I have to be honest…this newsletter was supposed to go out some time ago, but I couldn’t write it because I was just too mad.  I’m just mad about the state of our foster care system and what is happening to children in our country.
 
When the U.S. foster care system was created in 1935 to get children out of orphanages, the idea was a good one…children do best in families.  But the problem is, our system lets the government be the guardian of the children, something the government is completely unqualified, unequipped and frankly uninterested in being.  Over time the system has become more and more bogged down by the inefficiencies of bureaucracy, and less and less like the original idea. 
 
Meanwhile over the last several decades, the stability of the family has decayed in our culture.  These two evolutions combined lead us to where we are today…burdened with a system where over a half million children have been taken from their parents by the government and left languishing in the system where they get hurt even more.
 
When this system was created, we didn’t have the science of childhood trauma, but now we do.  We didn’t have the science of attachment, but now we do.  And everything about today’s system flies in the face of this science.  Everything about the system INCREASES the child’s trauma and BREAKS the child’s attachment.
 
Did you know there are children right in your county sleeping on the floor of government offices because workers have nowhere to place them?  It’s true.
 
Did you know that a child can be with a foster family for the first three most important years of her life and then taken from that family?  It’s true.
 
This month we bring you women who are walking the hard road of foster care every day and changing lives.
 
Jenni Olowo saw a need and resolved to meet it.  She is coming into the most traumatic day of a child’s life and making a huge difference.  Her idea is a model that could work for every church in America — providing a safe place for children to land on the worst day of their lives.
 
Jamie Finn has fostered over 25 children and is in the fight for these kids every day.  She and I tackle one of the hardest aspects of foster care:  GRIEF.  If you are afraid to get involved in foster care because of the grief, you will be so inspired by this woman’s courageous message. 

These women have gone beyind the mad to make real change for our kids. Listen to them and be inspired.

Me, I’m just mad.