*Note: I would like to clarify that this post applies to children in the US Foster Care System. These are generally children who's parents have passed away without legal plans in place for the care of their children, or children who were removed from their homes and the parental rights were or are in the process of being terminated. Women or couples facing an unplanned pregnancy and considering an adoption plan should not be lead to believe that their children will be placed in foster or group homes with no hope of adoption; on the contrary, there are millions of American couples who are unable to have biological children and are approved and waiting to adopt an infant. This article is not intended to shame or scare birth parents out of making adoption plans for children they know they cannot raise; it is intended to raise awareness of a separate need within the United States.
"It's so sad to hear about orphans all over the world. Thank goodness that's not a problem we have in the United States!"
There may be some truth to this statement. In the United States, no child can be forced onto the streets or left in an abusive home because of lack of space in group or foster homes. Modern medicine and healthcare help to prevent crises which cause orphan numbers to skyrocket in less developed nations. Care is offered to children until they are 18, instead of 16 or 14.
However, we cannot say that their is no orphan crisis within our own country. Imagine, for a moment, that on your 18th birthday, or within a few weeks of graduating high school, you had been sent out on your own. No, I don't mean you packed your bags and moved into a college dormitory, where your parents called every Sunday afternoon and sent you care packages. I mean completely, totally on your own, with no one to show you how to apply for college or financial aide, no one to teach you how to drive a car or help you shop for a car and insurance, and no credit history to apply for an apartment or any other financial commitment. Keep in mind, this is 2013. The job market is flooded; even people with impressive education and work experience are finding it hard to land work. Imagine trying to find steady employment that was enough to cover rent, utilities, food, transportation to and from work, clothes and shoes that were work-appropriate and wouldn't fall apart after one washing, and came with at least some form of health insurance. If you happened to find work that was pleasant enough that you could do it for 40 hours a week without going insane, or if it worked around a schedule so that you could go to school and pursue the career of your choosing, that would be a major miracle.
Maybe some of you have done that- I can think of a few people who have and were successful. But now, keep in mind, it would probably come up somewhere in the application or interview that you had grown up in foster care- and, all the presumptions that come with the word "foster child" are immediately projected upon you. Maybe, after years of being bounced from one home to another, you never had the opportunity to learn professional etiquette or how to speak to employers versus peers or family members. If you were constantly being moved from one school to another, your grades and education probably suffered. You have never had a consistent role model to look up to.
For many young adults emancipated from foster care, this is reality. In the United States:
-25% of all emancipated foster children will become homeless
-56% will become unemployed
-27% of men emancipated from foster care will spend time in jail
-30% of emancipated women will experience early parenthood.
The blame for these statistics can go many different ways. Under-qualified foster parents who give up on children too quickly. Legal issues which make it hard for even the most loving foster families to provide a consistent home for children in foster care. However, regardless of who or what is to blame, the truth is that the United States is in no way immune to the worldwide orphan crisis. Today, in the U.S., approximately 107,000 children wait for their forever families. Adoption from the US foster care system can cost less than $500, and many grants are available for families wanting to adopt. Click here for information on state requirements for adopting through foster care.
For more information on the orphan crisis within the United States and how to get involved, visit http://icareaboutorphans.org/
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