Falling through the cracks

I was on the phone today with one of "my" kids. She's been placed in foster care... again... which, for her age in Manitoba, means a hotel room with another girl, and a worker hired to watch TV with them. Its never good news for her to be in these situations: she goes stir-crazy after a few days, and ends up wandering the streets because she knows there's nothing anybody can do about it. It usually lasts for a few months at a time.

I was on her case, because she hasn't been in school since she was put into care. At least being in school would give her an anchor of some sort. Plus, she attends school at our building, so there's people who care about her here. She claims her hotel is too far away and the foster system refuses to find a way for her to get to school. I'd like to believe she's lying - maybe she is - but I know its happened far too often before with others in similar situations.

Manitoba's foster system is in ruins, and they know it. There are constant reforms to try and change it, and once again the fact that its not working hit the newspapers. The issue in the headlines right now is, what happens to foster kids when they reach 18? Have we really helped them? Winnipeg Free Press writes that "these kids are at higher risk for depression, suicide, sexual exploitation, gang involvement and other criminal activity, homelessness, and unemployment. They are far less likely than average Manitoba kids to finish high school and have little ability, if any, to go on to post-secondary education." They list some statistics:
7,206 - The number of kids in the system as of AUgust 31, 2006
1, 593 - the number of kids expected to "age out" in the next three years (in the foster system, once you reach 18, you "age out" and no longer recieve support from the government.)
70 - the percent of "aging out" kids who are aboriginal
28 - the percent with a diagnosed disability
88 - percentage of aboriginal inmates in Stony Mountain who used to be in foster care.
63.3 - percentage of non-aboriginal inmates in Stony Mountain who used to be in foster care.
93 - percentage of Canadian kids who still live with a parent at age 18
57 - percentage of Canadian kids who still live with a parent between ages 20 - 24

I wish there was a quick-fix button on this. I wish, when my kid had to go to court, she didn't have to admit to the judge "My mom loves drinking more than she loves me." I wish the 'solution' to this wasn't to put her in a hotel and let the TV 'love' her instead. I wish there were healthy, loving homes for every child who needed one. I wish the government, if they are going to get involved, would at least care for the minimal standards of the law, like going to school. I wish... I wish... I wish...

So we go to God and intercede on behalf of these kids. They call me from their hotels. I nag them about school, yes, but I also pick them up and take them for icecream and give them a hug and remind them they are not forgotten, they are loved. And I thank God for all the others I know who have taken these children into their homes, who are giving their hearts, their finances, their prayers to these kids, either personally or through ministries like ours and others who care. And I keep praying - for a hope, and for a future, which only comes through Christ.