only to be abused again and again. My biological family abused me in all different ways, including sexual. I was beat and hurt in so many ways and much more happened to me. I ended up saving my mom from my father,who tried to stab or shoot her. I was stabbed that same day, but managed to get help for my mother. Then after five years of being hurt and abused I was put in foster care, only to end up being abused even more. After three different foster homes, I ended up with a couple (Sam and Robin). After staying with them for a year or two, I finally became adopted.

But now being fourteen years old and being able to remember my past and all that I went through and had done to me makes me understand the importance of adopting and fostering. Knowing that the number of kids being put in foster care increased and the number of kids being adopted is decreasing is hurting me so much that I can’t show my emotion. Multiple kids are being put through so much, and so many adults aren’t willing to even try fostering a kid or they simply don't meet the requirements to do so, and it makes me frustrated. But if we can encourage adults to start fostering kids, and if we can convince more adults to get involved in fostering they might see what’s going on to kids around them. If we can do that then maybe more kids will end up finding a perfect family. This is the USA, America, our home sweet home but for multiple kids “our home sweet home” is not so sweet anymore.America has changed and so has its people, and most of the changes are not the best changes. Kids are being hurt and growing up without a family; it's time to stand up and change this issue. Lets all get together and put a stop to this.

President ,Sir or Ma'am, we need to keep our children safe, we need to provide our children with good loving homes. I ask for you to encourage adults to consider fostering and adopting kids.