Blog Post #10: Option 1

After reading this first portion of Roberts’ book, I definitely questioned how the foster care system and social services functions. Based on the stereotypes that surround black families that are depicted in movies and TV shows along with the reality of those situations, it is clear that her statement on page 6, “If you came [to dependency courts] with no preconceptions about the purpose of the child welfare system, you would have to conclude that it is an institution designed to monitor, regulate, and punish poor black families.,” is in fact true. She supports this statement using facts about the incredibly high number of black children removed from their homes, in foster care, and those who never are reunited with their biological families despite the great lengths their families go to get their children back.

One of the statistics that surprised me was that in Illinois, where 19% of the child population is black, 75% of the children in foster care are black (p. 8). Similar statistics were shared for larger cities and states which show that this is not occurring in just one place but all over the United States. All of the statistics and stories that Roberts’ shared supported her statement that black families are not treated the same as other families. Black children are more likely to be removed from their families in general, are more likely to be removed instead of receiving supporting help for the problems that are seen, they spend more time in foster care and are more likely to get stuck in the foster care system – neither being reunited with their family or being adopted, and the services that they do receive are usually inferior to those that other children in social services receive.

One particular story that intrigued me was Jornell’s story. She did what she believed to be best and sought out help to be a good mother. She started a program to help her stay healthy and to be a good mother for her new baby, David, but because of her background, the hospital and social services questioned many of her decisions. Even when she did everything that was asked of her (and often times much more), she did not get her son back after they took him away. She proved again and again that she was clean and healthy, was able to provide for her child and that she loved him and wanted him back yet they still refused to see any of the progress she had made and the steps she had taken to prove herself (pp. 3-6).

It seems that no matter how many parents try to prove to social services that they are good parents and the number of times they prove it, they are ignored, mistreated and treated as a lesser class. The discrimination that has been present for so many years still has not gone away. And because of this, the cycle continues; remove children from their home into foster care where they stay in unstable and sometimes unloving homes until their 18 and then kick them out with little preparation to be adults, parents, or functioning citizens. When Jornell questioned when she was getting David back, she stated that one of the reasons was because she did not want him to end up in jail like over half of foster children do (p. 6). That cycle will continue until someone actually does something about it and instead of the institution monitoring, regulating and punishing poor black families, they instead educate, assist and guide these families to be the best for the children and society so that this cycle ends.

-- Lindsey E.