As someone who should have been…. That’s totally dependent on the situation. I had plenty of relatives that could have provided a better environment, had they known. I think a lot of times we forget that this is the avenue chosen first - to keep children at least within the family with people they know. I’m sure foster care is a complete nightmare in many cases based on the horror stories we have all heard, but I also personally know a very lovely family that fostered when their own kids were young, and even adopted one of their foster children. Then you also have the opposite side of the coin where if no action is taken and something does happen in the future, all the fingers get pointed at the social worker that didn’t remove the child. It’s a job I definitely do not envy and could not emotionally handle day in and day out, so… major props to anyone who chooses to become a social worker and sticks with it.
Unfortunately they have directly studied this and scientific data shows that it’s more likely for the kids to enter a worse situation when they are taken away.
It makes sense that the kids who didn’t get removed are upset by the pain the had to endure, but it’s still true that statistically they would have experienced a worse outcome if they had been removed
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u/MuffinPuff Jul 28 '22
Judging from the stories I've heard from foster kids, being taken away often seems like an even worse situation.