Dear Editor:
I’m writing this letter in concern for our foster care system.
First, it is a fact we need more people willing to provide foster homes. All children need unconditional love, acceptance and guidance, especially the children who have suffered situations where those things were non-existent in their lives.
That being said, we also need homes for these children with the proper people. Allowing someone to foster children who has bailed on the responsibility of providing unconditional love and acceptance for their own child is absolutely absurd. What kind of system do we have in place for these children that allows a person to completely walk away from their own child, then gives that same parent the major responsibility of taking in children who desperately need that stability?
How does the foster care program think that someone who does nothing for their own flesh and blood child is stable enough to take care of children who have been neglected and possibly abused?
Am I the only one who views this as a major fail and flaw in the system?
I know we are in need of more people willing to foster, but does that mean that we should overlook these things? Is the system only providing children with a roof over their heads and isn’t worried about what kind of foster environment they are being placed into?
No matter what, children’s needs should come before anyone else’s. Choose the right people for the job, not just anyone willing to fill out paperwork and have a few interviews.
Don’t overlook the obvious. If a person doesn’t have it in them to love their own child unconditionally and be there for them, how is it possible for them to provide those things to any other child? Someone in the system isn’t doing their job in vetting foster care parents or the system needs a major overhaul.
Melody Kracht
Meeker