Editorial Roundup: Georgia
Brunswick News. December 21, 2023.
Editorial: Government alone can’t solve foster home shortage
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, vowed this month to help two federal agencies that oversee child welfare develop tools that will better enable them to protect foster children from abuse and neglect. Given the findings of his Senate Human Rights Subcommittee earlier this year, we are hopeful that his efforts will amount to some success.
Sen. Ossoff chairs the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee, the members of which sought answers to important questions like what has become of all the foster children reported missing in this and in other states over the years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children speculates with some authority that a certain percentage of them ended up in child sex trafficking rings.
The nation has to do a better job at caring for the boys and girls yanked away from unstable homes and in monitoring their welfare. Some in the child care industry are inclined to feel they would be better off with parents with deficit child-rearing skills. Theories like the number of youth persuaded to participate in or forced into sex trafficking rings inject some credence into that disturbing theory.
It is encouraging that Sen. Ossoff has decided to make better protection of foster children one of his goals during his service in Washington. Someone needs to look out for those who are unable to fend for themselves.
Just don’t expect miracles. The issue is too big for a U.S. senator or his subcommittee to resolve alone. It will require the help of the people.
In Georgia, finding enough homes for foster children — stable adult environments where children have a chance to grow — has long been a problem. State agencies have even tried to convince churches and other reputable religious organizations to join in caring for the young.
Recruiting for this all-important, tremendous task has been met with some success, but it continues to fall short of required participation. As a result, the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services has had to assign children rooms at hotels and provide supervision on a daily and nightly basis.
A hotel is no place for groups of children who have been taken from their parents and homes, but this is no revelation to all the loving families in this state. They know it’s not, but for one reason or another, they are reluctant to allow a non-family member to seek safe harbor in their warm embrace.
Find a place in your heart for a foster child.
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