What Can You Do to Help Kids Who Have Been Abused and Neglected

Foster care is when a child can no longer live with his or her parents and/or family due to issues of abuse and neglect. Many of the children in foster care end up in foster care because their parents are fighting mental illness, have issues with substance abuse and or have intellectual limitations.

Kids come into care from birth up until 18. States have the ability to provide services to children until the age of 21. This is a state by state decision and the reality is that kids cannot be forced to receive services and many chose to leave as soon as they turn 18. For others they are asked to leave because they are not in school or working and they have behavioral issues that make if very hard for local departments to maintain these kids in placements and the placements that are available can be very expensive. Some run up to 100,000 dollars or more a year and the reality is just because a placement is expensive does not mean that a child is receiving amazing services in fact my personal experience has been that kids who are in family settings with family responsibilities and supports are much more likely to be successful.

All kids in foster care have a social worker. The studies that have been done show that in order for the best outcomes for children social workers would not have more then 12-15 kids on their case loads. Most social workers I know carry case loads that exceeds thirty-five children. This works out to about one hour a week per child and I must tell you that every worker has "challenging" children ones that take more then an hour a week. These kids tend to bomb out of placement or engage in criminal activities. These kids need extra time and energy and what this means is that the kids who are not causing issues are often likely to be ignored. The workers do not want to ignore them and in fact often carry huge burdens of guilt but the reality is that they do not have enough time or the resources so this is where the public MUST come in to fill in the gaps. Recently Angelina Jolie stated that we share the burdens of displaced refugees and children who are orphaned. She is correct. We are all responsible but our responsibility is not just outside of our borders our responsibilities may be and often are two miles from our home. Money helps. Supporting non-profits who work with abused and neglected helps but the biggest help the greatest gift that you can give is your time and your energy and I know that it is not easy to give time or energy. We are all tapped out from our own lives, our own jobs, our own kids but we have to make time for those who have no one to fight for or speak for them.

You can volunteer as a mentor. This can be a five hour a month commitment. You just have to be available to see the youth your mentor a couple of times a month. Take him or her out to dinner or to a museum or a show or a concert. Expose them to things they might never see without you. You can also work as a CASA volunteer - CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates - google them they are a child's voice in the courts system. Go and volunteer in a low income school. Two hours a month. Sit and read with a child. Give the child a hug. Tell him or her that he is loved that he matters that the future is not only dark. Work with your church or other civic organization. Be creative

You must remember that the kids who are forgotten today are going to be the adults of tomorrow. Often times the ones with issues. The one's who cause YOUR community to have to build more jails. Deal with the issue of homelessness, teen pregnancy and mental health issues. So step in today in order to save tomorrow.