30% of foster children end up as adult convicts. 12% are graduated to the adult mental health system. almost 60% are homeless at some time in their adult lives.

And what's the question?

Edited answer-

I don't think most tax payers are aware. Even without mentioning the apathy by most on this subject, this isn't exactly something that's being publicly announced on a daily basis, such as the rate of currency for example, or what Obama has for breakfast.

Maybe if taxpayers KNEW about the sad state of these statistics, they would get pissed off to know that their money is going to juvenile hall, detoxification centers and welfare, instead of this money being given to these organizations to prevent all the of the above to begin with.

One of the things that people should realize about foster care and group home programs is that discipline alone is not a proper raising factor. Denial, dismissal and forbidding only causes further rebellion in most children, one which will expend in anger, sorrow and confusion as they grow older if they don't have the genuine love and care to balance things out. Understanding and explanation need to be offered along with such actions, so that kids understand why they're being punished, and don't start forming their own ideas about it, which can lead to serious introversion and antisocial behavior later.

I can tell you that by having attended several group homes in my youth, empathy is seldom present. A lot of these people just do their jobs in caring for the child's needs, and even then, it's still pretty funny.
Granted, there's a difference between group and foster homes, but being treated like an object or someone's pet rather than a human, especially at an age where you don't understand this kinda stuff much, can kinda mess you up.

I'm not saying it's all horrible and so forth, but these statistics alone certainly suggest that it could be much better.

Those are staggering numbers and very disturbing. I
work on saturdays as a youth counsellor and I'm very
familiar with those statistics--and no, they are not
exagerated. Foster homes are supposed to make the lives
of those children better; unfortunately, that's not
always the case. I'm dealing right now with a 16 years
old boy who's been in ten(10) different foster homes.
This is a very serious issue that the politicians need
to look into very seriously. The sad irony of many of those cases is that, some of those children were removed from their parent's home as a punishment to the
parents--in some cases--for using harsh disciplinary methods("child abuse", they call it), but the child/children end up in much worse predicament than the one they were in. Only to become a disfunctional human being and a burden to society. I see some people treating this issue with certain air of cynicism, but this is some serious stuff. Children entering the shadowy world of foster care are often assigned labels arbitrarily and on a bed-available basis. They may end up spending some time in conventional foster homes, only to find themselves shuffled through group homes, residential treatment facilities, mental hospital or prisons. Moreover, several nonprofit corporations operating child-care facilities were found to be "legally" skimming large amounts of government money through lease-back arrangements. This shit is more serious than many skeptical would like to believe.

Yep, all bad stuff. (Did you have a question?)

However, the statistics are significantly better for children who have ongoing adult mentor/advocates:

http://www.nationalcasa.org

If you're asking "how can I help?", there's one answer :)

That is likely because these children were at risk from the time they were born. I doubt fostering *caused* the statistics. I'd like to know where you got your stats. Do you have a link?

so, what's your question?

I AM A 21 YEAR OLD MAN, WHO GREW UP IN FOSTER CAN IN FLORIDA FROM AGE OF 1 year old, white blond hair blue eyed boy !..I personally lived in the "system" for my entire life until i ran away when i was 16 year old, i lived in 1 really good home that help me become and man, but they where only a family with big heart, no money, nothing to give but bedroom and good principles, they took in thousand of kids only to retire because of all the bad attention and people trashing there name, but i also lived in some of the worst homes out there,homes that made you leave the house at 6am not return until 8pm when it time to go to bed, the worst parts about the system to keep this short are as follows,
1.the people who where "considering adopting" like one kid, it was total joke it was like "rent a kid" then they throw you back to the system when you don't "fit in".
2.all the BS consolers and doctors pushing drugs down your throat if you do have the right attitude towards "the system" and accept there reality.
3.having white children in black home, sound racists im sorry but it was weird being the white kid, im sure it wasnt fun for the black kids trying to explain to kids at school why they live in white home either.
3. people who use blog threads and comment sections to make 3rd party comments, and stats about how bad the system is and talk about the people who come from the system and all the problems they might have or do have, and forget that the internet is forever and there comments will be seen by people from "the system" one day.
4. turning 18 years and no ones gives shit and the system no longer cares, yea it super hard to have NO family support,then the pay check stop, and then Obama passed credit card reform bill that say you have to be 21 before your issued credit unless you have parents co sign!..(ummmm what about the people who want to go to college? what about the 3 year before we hit 21???? me personally amex,visa have been the only parents to ever give me dime, of course at 30%,but now all the young people coming into the system are screwed.)
5. knowing that your simply a stat and test dummie for government that doesnt help anyone, and your only worth $600 dollars a month, until someone decides your no longer worth that much and shift you to another home or location.
6.allowing the school system to inform all your teacher of who you are and problems they might have with you?
7. parents who come back into kids lives after years of separation and think they can do the job better than the parents caring for the child, ( look if you gave up dont come back until you got damn good solution and reason why this happen, not one foster kid need parents to come back and pretend they did it right, or can do it right, if you come back, earn it, work your ass of to make it right even if you never will.most of all dont tell the people taking care of your kids what to do cuz your not the one doing it.
I could go on and on, but reality is im not helping by doing this,every kid or person that was every in the system that i meet became my sister or brother, i have lost contact with almost all of them due the shuffling game, some where true rebels without a cause just needed direction, just needed mentor,people who don't get paid to chill with them, but want to, i got lucky, im 21 years old and i attached myself to people who didnt mind mentoring me and my ADD good people who didnt give rats ass about my past which is good cuz it something people want to stand far away from, i understand there alot of good people in the system trying very hard and i tip my hat to you and say please dont give up, but there far more people who are not good and not helping and the government is the first people to look at, again the people are good, the goverenment has its own intention for foster kids, remember we belong to them,we government property, who knows why im not with my parents,but every random soul i did meet who did try make difference, even if they dont know it,i will always remember and so will god...also if your in the system reading this statement know that there are force bigger than this world, meaning GOD brought you to this post, he is watching, stay positive,and find your pride, its deep inside, and when you do, where it like badge of honor, your true solider who made it on your own... and start your own family.

"i am watching", "i do listen", and "i just think no one cares"

I have story that way to long for this comment box but every one person can make difference, i devote my life to this mission and helping people, i hope one day i can truly make difference in foster system, but only with more people in our community who care about the neighbors.

See abortion should be done instead of putting someone in foster care. I've always said a kid would've been better off terminated than having to go through foster care

I haven't researched this to see if your statistics are correct but I have some nieces and nephews who were in the foster care system and they have went through so much. So far they are not convicts but they sure are close.

For those who wanted a link to stats above, I was working with '97 stats which are no longer available, The link below is to 2003/2006 stats which reflect (generally) the same precentages.

http://www.firststar.org/why/default.asp

I have been a foster parent for over 35 years, and dispite my best efforts, many of my former foster children have fallen victim to the system.

OUT OF THE SAME SYSTEM I have adopted 6 children who aare aall doing well. I believe that may be a key.

The problem and ending results have some to do with the foster system, but mainly to do with what put them there in the first place: abuse and/or neglect by their parent(s). Kids in foster care should recieve long term counseling and to help bridge the gap and help them grow into young adults that have a healthy sense of self. Mentoring of teens and young adults is also critical. Unfortunately, counseling is often not available, even for the kids who have significant psychiatric or behavioral problems.

I have seen both good and bad foster homes. Those that were nurturing and positive, and those that were punative and emotionally abusive. In what foster care home the child winds up in does play a role in their continuing development. I've seen foster care kids grow into productive, happy people...I've also seen the flip side, which your question points out as a statistical reality.

The other side of the coin is that for a foster care child, when you are 18, that's pretty much it for you. There are "YAP" (Young Adult Programs)available to the youth for the first few years of adulthood, but the child, for the most part, is still pretty much on their own.

What percentages of foster children end up as convicts? Or end up in the mental health system? Or are ever homless?

thats awful.

What is the question? And where exactly did these figures come from?

oh thanks thats made me feel good NOT....im in fostercare and so was my sister her life has turned out great got good home and job and lots of money. just because some kids are in fostercare dosnt mean all of them are going to end up homeless. well making bloody sure i wont.

Mission Accomplished

yea but its not foster cares fault. i was in and they helped me. the problem is that in some forter care group homes theres people who work there that are not fit to be there. i was given the chance for help and i took it most of the kids go there with problems and they do what ever they want. i would leave my group home at 10 at night and come back at like 2 in the morning. and i did that my junior year non stop. i hardly went to school and was on drugs most the time. but they game me help and i took it most kids didnt want the help because it was not cool to do it. it was stuck in our head that we should never trust the social workers because we say they dont want to help up when we need help. but we dont understand that theres rules that they have to follow before we can get what we want. so we turn bad, rebelious, a pain and. its our own fault for having these persentages. they try to help us as much as they can. but most of us dont want help. and thats because we cant trust no adults. and most kids take advantage of the sistem but for the money and the end up with nothing. some steal because they think they wont get arested. or some because they want to be arrested to be cool. but whats wost its the expectations. in my years in high school people thought because we were in group home we could do what ever we wanted to now we had expectations. how stupid that we did thigs just to prove to others that because we were in group homes we were cool.

I lived in the foster care system til I aged out. I will say the state of Florida's foster system did not do me any justice. I tore me from my sisters for two years. Then when my family came to get me from Florida they had to take on the entire state to relocate me to their state of residence. Which took another six months, eventually they were granted permission to be my guardians and they were my grandparents. Unfortunately, my sisters and I were considered wards of the state until all of aged out.
The impact of being a foster child has been to the extreme. I suffer from Bipolar, RAD, OCD, and been married 4 times have two beautiful children. Both of my children know I am not an affectionate person, have an unusually bad temper, and extremely moody.
It is unfortunate that as a foster child I cannot remember how many foster homes I have resided in, but I know the length I was a foster child living with my grandparents 11 years because it was the longest, the shortest was three homes in two years.
Life has not been a ton of joy for me. But whatever doesn't break you will make you stronger. But foster homes definitely make a person more likely to not trust anyone.
Is there any proof that foster home children suffer from emotional issues from being placed in foster care whether it is with a stranger or family member?