Life Chances

The irony of the child welfare system is that while it removes children from unhealthy living situations with their biological parent, purporting to do so to increase the child’s life chances, in reality, the statistics that reflect this so-called strategy demonstrate a pattern of exactly the opposite. A study published this month, reported by the New York Times, shows that young adults who have aged out of the foster care system lag behind their counterparts across several major categories. These include homelessness, educational attainment, reliance on public assistance benefits, and interactions with the criminal justice system. These differences should come as no surprise; however, it begs the question, do the costs of removing a child from their biological family – barring clear cases of abuse, neglect, and endangerment – outweigh the benefits of having them raised in the foster care system?