U.S. Marshals say they found 39 missing children in Georgia

[badnews]

The foster care system is at the heart of trafficking in the US.

(Ok, my frustration here is not directed purely at you specifically, but your statement really strikes a chord.... and it isn't a pretty one)
Pretty sure my parents weren't at that heart, nor did the children that were released from Division of Youth Services and who had nowhere to go but back to abusive homes or the streets, who were adopted by my parents (or just given a safe place to live until they were adults). Some of those kids are still like siblings. They never experienced anything but a fresh start with good people.

Lets not demonize all the decent social workers or the foster care program with blanket statements.
They absolutely make a massive positive impact on our society and it pisses me off to no end that they have been politically vilified.

Sure, we want to recognize the 99% of cops who aren't bad but foster care doesn't get that same grace?

My parents both worked for Missouri DYS (not DFS). They worked with juvenile delinquents in group homes, many of whom were placed in facilities by the state for something like shoplifting sunglasses at 15.
Taken from home for stealing sunglasses? Sounds horrible... but the reality is that the kid is being raped by their father or tortured by their mother... evil shit you couldn't imagine... and sadly, many of the younger kids would still LOVE their parents, despite the sexual abuse.

There are so many low paid, overworked, under appreciated public servants working in social services who are saving/changing kids lives on a daily basis.
Don't forget it.

Some people want to focus on all these sex traffickers and pedophile rings - and we SHOULD.
BUT - please let's not forget the vast majority of this kind of evil happens inside the home, by older family members. And those crimes never get reported either. For good reason.
All the cults and pedo rings and the latest version of the Satanic panic - just a tiny drop in the bucket of abused children in the US. Those kids need help. They need rescued too.. and they need advocates, and don't tell me thats what the church is for.

The real terrible shit that happens to the kid down the street will never make the news, nor will you ever hear about the people that had to face all that evil and help those children find new homes.

Most pastors don't diddle kids, most boy scout leaders are good folks, most cops are trying to do right and most social workers do a really hard, important job too, but they get villified for political reasons.. but they don't have a strong union or PR to defend them and you will never hear the stories you should, just the ones you don't want to hear.... sound familiar?

Yes there are some gross social workers out there, some real turds with family services, some purely opportunistic "foster parents", but they are the exception.

 

[JonRam99]

Well said @badnews . I adopted a kid from the state foster system, and in the process learned a lot about it. Every year there's many that go to foster homes but never get 'adopted' - it's so sad, they just want a home, some place to go to on Thanksgiving when they're adults, someone that they can point to & say 'yeah that's my mom' or 'that's my dad'. Some foster parents wind up becoming unofficial mom & dad for their foster kids. One kid in my scout troop was temporarily in the foster system, and is living again with his birth mom, but still calls his foster dad his "dad", because he still stays active in his life. As for my son, yes he & his siblings were being abused & taken from the home. But now he's 24, and living the best life I could have imagined for his needs. Had he stayed in his home, he would not have lived to see his first birthday.
Recently, a friend of mine had 2 middle-school aged nephews whose mother passed away from cancer 2 years ago. The dad was always a deadbeat, but he took it to new levels after the mom died. Home was filthy, guns everywhere, dad was on drugs & meds & alcohol & dealing & was physically abusing the boys. He was hotlined several times. But nothing was ever done... the Dad killed the younger one (who idolized him) with a steel pipe & is now in jail. The system failed them - my friend's family tried many times to get the authorities to do something but they never did. The older boy is now in a stable situation and seems happier than he ever has at any time of his life. But I'm sure he would've given anything to have his brother back.
Social workers only take kids from homes as a very, very, very last resort & after giving arguably too many chances for the birth parents to change, many of whom just play the system to keep their kids & have no intention of doing right for them. For every bad story about the foster system, there's dozens of stories of kids who get the help, love & support they need to go on to live happy lives because, in most situations, the current system works. Sure it can be better, but "otherizing" the foster system is not helpful. What would be is if the kinder, better folks with the best of intentions about kids put their money where their mouths are & get involved & go foster / adopt some of these older kids in the system - maybe even some of these trafficked kids? - who just want someplace that they can call "home" before they age out.

 

[badnews]

Well said @badnews . I adopted a kid from the state foster system, and in the process learned a lot about it. Every year there's many that go to foster homes but never get 'adopted' - it's so sad, they just want a home, some place to go to on Thanksgiving when they're adults, someone that they can point to & say 'yeah that's my mom' or 'that's my dad'. Some foster parents wind up becoming unofficial mom & dad for their foster kids. One kid in my scout troop was temporarily in the foster system, and is living again with his birth mom, but still calls his foster dad his "dad", because he still stays active in his life. As for my son, yes he & his siblings were being abused & taken from the home. But now he's 24, and living the best life I could have imagined for his needs. Had he stayed in his home, he would not have lived to see his first birthday.
Recently, a friend of mine had 2 middle-school aged nephews whose mother passed away from cancer 2 years ago. The dad was always a deadbeat, but he took it to new levels after the mom died. Home was filthy, guns everywhere, dad was on drugs & meds & alcohol & dealing & was physically abusing the boys. He was hotlined several times. But nothing was ever done... the Dad killed the younger one (who idolized him) with a steel pipe & is now in jail. The system failed them - my friend's family tried many times to get the authorities to do something but they never did. The older boy is now in a stable situation and seems happier than he ever has at any time of his life. But I'm sure he would've given anything to have his brother back.
Social workers only take kids from homes as a very, very, very last resort & after giving arguably too many chances for the birth parents to change, many of whom just play the system to keep their kids & have no intention of doing right for them. For every bad story about the foster system, there's dozens of stories of kids who get the help, love & support they need to go on to live happy lives because, in most situations, the current system works. Sure it can be better, but "otherizing" the foster system is not helpful. What would be is if the kinder, better folks with the best of intentions about kids put their money where their mouths are & get involved & go foster / adopt some of these older kids in the system - maybe even some of these trafficked kids? - who just want someplace that they can call "home" before they age out.

Thank you for your perspective and personal story! You summed it much better than I did.

Not to go too far out there, but imo we should end the "war on drugs", put that money directly into youth services and in 15 - 20 years our crime rates would plummet, homelessness would be down and society would be a noticeably safer, better place to be.

 

[fearsomefour]

(Ok, my frustration here is not directed purely at you specifically, but your statement really strikes a chord.... and it isn't a pretty one)
Pretty sure my parents weren't at that heart, nor did the children that were released from Division of Youth Services and who had nowhere to go but back to abusive homes or the streets, who were adopted by my parents (or just given a safe place to live until they were adults). Some of those kids are still like siblings. They never experienced anything but a fresh start with good people.

Lets not demonize all the decent social workers or the foster care program with blanket statements.
They absolutely make a massive positive impact on our society and it pisses me off to no end that they have been politically vilified.

Sure, we want to recognize the 99% of cops who aren't bad but foster care doesn't get that same grace?

My parents both worked for Missouri DYS (not DFS). They worked with juvenile delinquents in group homes, many of whom were placed in facilities by the state for something like shoplifting sunglasses at 15.
Taken from home for stealing sunglasses? Sounds horrible... but the reality is that the kid is being raped by their father or tortured by their mother... evil shit you couldn't imagine... and sadly, many of the younger kids would still LOVE their parents, despite the sexual abuse.

There are so many low paid, overworked, under appreciated public servants working in social services who are saving/changing kids lives on a daily basis.
Don't forget it.

Some people want to focus on all these sex traffickers and pedophile rings - and we SHOULD.
BUT - please let's not forget the vast majority of this kind of evil happens inside the home, by older family members. And those crimes never get reported either. For good reason.
All the cults and pedo rings and the latest version of the Satanic panic - just a tiny drop in the bucket of abused children in the US. Those kids need help. They need rescued too.. and they need advocates, and don't tell me thats what the church is for.

The real terrible shit that happens to the kid down the street will never make the news, nor will you ever hear about the people that had to face all that evil and help those children find new homes.

Most pastors don't diddle kids, most boy scout leaders are good folks, most cops are trying to do right and most social workers do a really hard, important job too, but they get villified for political reasons.. but they don't have a strong union or PR to defend them and you will never hear the stories you should, just the ones you don't want to hear.... sound familiar?

Yes there are some gross social workers out there, some real turds with family services, some purely opportunistic "foster parents", but they are the exception.

I never said anything different than that.
I never said all or even most of any group of people or foster care itself is an issue.
You read that into what I said.
I would think it would go without saying what you said is the case.
I certainly assume that to be the case.
Your assumption someone is saying something they are not and having an emotional melt down over it seems a little unhinged.
Guess what?
I’ve done work with those (foster care, big brothers, adoption) systems as well
It’s why it’s such a concern to me.

 

[fearsomefour]

Thank you for your perspective and personal story! You summed it much better than I did.

Not to go too far out there, but imo we should end the "war on drugs", put that money directly into youth services and in 15 - 20 years our crime rates would plummet, homelessness would be down and society would be a noticeably safer, better place to be.

Agreed 100%
Let’s bump up mental health as part of that too.

 

[badnews]

I never said anything different than that.
I never said all or even most of any group of people or foster care itself is an issue.
You read that into what I said.
I would think it would go without saying what you said is the case.
I certainly assume that to be the case.
Your assumption someone is saying something they are not and having an emotional melt down over it seems a little unhinged.
Guess what?
I’ve done work with those (foster care, big brothers, adoption) systems as well
It’s why it’s such a concern to me.

Don't act like I didn't preface my post by admitting my frustration and that it wasn't directed at you.
You're kinda painting me as over emotional and "unhinged" when I deliberately told you what was coming.
It is important to me, hence the response, because social workers and foster care have both been politically villified and get shit on so much.

Its great that you are smart enough to make the distinction, but this country is full of people who could read your comment, take it as the gospel and go around believing and repeating that foster care is trafficking kids to pedophile rings. Foster care becomes pizzagate...

 

[Dz1]

But wait I thought this was an American media problem

This BS is going on all around the World.

He'll in some countries they sell their own kids into prostitution as young has 8 9.

But this is the U.S we need to end this, at least here.

After what certain groups have done to protect themselves from lawsuits etc etc for protecting pedifiles , There's a reason why they get blasted.

No Child left behind is in the Heart and Soul of many, Including myself.

 

[fearsomefour]

Don't act like I didn't preface my post by admitting my frustration and that it wasn't directed at you.
You're kinda painting me as over emotional and "unhinged" when I deliberately told you what was coming.
It is important to me, hence the response, because social workers and foster care have both been politically villified and get shit on so much.

Its great that you are smart enough to make the distinction, but this country is full of people who could read your comment, take it as the gospel and go around believing and repeating that foster care is trafficking kids to pedophile rings. Foster care becomes pizzagate...

So we are in agreement.
That’s great.
As for the perception of what is said.....frankly, hard to care about that.
Someone who is going to read a comment and accept it as gospel without doing any of their own research or looking into things in their own....well, to be frank, they are too daft to worry about.
Also, a person walking around uninformed has nothing to do the reality of the situation.
It changes nothing.
One of the things I am helping with now....and I think this is a huge void in the system.....is assisting young people that have aged out of the foster care system.
In a lot of cases they don’t have any support system really to help get on their own in a stable way.
Homelessness in this group is a real issue where I live.

 

[Dz1]

So we are in agreement.
That’s great.
As for the perception of what is said.....frankly, hard to care about that.
Someone who is going to read a comment and accept it as gospel without doing any of their own research or looking into things in their own....well, to be frank, they are too daft to worry about.
Also, a person walking around uninformed has nothing to do the reality of the situation.
It changes nothing.
One of the things I am helping with now....and I think this is a huge void in the system.....is assisting young people that have aged out of the foster care system.
In a lot of cases they don’t have any support system really to help get on their own in a stable way.
Homelessness in this group is a real issue where I live.

This is an AWESOME post.

And your view about lack of mental health, was excellent.

What many don't understand , if a child lives in a messed up environment they can suffer depression and even PTSD.

And that last for life.

 

[fearsomefour]

This is an AWESOME post.

And your view about lack of mental health, was excellent.

What many don't understand , if a child lives in a messed up environment they can suffer depression and even PTSD.

And that last for life.

True.
I would say almost all I’ve dealt with have PTSD to varying degrees.
Varying from making one almost socially incapable of being functional to relatively slight.
Many can be helped greatly, some are amazing and some are just gone.
It’s a strange thing, the mind.

 

[Dz1]

True.
I would say almost all I’ve dealt with have PTSD to varying degrees.
Varying from making one almost socially incapable of being functional to relatively slight.
Many can be helped greatly, some are amazing and some are just gone.
It’s a strange thing, the mind.

Sad to say but most the time, for those children who suffer the most, are the intelligent ones.

My heart bleeds for those children who Suffer like this and I'm proud to say.

Hell yeah I'm a Zealot for Children rights. Glad to see the Fed is cracking down.

 

[norcalramfan]

Local news again.

45 missing children found, 109 human trafficking survivors rescued in Ohio operation

Ohio Attorney General David Yost said more than 50 agencies were involved in Operation Autumn Hope

www.ksdk.com

 

[Merlin]

Lets not demonize all the decent social workers or the foster care program with blanket statements.

Agreed. That makes about as much sense as, oh I don't know, demonizing all the police because of a small percentage of racist fuckheads.

 

[Merlin]

I am sickened by this shit. Great that they keep finding these kids. But sickened by the reality of it. Jesus.

 

[badnews]

Agreed. That makes about as much sense as, oh I don't know, demonizing all the police because of a small percentage of racist fuckheads.

Its true, the police don't deserve that either. But it's up to the police to take the Frontline stand to demand that they won't be a place for bad apples to hide behind the blue line of silence.
Social workers don't have a PR firm or increasing budgets to even begin to try combating the political hit job done on their reputation either.

 

[OldSchool]

Its true, the police don't deserve that either. But it's up to the police to take the Frontline stand to demand that they won't be a place for bad apples to hide behind the blue line of silence.
Social workers don't have a PR firm or increasing budgets to even begin to try combating the political hit job done on their reputation either.

Lets also not act like the unions don't protect the bad apples in both of those industries.

 

[RamFan503]

Yes there are some gross social workers out there, some real turds with family services, some purely opportunistic "foster parents", but they are the exception.

I think that goes for most any occupation. Some carry more responsibility to do right by their charges and that makes the few bad apples all that much worse.

It's doubly bad IMO when you bring kids into the equation. You're absolutely right though.

 

[badnews]

Lets also not act like the unions don't protect the bad apples in both of those industries.

Yeah but I don't think, at least from what I've gathered from family who work in either field, that there is anything close to an equivalency in the strength of those unions.

Social workers aren't in a lot of situations involving deadly force so its hard to find many useful equivalencies here.

I don't know why this conversation is still going. I was quoted and responded but I didn't ask to be the voice against the police here.
Sure seems like this wants to be about politics... I don't want it to. Just wanted to defend a group that takes a whole lot of unfair shit, and nobody has cool bumper stickers that turn the flag black and white and blue for them, thats all. The rest of you can get on with your convo.

 

[OldSchool]

Yeah but I don't think, at least from what I've gathered from family who work in either field, that there is anything close to an equivalency in the strength of those unions.

Social workers aren't in a lot of situations involving deadly force so its hard to find many useful equivalencies here.

I don't know why this conversation is still going. I was quoted and responded but I didn't ask to be the voice against the police here.
Sure seems like this wants to be about politics... I don't want it to. Just wanted to defend a group that takes a whole lot of unfair shit, and nobody has cool bumper stickers that turn the flag black and white and blue for them, thats all. The rest of you can get on with your convo.

I don't know what the conversation has been but from experience the public workers union that social workers fall under and most definitely the police union do and are capable of covering up for people who don't, in some individual cases please understand this isn't a blanket all apples are bad statement, deserve to keep their jobs. I was raised by a father in a very good union. And in my adult work life I've yet to find another union that was fair to all sides aside from his.

 

[Dz1]

Heck everybody on Planet Earth in the USA knows.

Social Workers are overworked.

Underpaid.. they go to college for like 4 years to get a job and start out like 30k per year,WTK.

They are the most blamed by many, and get the most attention more than Anyone, because it;s children they are dealing with and all the attention seekers want to go blah blah blah etc etc etc, to get Media Attention.

Again and again Social Workers get blamed for everything, are they perfect ,Hell No like any Industry in the World.Yet who says and DOES give money needed for these folks ? Cops use 2 work 2 jobs all the time but when they took money they were corrupt, well if you paid them right, Hello....

And of all these arrest posted did they come from major media, Nope, posters are getting it from joe blow imho..It's like there's some serious covering up going on.