9/11 Short Stories

Imagine yourself a child, at home watching television one afternoon with your brothers and sister. Suddenly the doorbell rings. Your mother goes to open the door and it's the police. You sense some kind of confusion and you hear yelling. A policeman grabs you, gathers up your other siblings and says, "Get ready, you are coming with us. You’ll see your mother soon. You will be gone for only a few days. It’s going to be OK" You are terrified. You try to say no and put up some kind of fight. No matter how much your mother protests, she fails to prevent the police from taking you away. You are put in a police car and taken to a strange office where you are surrounded by people who call themselves “social workers”. After sitting for what seems

like forever, you are finally taken to another strange place to live with unfamiliar people. You are also separated from your brothers and sisters. Time passes, and you are left wondering, Why was I taken away? When will I see my mother again? Where are my brothers and sister? The policeman said it was only for a few days. It's been almost 4 months. Is this permanent? This is what happened to an 10 year old girl named Ella who lives in Chicago.
On any given day, there are approximately 415,000 children in foster care in the United States (CITE). Many of America’s child welfare systems are badly broken and children can suffer serious harm as a result. Some will be separated from their siblings. Others will be bounced from one foster care placement to another, never knowing when their lives will be next (CITE). Every year, the city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) investigates more than 1,300 cases of reported abuse or neglect of children in foster homes.(CITE)
Too many children are abused in systems that are supposed to protect them. And instead of being safely reunified with their families, or moved quickly into adoptive homes many will languish for years in foster homes or institutions.
I especially feel for this story because I too, was once in the foster care system and I survived it, but others do not. It is true that people believe that the current foster care system helps children find a home, however the foster care system today negatively impacts children, and is in need for many different improvements including better background checks on foster parents, ameroilating the lasting effects of foster care, and putting more money into the program.
Shortly after Ella was separated from her siblings, she was taken to an unfamiliar place in the south side of Chicago.

The worst part was the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen. Ella was then lead into a house by her social worker to meet her new foster parents. They seemed nice and friendly. Maybe this won't be so bad Ella thought. After the house inspection the social worker left, then everything changed. All the sudden the foster mother's congenial personality changed. “Listen up you annoying little bitch, I am your worst nightmare, you do not cross me, or annoy me! You hear me?” Days past and her foster mother would get worse. As punishment for “bad behavior, Ella would be locked in her room with only one mean and a cup of water a day. One night, when Ella was coming back from school, she stayed later than usual to avoid coming home. When she got home her foster mother punched her and hit her with a baseball bat. Day by day would pass, and Ella's living conditions got worse and worse. She tried to report her foster mother to her social worker, but her social worker said she was complaining too much. She felt trapped, hopeless, the only thing she held on to was the chance to see her mother and brothers and sister again. Ellas foster mother abuses her physically, and mentally, calling her horrible names and punishing her for no

reason.
Foster parents are supposed to care for the children entrusted in their care, however the abuse of foster children goes unnoticed until it is too late. Children are leaving their parents because of neglect or abuse, and then going into foster homes with the same thing. The base rate per child is about $20 per day, and in most cases, the parents are just doing it for the money. Money is indeed a big part of the problem, but not in the way the child welfare league means. Rather many states are dragging to their feet because they don't get federal funds, according to the number of children in foster care.”(CITE) Another big issue, is that foster care isn't doing their jobs well in the sense of placing children in adoptive homes. While states should work rapidly to find safe permanent homes for kids, on any given day children available for adoption have spent an average of nearly two years waiting to be adopted since their parental rights were terminated. (CITE) If the states don't do the job, then they shouldn't get the money. There are a host of loopholes allowing states to get federal money for foster care, even when they aren't doing their jobs well.
A couple months past and Ella was still in her abusive foster home, with no sign of her family. She was hungry, her foster mother would make her work and do chores for her, and barely feed her anything. If Ella complained she would get hit. She couldn't understand why this was happening to her. That this was her life. She would sit in her small room, and cry, full of fear in her eyes. She didn't want to be hit again. Her foster mother takes her anger out on her, and she can't do anything about it. Ellas day consisted of getting up and being yelled at, going to school and being made fun of because she didn't have the things other kids have, and going home to be abused and neglected.
One night Ellas foster mother stormed in and said “you spoiled brat, where the hell is my necklace?

I know you stole it give it back!” “I swear I didn't take it” Ella promised, but her foster mother didn't believe her. As her punishment she heated up a metal rod, and burned her. Finally the day came where her social worker came to the house and told Ella that she would soon be going to live at her Aunt's house, along with her brothers and sisters, and that she would leave in a week once everything is sorted out. Filled of relief, Ella was the happiest she has been in a long time. Later that week Ellas foster dad came home drunk, and accused Ella of stealing his money.”You little shit! You steal a necklace and now my money, you are going to pay for this!” When Ella denied and swore she didnt, he was walking towards her ready to beat her, and she took the bat that they hit her with, and swung at him, and then tried to run. ”Big mistake you stupid kid” he screams and then came at her and beat her to the ground, and wouldn't stop punching her. Ella died later that night due to head trauma. When the police came, they arrested the parents, and found bruises, and burns all over Ella's

body.
Most cases aren't this severe, but many involve this kind of abuse. Now we ask ourselves, how we could of prevented a 10 year old child like Ella from dying? Why would the social worker not see these signs of abuse or did he even care? Why would they let a child into a home like that? No child should ever feel that unloved or abused.
In my foster care experience, just as Ellas, I was alone, depressed, and I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I was 17 years old and in a group home, full of fear for when I turned 18. When children in foster care turn 18 and “age out” they have no jobs, no income, little education or support, and they are left on the streets to become homeless. When you turn 18, you are cut out of support services. By the time most young women age out, 20% are already parents, and 40% are pregnant.(CITE) In most cases, the children in foster cares kids are in foster care. It is all one big cycle of foster care, then homelessness, then pregnancy, then back in foster care. Those placed in foster care are more likely than other children to commit crimes, drop out of school, join welfare, and experience substance abuse problems. What does this say about our countries foster care system. We are failing to provide safe homes, success, and a future for these young kids. At any one time, about a half a million kids are in foster care nationwide, and a great majority return to their biological families, but a substantial minority do not- and often they are simply trapped in the system.