Rethinking Foster Care

The election of former Vice President Joe Biden provides an opportunity to end the war against poor families waged by the Trump administration. President Trump sought to deny millions of Americans – including children – health care, food stamps and cash assistance. His policies ripped children from parents escaping poverty, violence and abuse in their home countries. He refused to fight for economic security – like a living wage – that would have provided more stability in the lives of low-income families. Research informs us that these types of supports are exactly what families need to safely care for their children and prevent the unnecessary entry of kids into foster care. The Biden administration gives us hope that a broad anti-poverty agenda might be forthcoming that can provide respite to both struggling families and an overburdened foster care system. Yet, in one important area, the Biden administration should simply build on the work of his predecessor – child welfare policy. ...

    I used to say that I grew up in Nowhere, Alabama.   Nowhere was an unincorporated expanse of farm land and cotton fields that stretched as far as I could see, punctuated by the county school that I attended for eleven years of my life.   Nowhere was full of climbing trees, swinging vines, and wading streams rife with salamanders and minnows. Nowhere was much poorer than not and had few, if any, formal social institutions beyond church and school. Nowhere is Reeltown, Alabama.   I haven’t been back there in too many years to count, but an old friend recently sent me a blog post about Reeltown, written by Sean-of-the-South Dietrich, that flooded my senses and challenged me to acknowledge the tremendous influence that my community had on my development and on my life. The blog told the story of Sean encountering an elderly man in Reeltown who, based on the laws of probability, is most likely related to me somehow.   He and his wife were s...