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smurtzenheimer t1_jcz4t6t wrote

Thank you so much for this. Foster families need so so much more support than governments provide. Stronger, broader social support like the things mentioned in this post are vital to closing the gaps by even a little bit.

I'm originally from California and I learned recently that upwards of 70% (SEVENTY PERCENT!) of currently incarcerated individuals in the state of California (hundreds of thousands of people) are former foster youth.

These kids need us, whether we are able to bring them into our homes or not.

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mutilatedlama OP t1_jcz5my9 wrote

Thank you, I think this is the part a lot of people miss. It is so easy to look at a kid and see the behavior. It is much harder to see what caused the behavior and make an effort to correct

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GenXChefVeg t1_jczkq06 wrote

A big piece of this is the neglecting of mental health. Many folks who cannot take care of their kids have undiagnosed mental health issues (often self-medicated by drug abuse, etc). Their kids end up in foster care AND may have those same, undiagnosed mental health issues. Depending on the diagnosis, behaviors can downward spiral into a criminal record.

This is not the case for everyone, of course. This is what I've observed teaching fostercare students, being a CASA, and being the parent of a kid adopted out of foster care. It's a challenging path for anyone involved.

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