Child Welfare Advocates Rejoice: Fewer Kids in Foster Care

Child Welfare Advocates Rejoice: Fewer Kids in Foster Care

George Lopez, a young man in Chicago, spent his early childhood huddled on an old mattress shoved into a large closet next to his brother and sister while his mom snorted cocaine. His earliest memory is of the police raiding his house, taking him and his siblings away from the neglect and abuse they endured there.

You might think that was the end of George's childhood suffering, but it was just the beginning. For the next two years, he was shuffled from foster home to foster home, never staying in once place more than a month. When he finally landed in a more permanent placement, it was with foster parents that were incredibly abusive, beating him and locking him in a concrete cellar.

For many kids, foster care is hell on earth. That's why it's great news that foster care placements are down eight percent nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.