Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care
'Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care' by Claudia Rowe
Can serious crime be blamed on bad foster care? Seattle journalist Claudia Rowe never gave the idea a thought until confronted by the case of a 16-year-old girl charged with murder after spending much of her life in the foster system. For children who survive family trauma, foster care is supposed to be “the net that had saved them,” she writes. Many have fallen through the holes.
The murder triggered the investigative reporting that resulted in Wards of the State, a look at six young people the system apparently failed. Annually some 400,000 children American are “wards of the state,” with 20,000 aging out as they turn 18. They may have cycled through the homes of multiple strangers or lived in institutions. “Growing up this way has consequences,” Rowe insists. “Research shows that foster youth suffer consequences at nearly twice the rate of Iraq war veterans.”
Rowe asks “who is to blame” for foster kids’ inability to overcome the challenges of entering adulthood. She rues the fact that the state systems responsible for molding foster children have no legal responsibilities for the outcome.” She doesn’t find many happy endings.
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