Child Protection Act Needs to Take Action

Laney Frydendall, Writer/Photographer

There are many children in the United States who live in foster care. They suffer silently, having little to no access to their parents and having to battle endless difficulties throughout their lives. Without the stereotypical, loving family, they have to rely on other adults for support when their biological parents cannot. According to the Children’s Bureau there were more than 690,000 children in the foster system in 2017. More than 69,000 of them are waiting to be adopted and have no hope of going back with their biological parents. Many of these children are victims of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. This causes many of them to struggle with their everyday lives. These children have had traumatic childhoods and need people to stand up for them because they cannot do it themselves. Child Protection Services (CPS) throughout the nation were put into place to provide safe places for children and to nurture them into capable adults; however, there are many cases of this not being true. The government should reform Child Protection Services due to them not responding quickly enough to emergency situations, not giving enough emotional support, and the lack of help for young adults after they turn eighteen.

Many actions can be taken by the public to combat issues related to Child Protective Services. Strides towards a better future for foster children can be made by anyone. The main concern is making the issue known on social media. Right now, the public is more drawn to matters in the social media limelight like climate change. If the problem is made known to everyone, change with come more quickly. Concerned members of the public should take the time to contact local CPS agencies and vocalize their concerns. CPS workers will respond to additional pressure from the public to investigate cases in a timely manner. Through this, the program will see that they are not hidden in the shadows. They will know they cannot get away with neglecting children in dire need like Adrian Jones. Only then will they cease to continue to abandon children in distressing situations. The more people who speak out against this injustice done to innocent children, the quicker Child Protective Services will change their policies and children like Adrian Jones will escape unspeakable circumstances. Everyone knows that there are holes in the program, but it is not a huge social issue like it should be. It will never get the attention it deserves until more people get involved. Another problem the foster care system faces is lack of funding. If more people donate, more children will reap the benefits. Funding will help pay for better emotional support and pay for social workers. If this happens, Child Protective Services can hire more social workers because there will be better pay for individuals wanting to go into the profession. This will help with the problem of immense caseloads of current social workers. The children in foster care have a much harder time trusting people than the average kid does. Something else the public could do to support this cause is make the need for loving foster parents known. It is not hard to become one, and more people would be willing to lend a hand if they knew what is going on in the children’s lives. It will definitely take time, but the situation for foster children will eventually become better. 

Individuals who are currently in or have previously been in the foster care system are extremely resilient. They have had to grow up in unfavorable situations and have had to go through circumstances like being ripped away from their biological parents and living with strangers. Child Protective Services do not always do their job to the best of their ability. Due to this, children in dire situations sometimes get overlooked and meet awful consequences. Never again should something happen like what happened with Adrian Jones. No one deserves the pain and humiliation, especially when Child Protective Services had a chance to save them. Foster children also often have emotional and psychological issues due to their situation. This is not their fault; it should be Child Protective Services’ job to help the child through it. Currently they are not doing enough for emotionally damaged kids. The foster care systems do not always put their best interests first. Despite this, foster children become strong and survive in this harsh world by themselves.