Image courtesy of 9news.com

Health Impact News Editor Comments

Here is another local news source investigating the failures of the foster care system. They do a great job of identifying the problem, but sadly offer no solutions. The solution is to abolish the program and stop kidnapping children away from their parents to begin with, and allow local communities to deal with what would be the few remaining cases where children are left behind after their parent or parents were convicted of a crime and incarcerated. (See: Does the State Ever Have a “Right” to Remove Children from a Home?)

by Katie Kuntz, Rocky Mountain PBS I-News
9news.com

Excerpts:

DENVER – Teenagers leaving the foster care system in Colorado are more likely to go to jail than get a high school diploma. It’s a reality uncovered in an I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS investigation.

A Rocky Mountain PBS I-News analysis of data provided by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) revealed that only 28.7 percent of foster youth will graduate from high school on time, but at least 38 percent will have been incarcerated between ages 16 and 19.

The national data show that 43 percent of women and 74 percent of men who emancipated from foster care will have been incarcerated at least once in their lives.

By age 19, foster youth who were never placed in a permanent home are more likely to have a criminal record than a high school diploma.

Foster care outcomes are particularly bleak for Colorado minorities.

According to CDHS statistics, blacks are four times more likely than whites to enter the child welfare system, and Hispanics are nearly three times more likely than whites to spend time in out-of-home care.

Nationwide, former foster teens and young adults are more than 10 times as likely as their non-foster peers to be in jail or prison as their “current living arrangement.”

Read the full article here.

See Also:

Former Foster Parent Exposes How CPS Kidnaps Kids Away from Good Homes – Puts them on Drugs

Foster Care Children are Worse Off than Children in Troubled Homes – The Child Trafficking Business