There is little or no doubt that sexually abused children or undernourished children who are left alone for many hours daily really do need someone to intervene for them. While it is usually best for children to remain in the care of the natural parents most of the time, there are clearly some who are in situations that have no hope of becoming better.
Some parental situations are not the exclusive fault either of the parent or of the child. Sickness or unusual circumstances can negatively affect an otherwise healthy parent-child relationship. When the problem was not avoidable, the child welfare system must work to alleviate the problem. That is not the time to remove a child from his natural parent.
For example, consider a single parent who has had serious financial challenges recently and cannot afford school books or enough food or clothing for her child. That surely is not sufficient reason to put the child into a foster home.
Half a million children are removed from their homes by courts in the USA each year. They are forced into a foster home, with a family that they do not know or understand. There is likely to be some resentment growing in their minds. They cannot rationalize the situation they are in.
Of course, some of those children benefit from being moved into a healthier home situation. Their nutrition is improved, they benefit from someone watching over their school work and friendships, and their free time is monitored. Those good effects are positives in the child's life.
At times, the major reason for removing a child from his natural parent is poverty. Whether the child welfare officials or the judge admit it or not, poverty is the cause of a significant amount of problems which many children face. Of course, no one expects a child to rectify the problem himself by getting a job. A child who is moved into foster care may become bitter or resentful about the move. He cannot understand how having move money than another family is a good reason to destroy his family.
Perhaps one of the better means of keeping children out of foster care situations is to educate parents with problems. Help them to see ways out of their conditions, the same conditions which are harming their children. Even if a child's home is not ultramodern and the parents are not highly educated, the child is usually better off than if sent into a very modern home with strangers.
