Why We Need Foster Care
Black-haired Boy Crying/Kat Jayne/Pexels
Every day, children from birth to 21 years old enter foster care. A small percentage of those children are delinquents, but the majority are not. Most children enter care because they are not safe or adequately cared for in their homes.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that there were over 400,000 children in foster care in 2016. Though some think the majority of foster children are preschool age and younger, the average age is closer to seven or eight.
Most children enter care because they are not safe
or adequately cared for in their homes.
And sadly, about 65,000 of those currently in care will never return home, because their parents’ legal rights have been terminated.
Child protective service work is not for the faint hearted. It can mean taking a child from the only home they have ever known. But to keep a child safe, sometimes there is no other choice.
The reasons children are removed from their homes are varied. A look at why children enter foster care in Oregon revealed the most common reason is neglect, followed closely by parental drug abuse
