Children should be provided a home where they are ensured safety and security.
To guard youth against neglect and abuse, the system places children in foster homes that are suitable for kids to be raised in, however, the care provider isn’t always suitable to care for the child. They have been proven to be alcoholic, addicts, and in most cases, they have inflicted pain upon the children they vowed to care for. Statistics have shown that minors have been sexually assaulted during their time in foster care. Victoria Laurie, a foster child, shared an exclusive story about the oppression she experienced with her foster family. In her article, “Teen tells of Sex Abuse,” Laurie shares an anecdote of a thirteen-year-old girl who disclosed deliberate allegations of child abuse by her foster parents. The girl had been sexually harassed and has witnessed several other girls in the home be assaulted as well. As the carer led the girl on, she feared he would sexually assault her. She adhered to the hope she would be safe but her foster father took advantage of his authority and maltreated a girl he swore to protect.The girl was not only hurt physically, but she was also traumatized emotionally and psychologically.
Children should be provided a home where they are ensured safety and security.
Linda Sanchez, a girl who resided in the same foster home, shared an anecdote exposing the truth of the unfit home the government had placed them in. She revealed, “My foster mother almost never bought us any food to eat...Her son and her son-in-law tried to molest me. They even offered me money [for sex]” (Joseph). Joseph enlightened readers of all the ways Sanchez had suffered in her foster home. She nor the other kids were provided an adequate supply of food and Joseph indicated that the maltreatment didn't end there. She acknowledged a time when she was abused in a foster home in Brooklyn, New York. She stated that her foster mother would take advantage of her food stipend, the government provided her to care for the children to purchase marijuana and cigarettes. She would brutally scream at the kids, that would leave psychological trauma. Joseph reached out to her social worker in hopes to be removed from the care provided, but the social worker overlooked the situation, as did the worker’s supervisor. When an interview was made to unravel the accusations she made against her foster mom, all allegations were denied, and the city investigator, without even interviewing Joseph, closed the case. The agency disregarded the allegations Joseph made against her foster mother, but without even taking the victim’s testimonies, the agency closed the case. Joseph admitted, “It will be a long time before I forgive my agency for allowing one of my foster parents to abuse me and the three foster children…” (Joseph). The foster care agency vowed to keep children out of harm's way, yet they didn’t take the children’s well being into account. The article shows the government’s tendency to give more consideration and show more faith towards the carers yet they don’t take much of the children’s assertions to heart. While Child Protective Services (CPS) claims that their service is in the best interest of children, they don’t seem to take complaints from the foster children seriously.