For many kids, foster care isn’t optional. With parents in prison, or wrestling with major substance abuse issues that keep them from being able to parent children properly. In these cases, there is nothing to do but put a child in foster care and hope for the best outcome. But for many Michigan children, foster care is nothing more than part of the unnecessary interference of CPS in their family’s lives. And the results can be disastrous.
Foster kids lose a lot when they go into foster care
However, regardless of what circumstances put kids in foster care, the results are often the same. Being torn away from parents and loved ones. Being separated from siblings, and made to live with strangers. Losing your home, your belongings, and life as you know it. And then there are the less tangible losses. They lose the ability to feel stable and secure. They lose their sense of belonging and identity. And they lose connections with family, friends, and teachers.
This is exacerbated by the fact that foster care tends to be very transient. In Michigan, over half of children placed in foster care are given two or more placements. These kids pack their bags many times, moving from home to home, with no control over where they’re headed next, or how long they’ll be there before they’re forced to do it all over again. Over time, as new relationships are repeatedly lost, they lose the ability to connect with others and trust their caregivers.
Each new placement means starting over from scratch
Every time a child moves to a new home, whether it’s with relatives, a foster family, or some other type of residential placement, they must adjust to a new place, and a new routine. Each home has a different culture, and comes with a varied set of expectations that the child must get used to in a “sink or swim” fashion. Even with the most patient and kind foster families and relatives, a child has no idea what to expect.
Every new placement is like starting life all over again, and while you’d think experience would make it easier each time, in truth it only gets harder. Moving from place to place, time and time again, makes it harder for kids to feel safe and secure at home. Because ‘home’ isn’t really ‘home’, anyway. Even long after leaving the foster care system, these kids often struggle to develop strong bonds with others. Foster children learn early on they can’t get attached to their friends, caretakers, or surroundings. Nothing can be relied on. Everything could change at a moment’s notice.
Foster care should only be used when there’s no other option!
This heartbreaking information supports what we at the Kronzek Firm already believe – that parents are, in most cases, the best possible people to raise their own children. Our experienced CPS defense attorneys work hard to help families stay together whenever possible, and keep children with the people who love and care for them most – their parents. Join us next time for the continuation of this discussion about the long term risks of foster care!
If you or a loved one are battling CPS, or have been threatened with having your children taken away, then you understand the horror that awaits you and your child if you do nothing. Our skilled defense attorneys have spent decades battling CPS, and we’re familiar with their tactics and methods. We understand what you’re up against, and we can help you through this. So call us today at 866-346-5879. We are available 24/7 in the event of an emergency.