The foster care system is one that has always been nearing the perils of overpopulation, and as of recently, that hazard has become nothing more than a tragic reality for the said organization. 

The foster care system’s primary purpose is to offer care to children whose biological parents are incapable of providing financial, emotional, or mental support. This network is complex, being that it involves the integration of federal, state, and local organizations that cooperate to ensure the protection of unattended children.

While the lack of supervision of a large sector of the population’s young demographic was the principal impetus for this system, the number of children in dire need of foster care has increased to a level that renders it cumbersome. This rapid spike in the number of youth entering foster care has overwhelmed this system made to tend to the needs of children requiring safekeeping.

Part of the reason why foster care has experienced such a dramatic spike in occupants is attributed to the complications that the process of adoption induces. Both the legal and financial roadblocks that adoption presents are ultimately what render the action of adopting exceedingly intricate. Research has disclosed that when the foster care system experiences improvement, in terms of its control and management of children, the rate of adoption increases. 

As the number of adoptions increases, the amount of children placed in the said organization will concomitantly decrease. Adoption, therefore, will become more common, with this process being made less convoluted, once there are significant adjustments to the foster care system. An enhancement includes establishing an environment in which its occupants feel both at ease and accepted, subsequently lowering the likelihood of these children exhibiting behavioral problems.

“All kids should be able to get help provided through foster care if needed. In the end, the several benefits of it will overcome the few negatives,” said sophomore Mya Tsuboi.

Although foster care is beneficial in that it provides children with a temporary home after being denied a permanent one, the system, as it is right now, is not capable of operating while overcrowded, and the only way to ensure that it serves its primary purpose is to start by making improvements within the institution itself.