Dear Future President,

Foster care is a flawed system. There has been too many times that a child who was abused at home then put in foster care only to be abused there to. Abuse within foster care is a problem that needs to be taken care of and not ignored. I myself have not been in foster care but i have babysat multiple children that have been traumatized from the experience that they had with unsafe foster parents. Some foster kids are forced to stay on foster care longer than they need to or until they age out.

When foster kids are placed in unsafe foster homes they are often ignored when asking for a new placement. Foster children are also placed in foster care for longer than needed or till they age out ( become 18). I believe that we can instill a better way to take care of foster children by having better background checks which also includes meeting with the foster kids before placing any children in their care. I also believe that their should be more done if a foster child says that they don't feel safe with their placement.

All people who become foster parents must go through a background check and training ,so why is it that foster children are not taken care of. According to children's rights .com home inspection reports are falsified and foster parent qualifications are not check like they should be. All of this is due to lazy caseworkers who just want to have an easy day at work . This is clearly shown with Amanda’s story. Amanda was born to a mom who was had manic depression and a father who had schizophrenia. At age 8 amanda's dad started to abuse her and in her mother's attempt to keep her safe she had amanda stay in her room when she was home from school. After a little a while of this Amanda’s family called social workers and told them that her mom was holding her hostage. Amanda was soon placed in a family foster care. Everything was good for her until one of the older family members started to sexulily abuse her. This abuse went on for two years, and Amanda finally decided to tell someone what was happening. At school Amanda told one of her teachers who then called her caseworker. A week turned into months and that caseworker had done nothing to help her she was stuck in this home with her abuser. Amanda is one of many children who had to stay with their abuser.

Many things can happen to children in foster care like bouncing from one home to another. Foster care can have effects on children so in turn many foster kids suffer from PTSD from their experience in foster care and many other mental illnesses that are not taken care of when they are in foster care. Overmedicating foster children is also happening. All of this can be avoided if the caseworker would just listen to foster kids when they say they want a new placement. Often when children are in foster care, they are also almost always placed in foster care twice as long then they need to be or they are aged out before they have a chance to go back to their biological families. A girl named Catherine Konold was placed in foster care in 2001 when is was only 8 and she then age out in 2010. She called her experiences in foster care a roller coaster some of it was fun and other times it was so terrifying. Catherine bounced around for years and ended up being placed into 14 different foster homes. When catherine was placed in foster care the state made her be medicated with antipsychotics that she didn't need the medication damaged her endocrine system and left her terrified to take medication as an adult. Five years into foster care her biological family had the rights to get her back ,but the state kept her in foster care until she aged out. Catherine uses her experiences to help children that are in foster care.

Many people may argue that there is enough being done for foster children and they are well care for. I say that foster children are not always well taken care of and this is so much more we can do to help keep these children safe in their placement.

In conclusion this is a problem and it needs to be fixed. Many people don't know this but foster care is all around us and foster care holds a huge population of today's youth. We need to protect these kids and with you help i know it can be done.