The United States Foster Care System

The Stats

It is estimated that there were 50,000 U.S. adoptions from Foster Care in 2000. (1) In 1999 there were about 581,000 children in foster care in the US with only 22% available for adoption. The United States in 1992 was reported to have had 127,000 adoptions of all types (NCSC) and it follows several predictable and tightly controlled paths. Fully 87% of US born adoptees were adopted through a variety of means by biological parents or through the foster family system or by means of a private adoption according to the 2000 census. The 2000 Census claimed 126,000 children in the Foster care system were eligible for adoption. Nearly sixty percent of the 251,000 children who left foster care in 1999 were reunited with birth parents. The sad side of the story was that in 1999 there were 2.5 times the number of “waiting” children as those adopted; of these children 60% are black or Hispanic.

When my wife and I began our search, we naturally sought out what we had heard the most of, adopting in the United States. Up until the last 30- 40 years, the United States was served by a large series of orphanages. These orphanages varied from those operated by the Church, the State or Private for profit organizations. As the United States became more “enlightened” this system that has worked for thousands of years was substituted by a philosophy and system of foster care families that would provide homes for orphaned children until a suitable family presented themselves.

As you might already feel from the bite of my previous paragraph, the distaste that this entire system has left in my mouth leads to sadness and outrage at times. A system that basically worked, provided housing and education to prepare children to enter the adult world has led to (in my estimation) a hopeless welfare state. The children waiting to be adopted are disproportionately older and Black and Hispanic. As a result, children of Caucasian race are sought after and those of any race that are younger. More people would like a younger child.

The monetary aspects of adopting a child out of the foster care system may appeal to some families. The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (NAIC) estimates Domestic-Foster Care adoption costs at zero -$2,500.00. As a result of State and federal funding the adoption costs are VERY reasonable. Many children also have continued medical assistance and stipends based on their particular circumstance. Through a private agency NAIC estimates a cost range of between $4,000.00 and $30,000.00. This of course is not the one and only consideration for adoptive families however. Many successful and well disposed parents seek adoption and understand that nothing in the world is “Free”.

In assessing adoption in general, one must first understand motivations. In 1995, about 500,000 women were seeking to adopt a child, and 100,000 had applied with an agency.(2) the foster care system provides an unending spool of government red tape and employees to keep it tightly wound. There would be no need for social workers without the system that is controlled by government. The United States as the richest country on Earth also has 565,000 in Foster Care in 2001. They are cared for by wonderful people or entities that I am sure would give there eye teeth to find a loving home for each one of them. This is why 64% of the children that are adopted are adopted by the Foster Parents and only 20% by non-relatives. But look at the goal!

In a nutshell the goal of our system is to reunite the family, which is done at all costs. Even for children abandoned, or abused and neglected the United States and law enforcement will work diligently and leave few stones unturned to find birthparents or help a abused child return home. Again nearly 60% are reunited with birth parents. Several months ago a child was found wandering the streets in the inland valley of Northern California. For days police and volunteers took this child in search of his parents. Many days later the mother called anonymously to police to tell them that she no longer wanted the child for a list of reasons. In the same way, children are removed from homes due to neglect, abuse and legal reasons.

Should these children be re-united with their biological parents? Perhaps or perhaps not. The trick is that it our system holds onto the perhaps idea. The ideal that a child should live with a biological parent above all else and our legal protections allow the foster care system to keep these children inside the system. Although Federal Law requires a “permanency plan” within a year and termination of parental rights for children in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 month I fear things drag out much longer.

My wife and I investigated this adoption alternative twice. Once prior to adopting our daughter and then a second time when we began to think about a third child. Imagine the heart wrenching experience as we went to our state agency seminar and were shown a book with hundreds of children, many sibling groups that were available for adoption. As we read about each, we were struck that so many of them were of black or Hispanic races (we are you’re a typical Caucasian couple), and that so many were older children. Why were so many older children available? Only later did the statistics bear out my conclusion. In 1998 only 2% of children in foster care were under one year of age, 46% were between one and five years of age and 37% were between six and ten years old. In that same year for internationally the less than one age group accounted for fully 46% of the children with 89% being under four years old.


1. www.adoptioninstitute.org/survey
2. www.adoptioninstiture.org/factoverview.html


Children in the United States await the possible return of one or both birth parents. Once an attorney friend told me that we could adopt a child through the system but the adoption would not be finalized for up to 18 months. A birth mother or father could return, be released of otherwise come to the realization that they are O.K. again and come for the child. This was clearly a risk we were not willing to take.

At the same time, a great deal of the foster care children available for adoption have a great deal of issues, physical, emotional or mental. The Child Welfare League of America reports, “approximately 60 % of children in out-of-home care have moderate to severe mental health problems”(www.cwla.org/programs/health).Even faced with these hard choices we inquired a second time regarding a child we saw “published” as available for adoption. When we did get a call from the social worker assigned to the child one of the first things out of her mouth was not why we wanted to adopt, or the family we would provide, or that we could provide for his physical and emotional well being; but the fact that we were Caucasian and the child Black. The social worker must obviously consider this basic fact that we had already considered; but I was not prepared to justify that this would be a “suitable” situation for the child. I then inquired as to how many years the boy had been in foster care; and was shocked and saddened to learn that he had been with three families in four years!

Enough of my soapbox. We were advised to not go this avenue unless we really wanted this experience.