Quote:
Originally Posted by wittynickname
Truth be told, the US has a whole lot of kids in foster care who also need parents.
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There aren't a lot of babies looking for homes, and most parents really want a baby. Most foster babies are adopted by their foster parents or placed with relatives. My family has fostered many children throughout my life (and adopted three of the babies/toddlers we fostered) and its not easy. We have also had our hearts ripped out when we got a baby at 5 weeks who was in our family until she was 14 months old and then taken from us because they found blood relatives in Texas who previously didn't know this darling girl existed. It's gut wrenching and after that last incident, we couldn't do it anymore.
Most available children are older and have siblings, which obviously social services prefers not to separate. Even if you take siblings, like my family, it takes five years of court dates, supervised parental visits when they're out of jail and you can still have these kids taken from you if they find blood relatives who will take them, even if they've been in your family for five years. Terminating parental rights shouldn't be easy but common sense should prevail as well. Can you imagine having a two year old girl live with you for four years and then moved to a new family? It's horrible for the foster parents and the child.