Fostering Failure

I do not own any of the characters from the movie Four Brothers

Jack came home from school, went into the living room and sat down on the couch to watch television. When the seventeen year old turned on the TV, the news was on and they were showing the story of a little boy, who was maybe seven or eight, that had been severely abused in a foster home and had died from the abuse. The little boy had been taken from his parents because they neglected and abused him. After being removed from his home, he was put in several foster homes where he was also neglected and abused. In the foster home he had been living at, he had been severely beaten by his foster father and suffered an injury to his head, he was placed on life support, but had to be taken off the machine due to being brain dead. They showed a picture of the little boy, he had brown hair and big brown eyes and Jack saw himself in the little boy. That little boy could have been him. Jack had been born to drug addicted parents, and had also been taken from his step father because he and his biological mother were drug addicts, who neglected and physically abused him. His mother always told him that she never wanted him. His stepfather who used to hit his mom shot and killed her in front of him and he was taken from the home. Just like the little boy on the news, he also had gone from foster home to foster home, and was physically, emotionally, sexually abused, and neglected. In the foster home he lived at before he was rescued by Evelyn, the last day he was there, he was so severely beaten and molested that it was a miracle he survived. After the police rescued him, he was taken to the hospital and that is when Evelyn came to visit him in the hospital. When he first saw her he thought she was an angel, she looked just like an angel with her blonde curly hair and blue eyes. He was so scared and traumatized that he did not speak, and flinched when she tried to touch him, but she understood and kept her distance. When he was released from the hospital, Evelyn told him that he would be going home with her. If it had not been for her, the angel who saved him, he would not be alive today. Most likely after being released from the hospital, he would have been placed in yet another home where he would have been abused and neglected again. He felt sad for the little boy on the news who had been abused and died, but he also felt angry. Why had the system failed him? he thought, just like it had failed him, his three brothers and so many other foster kids. Why were so many foster kids removed from homes, where their parents abused and neglected them, and placed in homes where they were also abused and neglected? Why does the system that is supposed to protect kids, fail to protect them? Although there are many social workers that are caring and do their job well, like his mom, there are others that fail to their job. They do not make home visits when they are required to and when they do, they fail to notice if the child is being abused in the home. There were times that Jack had bruises on his arms and back, and he was forced to wear long sleeve shirts even in summer so that no one would notice his bruises. The social workers never noticed that he was always wearing long sleeved shirts, or bothered to look at his arms. Not all, but many of the people that become foster parents do so just because of the extra money they receive. The money never goes towards the child and they spend it on themselves. Jack remembered when he was hardly given any food to eat, and his clothes were old and torn. The only time he would get to wear nice clothes was when the social worker came over the house. His foster parents would pretend to be nice to him in front of the social worker.

When he had bruises on his face and his social worker or teacher noticed the bruises, his foster parents would tell them that he was clumsy and always falling down, and they would believe them. Jack remembered the time that his foster father broke his arm and did not take him to the hospital for several days. He cried himself to sleep every night because the pain was so bad. When he was finally taken to the hospital, his foster father told the doctor that he had broken his arm riding his bike. He did not even have a bike.

Jack also thought about how when people know that a child is being abused, do not report the abuse. How many people had known that he was being abused, but never reported it, he thought. When he screamed when he was being abused and molested, no one ever heard his screams, he often prayed that someone would hear his screams and come save him, but no one ever did.

If someone had reported the abuse, or the social workers would have done their job correctly, Jack would have never gone through all that he did. He would not have been starved, severely beaten, locked in closets, burned with cigarettes, locked outside in the cold, yelled at, and constantly told that he was worthless, bad, and dirty. He had felt so alone, unwanted and unloved. Although Jack was different from his brothers, he dressed differently, did not like the same music as them, was not tough like them, and had experienced much worse abuse in the foster homes, including being sexually abused, there was one thing the four of them all had in common, they all knew what it felt like to be alone, and feel unwanted and unloved.

Jack thought about his brothers, and how no one had wanted to adopt them because they were delinquents. His brothers were so angry about being moved from foster home to foster home where they were constantly neglected and abused, that they acted out, becoming violent and aggressive and getting into all types of trouble.

All three of them had gotten kicked out of several foster homes due to their acting out. They would usually act out because they would test their foster parents to see if they would kick them out or not. When they got older, they had also been kicked out of foster homes for trying to defend themselves when their foster parents tried to hit them. Bobby once broke his foster father's jaw when he tried to hit him. His brothers continued to get into trouble when they came to live with Evelyn. They tested her to see if she would also kick them out like their other foster parents had, but she never gave up on them, and always saw the good in them. Whereas, Jack's brothers acted out, he drew within himself, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (nightmares, flashbacks), panic attacks, depression, and often turned to cutting and drugs to deal with the pain of the abuse. He also attempted suicide once.

Jack wondered how differently their lives had turned out if the system had not failed them and instead of going from foster home to foster home being neglected and abused, they had been placed in a home where they were loved and taken care of.

When he was living in the foster homes, Jack often prayed to have a home and a family; to be taken care of and loved. He did not know what love was until he was adopted. He thought that love meant being hurt or molested. None of them had ever known affection or a mother's love before Evelyn adopted them. Jack was so grateful to have been adopted and to have a home and a family, a home where he no longer had to worry about being hurt or molested and was safe. He had a mother who took care of him, and was very loving and caring, and three of the best big brothers he could ever ask for, who were always there for him and protected him. Before coming to live with his mom and brothers, Jack could not remember a time when he had fun or even smiled. After he came to live with them, he was finally able to just be a kid and have fun. His brothers taught him to play hockey, ride a bike, swim, and many other things, and took him places that he had never been before, like the zoo and the carnival. He also went trick or treating for the first time and decorated a Christmas tree.

He could not help but think of all the foster kids who were not as lucky as him to be adopted, to have a family and a home, and to be cared for and loved. He thought about the foster kids who aged out of the system; never knowing what it's like to have a family, a home, and be loved.

Jack thought about the more than400,000 children in the foster care system. Why are these children forgotten, he thought, why doesn't anyone seem to care about them or the issues they face. He had read somewhere that seventy percent of prisoners were in the foster fare system at one point in their lives, and that kids in the foster care system often end up in gangs, prison, and engage in drugs. He and his brothers were examples of that. His three brothers had been to jail several times and he had done drugs. Jack thought about the foster kids that are moved from foster home to foster home, these homes are usually temporary, and they stay there for a very short time, there is no permanency. When they are placed in a good foster home, it is usually temporary and they do not stay there for very long. Jack thought about the kids who are placed in foster homes where they are abused and neglected. The system that is supposed to protect them places them in homes where they are not protected, and they are physically, sexually, emotionally abused, neglected, and often starved. The check that foster parents receive most often does not go towards the needs of the children, and they spend it on themselves. Foster kids who age out of the system most often end up on the streets and homeless. Jack thought about all that was wrong with the system, and the many changes that had to be made. Will changes ever be made to the system? he thought. Or will kids, like the little boy on the news, continue to be abused and die? In order for changes to be made, he thought, awareness has to be raised. If people are not aware of the issues facing foster kids, how can they do anything about it? And why aren't more people open to adoption? Jack thought. Why didn't more people adopt foster kids? If more people were willing to open their homes and their hearts to these kids, there weren't be so many kids in the foster care system.

Jack thought about the little boy on the news and other foster kids like him, who had not been as lucky as him and been saved. He began to cry and tears rolled down his cheeks; his heart ached for them.