Dear Governor Greg Abbott,

I am here to convey the idea of child welfare towards foster kids. Throughout the years, Foster Care has been placing kids into a new settlement in which they believe is the best fit for them. Mostly, these decisions are poor and unreliable. Foster Care systems don’t let the foster kids have any say on where they should be placed next. The system doesn’t check every so often to see the child’s wellbeing. In the end, many foster kids struggle in the world with an empty love inside themselves. Foster care system is unjust because of the decisions and promises they make for the kids such as placing kids with unreliable parents, promising that they will be in a safe and loving home which leads to false hope, and how their decisions affect their futures poorly, which in the end devastates the foster children.

Foster kids are placed in homes that may be more life threatening than surviving on their own in the world. The Foster Care System make decisions on where the foster kids should be placed. They don’t bother to come and visit each foster child’s home to investigate if they are in  a safe location. Also, they don’t let foster children have any say in where they are placed. This shows how unjust this system is on letting foster kids getting harmed by their foster parents. Sally Schofield, the foster mother of Logan Marr, was found guilty of wrapping the 5-year-old’s body with 42 feet of duct tape during a “timeout”, causing the little girl to suffocate. In reply to this unforgivable action, Richard Wexlar pronounces his opinion towards the Foster Care System in which "the child-welfare system failed Logan Marr in every possible way. They failed her … by … ignoring her cries of abuse and they failed her by letting her die in that foster home." They heard her pleas, but completely ignored her complaints about her foster mother hurting her. This abusive behavior from a foster parent to a foster kid is common, but many Foster Care Systems don’t come in and take the child away from the abusive parent, whereas they leave them to fend for themselves. This shows the extent in which there was no aid from the Foster Care System.

Foster Care encourages and promises many foster kids that they will end up in a safe environment with a loving home, but most of them don’t end up in foster homes. Foster Care is doing a good job in lifting the kid’s spirits, however they are leading them into false hope in getting adopted. Every time they promise something to those kids, they uphold the promise until they fulfill it, but then get disappointed throughout the years, losing their faith in the system. Foster Care is attempting to help benefit these kids, but they need to step up their game. These children need a safe environment to come home to and parents who love them for who they are. Foster care needs to make changes to their system such as scouting for families who want a child and also monitoring the kids on their wellbeing when they get adopted. Little changes such as these could deeply improve their system and help foster kids find more families that would want them, but not harm them.

When nothing happens throughout the years, there is a time when the foster care can keep foster kids until they are 18, where they are set free and loose in the world. They were never adopted, which leads them into having a empty shell inside themselves. They were never taught life lessons from their parents nor were they taught on what was right or wrong. When they are left in the world. They struggle to find balance in keeping up with their education and working to pay the bills and save for college. They never had a proper childhood, which led them into growing up so early in a young age. They had to take responsibilities whereas other children got to play with their friends and ride their bikes. Take Adrian, for instance. He has been in the system when he was six and was never adopted until he was too old for it anymore. He found the strength to put himself in college. His roommate got to go home on school breaks and had a mother who called to check in on him. Adrian had no one to call when he struggled at school - nowhere to call home, no one to send a gift, no one to see how he was doing. He worked nearly 60 hours a week just to pay for college, and when eventually his grades slipped, he was kicked out. He struggled with the ups and downs of depression. As Adrian said of children in foster care: "We are not equipped to go through this world alone." Why should anyone go through life with this many difficulties? This is unfair on these children who have no one in their lives to support them.

In conclusion, Foster Care is is unjust in making their decisions for the foster kids and how they don’t help and uphold their promises to these kids. Their whole life is a life struggle because of the experiences they never got to experience. We need to change on how these children live and give them their childhood back, instead of worrying about which foster home they will be placed next. All of these children ever wanted was happiness in finding a mother and a father who loved them for who they are.

       Sincerely,
        Tanvi T.