The Foster Care System

Each year, six hundred and fifty thousand children in the United States spend time in foster care (Children’s Rights “Adoptions” 1). But most people do not know that because most people are among the other seventy three million, two hundred and ninety one thousand, eight hundred and forty eight people who live in stable homes. The majority of the population does not know the faults of the foster care system, because most have not lived it. In the mid nineteenth century, the foster care system was established. Since then, there have been many developments to the system, and today it is imperfect and inadequate. All across the United States, the foster care system needs to be reformed and now is the perfect time because there is a growing number

of orphaned children.
The first and most effective way to rebuild the foster care system and get more kids adopted is to shorten the adoption process. On average, the time line to adopt an infant in the United States takes approximately two to seven years (“The Adoption Process” 1). Many potential adopters can be turned away because the process of adopting is elongated in every respect. Checking the background of the family to ensure that they are a perfect fit is very important, but it does not take seven years. There is a way to shorten the process, though. The families looking to adopt must be more open to adopting any race or ethnicity, flexible with subjects such as contact with birth parents and the child’s family medical history (Adoptions, Inc. American 3). In addition, if the adoptive parents work to get the birth parent’s rights terminated, the process is hurried along because this eliminates the timeline the birth parent has to make a case for their parental rights or to change their mind about giving up their rights. Also, probable parents can have these documents ready and on hand so that the process is not held up by them locating these papers: birth certificate of themselves, spouse and other children, marriage license, divorce decrees if applicable, paycheck stub, and a completed income tax form (National Adoption Centers 2-3). By following these steps, parents can aid in speeding up the adoption process, thus receiving a child sooner.
Another way to reform the foster care system would be to offer more, or larger incentives to be a foster parent.

As of now, foster parents receive minimal benefits for housing foster children. To be exact, foster parents in Michigan can receive anywhere between $17.24 and $20.59 as a basic rate, and then depending upon the child’s needs and age, they can receive additional funds, but cannot receive any more than $80 per day in any case. One approach that would boost stipends for foster parents and make fostering a more viable option would be to offer paid childcare. The parents could choose a state certified daycare option and would be reimbursed for the monthly or weekly fees. This would make it more manageable for parents to work or go to school so that they could make money to support that child if adopted. Also, there should be a voucher in place for families when they first receive their foster child, so that it can be assured that the children get everything they need to start their new life. This may include clothes, school supplies, a mattress among other items that they may not already aquire. There are many willing families that would love to house children in their homes, but they are not financially able to do so. With more than minimal benefits, more people will be willing to foster, which will lead to more adoptions. Fourteen percent of children in foster care will be adopted (Payne, Cathy 1), and we can help that number rise by giving greater

incentives.
A final way to improve the foster care system would be to ensure that children have some stability in their life, which can be done by putting laws in place of time limits that a child must spend in a home.

There is a federal law in place called The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. The law states that permanency court hearings must be held within twelve months of their entering the foster care system. It also says that the termination of parental rights must begin if the child has been in the care of the state’s foster system for the last fifteen of twenty two months (“Adoption Laws” 1). A necessity in the life of a child is stability, so the timeline of that law must be adjusted. Instead of a hearing held twelve months after they’ve entered, it should be shortened to six months. Also, a change could be made from fifteen out of the last twenty two, to the last ten out of sixteen. Changes of the timeline would greatly decrease the amount of time these children spend in the system, and increase the amount of time spent in real, stable

homes.
When the foster care system was created in the 1930’s, it did the job that it was made for; it got kids off the streets and out of unsafe factory jobs. But over the last eighty seven years, times have changed. Our world has improved and grown and changed with the times, while the foster care system has not. If there is an appropriate time for the foster care system to be amended, it is now. The timeline for adoption has only increased. The cost of living has fluctuated in sync with the economy, but the stipends that foster parents receive has not changed, and it is not enough to support a child. Also, the stability of children has not been taken into account, so children are spending too much time in the system and not enough time in real, livable homes. One sure way to have changes be made to the foster care system is to have the other 73, 291, 848 people that have never lived in foster care, live within the system. That is impractical, but that may be what it takes.