Why add more years of governmental failure?

May 16, 2025

The evidence is out there that government makes a really deficient, and sometimes outright harmful, substitute parent. Children brought up in the foster system need the best parenting in order to live with and hopefully overcome early childhood trauma. Instead of which they receive some of the worst, usually not the fault of the foster carer.

An average of seven, yes seven, placements in their first year in “care”, the focus on reunification when parents never get the support they need in order to become “good enough” parents. The lack of vital background information to foster carers about the child and all the factors leading up to removal from their family. The splitting up of siblings into different placements with no recognition that the children who care best are those who are kept with their siblings. And so on and so on.

Should anyone be surprised that these children whom we let down so badly have far higher rates of drug and alcohol issues, mental health issues, incarceration and suicide and much poorer physical health alongside terrible educational outcomes? And significant numbers go back to their troubled families anyway, as soon as they turn 18. The answer? Perhaps open adoption.