Abandoned Children In America Essay
When most people hear or even think about abandoned children, they think about the children in China or in other countries, but never once think about the hundreds of thousands of children that are abandoned right here under our nose in the United States. Child abandonment is not a new problem and exists throughout the whole world. “Abandonment occurs when a parent, guardian, or person in charge of a child either deserts a child without any regard for the child's physical health, safety or welfare and with the intention of wholly abandoning the child, or in some instances, fails to provide necessary care for a child living under their roof.”(2) Some people think that the children here in the United States have it better off than most children in different countries so they decide to help them instead. They are forgotten and left to take care of themselves most of the time.
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To better inform you about abandoned children here in the United States I want to talk about what could have caused the children to be abandoned, where do the babies and children go, and what we could do to help. There could be hundreds of reasons as to why children are abandoned but I will only state two.
Many children abandoned by their mothers are most often addicted to drugs. The mothers can’t afford to raise a child and afford their addiction, so they make the decision to let someone else take care of their child. “One reason why a mother may not be able to make sound decisions for her child is because she is addicted to drugs. The American Council for Drug Education states that drug addiction harms the baby and the decisions the mother makes before, during and after birth.”(1) Another reason is quite simple. It was an unwanted pregnancy and the parents didn’t want the child. The most common of this scenario is teenage pregnancy. The teenagers are too scared to get an abortion and too scared to inform their parents so instead, they hide the pregnancy as weight gain to the parents. Then when the birth occurs it is most often left in a bathroom trash can or even worse, thrown in a dumpster. But sometimes they care enough to leave them somewhere to be found and taken somewhere safe, like foster
care. Assuming the babies and children live, they immediately go into foster care until a permanent foster home is found.(3) During this time the children are evaluated by their social workers and doctors to make sure he or she is healthy enough to be put into a foster home. Many children who don’t go into foster homes stay in an orphanage and wait to be adopted, but those children are mostly babies; older children never seem to be adopted as often. They are considered by most to have too many “problems” that a couple finds too hard to deal with. The children now will spend their childhood in foster care until they turn 18 years old and then they out are on their own. When the child “ages out” he or she is forced out of the system to fend for themselves which usually leads to living on the streets. “When a child turns 18 without any permanent family, this child “ages out” of foster care, and is ejected from the system, forced to fend for themselves for food, housing and employment.” (5) “People who grew up in foster care are 30% more likely to be substance abusers and are 50% more likely to have a history of domestic abuse.”(5) Knowing all these things about these children we can now focus on how we can help these children live better lives. What can you do to make a difference in these children’s lives? Volunteer! The month of May is officially National Foster Care month. Most people don't know this.(4) I am certain a majority of the approximately 400,000 children presently living in foster care don't know it either. If you are in a position in life and would be willing to change a child’s life around, apply to be a foster parent. There are other options, by becoming a big brother or sister. You may even call the state service and ask how you can help! Another way to help is by adopting children. Some families can’t have children of their own and it’s a great way to still be able to start a family. If you don’t want to adopt or can’t volunteer you could always donate. You could even be a “defender”. We always see those sad commercials about the starving children in Africa, or hear about the one child act in China and they always try to get you to donate, but we never see commercials about the abandoned children that are here, or ever see ways that we could help. My goal from telling you this is to let you know about these children and what we can do to help them. We show more sympathy towards other countries because we are to foolish to think that it could happen here, but the 400,000 children left in foster care and orphanages can tell you differently. So the next time you hear the topic of abandoned children, I hope your thoughts go towards the unlucky children here that you could help have a better life.
To better inform you about abandoned children here in the United States I want to talk about what could have caused the children to be abandoned, where do the babies and children go, and what we could do to help. There could be hundreds of reasons as to why children are abandoned but I will only state two.
Many children abandoned by their mothers are most often addicted to drugs. The mothers can’t afford to raise a child and afford their addiction, so they make the decision to let someone else take care of their child. “One reason why a mother may not be able to make sound decisions for her child is because she is addicted to drugs. The American Council for Drug Education states that drug addiction harms the baby and the decisions the mother makes before, during and after birth.”(1) Another reason is quite simple. It was an unwanted pregnancy and the parents didn’t want the child. The most common of this scenario is teenage pregnancy. The teenagers are too scared to get an abortion and too scared to inform their parents so instead, they hide the pregnancy as weight gain to the parents. Then when the birth occurs it is most often left in a bathroom trash can or even worse, thrown in a dumpster. But sometimes they care enough to leave them somewhere to be found and taken somewhere safe, like foster
care. Assuming the babies and children live, they immediately go into foster care until a permanent foster home is found.(3) During this time the children are evaluated by their social workers and doctors to make sure he or she is healthy enough to be put into a foster home. Many children who don’t go into foster homes stay in an orphanage and wait to be adopted, but those children are mostly babies; older children never seem to be adopted as often. They are considered by most to have too many “problems” that a couple finds too hard to deal with. The children now will spend their childhood in foster care until they turn 18 years old and then they out are on their own. When the child “ages out” he or she is forced out of the system to fend for themselves which usually leads to living on the streets. “When a child turns 18 without any permanent family, this child “ages out” of foster care, and is ejected from the system, forced to fend for themselves for food, housing and employment.” (5) “People who grew up in foster care are 30% more likely to be substance abusers and are 50% more likely to have a history of domestic abuse.”(5) Knowing all these things about these children we can now focus on how we can help these children live better lives. What can you do to make a difference in these children’s lives? Volunteer! The month of May is officially National Foster Care month. Most people don't know this.(4) I am certain a majority of the approximately 400,000 children presently living in foster care don't know it either. If you are in a position in life and would be willing to change a child’s life around, apply to be a foster parent. There are other options, by becoming a big brother or sister. You may even call the state service and ask how you can help! Another way to help is by adopting children. Some families can’t have children of their own and it’s a great way to still be able to start a family. If you don’t want to adopt or can’t volunteer you could always donate. You could even be a “defender”. We always see those sad commercials about the starving children in Africa, or hear about the one child act in China and they always try to get you to donate, but we never see commercials about the abandoned children that are here, or ever see ways that we could help. My goal from telling you this is to let you know about these children and what we can do to help them. We show more sympathy towards other countries because we are to foolish to think that it could happen here, but the 400,000 children left in foster care and orphanages can tell you differently. So the next time you hear the topic of abandoned children, I hope your thoughts go towards the unlucky children here that you could help have a better life.