Our Foster Care system is broken, and it isn’t just Missouri’s that’s broken. Foster Care systems are overwhelmed across the United States.
Several issues are contributing to this:
- The opioid epidemic has increased kids being removed from their homes for almost two decades now.
- Mandated reporting, with the lawsuit culture that currently exists, has increased hotline calls as teachers are often afraid to take the time to pause and look further into a situation.
- Lack of funding for properly trained children’s division investigators, and too few to go around.
- Judges and Juvenile Officers still unaware of the neuroscience of addiction, causing them to respond to cases based on emotion and stigma vs. the facts combined with proven holistic medical/treatment/recovery intervention.
- Kids who age out: Statistics show that about 20 percent of foster youth will become homeless the day they age out.
This list is not comprehensive, of course. Removing a child from the home is a very complex situation. One that we must get right; and certainly, in light of what statistics show us for kids growing up in, or in and out of, the system.
A few statistics for you to think about:
- Only 50% of foster youth graduate from high school.
- Only 3% go on to higher education, with only 1% graduating with a college degree.
- 25% of foster children experience PTSD, which is twice the rate of war veterans.
- Estimated that 60% of all child sex trafficking victims have histories in the system.
Youths who “age-out” of foster care:
- One in 4 experience homelessness.
- One in 5 reports being incarcerated.
- One in 10 become a parent between ages 17 to 19, while almost one in 4 before age 21.
Making positive changes to our Foster Care system will affect generations to come. Holly believes if you want to break the poverty-cycle in America, focusing on and fixing our Foster Care systems in America is one way to provide a large and lasting impact.
Holly has fought for legislative fixes to the system for over a decade. Even with her passion and ability to bring others along in her policy fights, it has simply not been enough to break through the political posturing that too often kills these much-needed bills.
Now, that Holly is no longer in the Missouri State Legislature, she works to shine a light on these issues for kids trapped in the foster system through raising awareness and advocating for the needed changes.
Check out these video shorts from some of the 2024 legislation that Senator Thompson Rehder championed:
Foster Care Children’s Social Security Benefits
Stopping Judges from refusing parents reunification due to Medication Assisted Treatment for substance use disorder.
Protecting Children: Task Force on Sex Trafficking and Child Exploitation
From the world that Holly grew up in, she understands all too well the plight of these children. Join her in educating others by signing up for her newsletter today or booking her to speak at a future conference.
*Statistics taken from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, aecf.org, ChapinHall, chapinhall.org, and the United States’ Office of the Administration for Children & Families, acf.hhs.gov.
