[Aszina]

After reading Claudia’s story and watching normans video they are both so sad. The system doesn’t protect these foster children nor do they offer the proper support. When children are taken from there familys they shouldn’t endure abuse when they are placed with other families. These foster parents fail to realize what these children are faced with, for one they are being striped from the only families they know being placed with strangers and they just expect them to adapt right away. Children need time when they are placed in foster homes to gain trust . They act out because they miss what they know. In the case of Claudia I’m happy she was able to find stability with her social worker. The social worker was obviously a great one cause she understood what these kids go through and knew all they needed was understanding ,this is why all children she took in she kept . It’s said they separated her from her sister I feel there should be some type of law against separating siblings. In Norman’s case the system failed him by the age of 15 he started acting out and was put in jail just for pant because he had no one to back him and that’s messed up even the social worker told him he hadn’t done anything wrong enough to have him locked up. He was locked up with teenagers who committed murder. This system really needs working on these children deserve better. How the system treat them they might as well left them with their biological parents.

[Jorge Perez]

In regards to the NPR-podcast on Foster Care and Ted Talk- a child of the State, the story of Claudia Felder and Lemm Sissay is powerful. It’s painful to hear the horror they endured, but their story provides insight to a life in a foster care setting. The system needs to improve and provide a safer environment for foster children, and Lemn Sissay was also referring to needing more families. Many foster children experience abuse from their foster parents, and if the design is to prevent child abuse; modifications need to be made.

[nyay nyay]

Claudia Felder’s life is touching. She had been through enough. I can’t imagine myself placed and removed from home to home. I am wondering what happened to the adoptive parents who abused her physically and sexually? They deserved to be punished for their faulty abusive behaviors. Orphan children and children who are neglected and abandoned by their biological parents are placed to foster care homes. The more children that are placed to foster care, the more the place becomes over crowded and limited. So they try to place them with a family who is willing to adopt children. Adoptive families should be responsible, care for and love their adoptive children as their own. All children deserve to grow healthy and happy. Luckily, Claudia lives happily with her last adoptive parent who was her social worker.

[Mindy Perez]

There is a lot to unpack in these stories. Most eminent is that while the foster care system is far from perfect, it can sometimes have a positive outcome. It is sad to see that Ms. Felder was separated from her sister due to behavioral issues that occurred while in the system. Knowing that the system’s goal is to provide stability based on a family structure makes it difficult to accept that child was separated from her only known relative. And I have lots of questions about how the sexual abuse was addressed and how behavioral issues were addressed. And with that, how Norman was shuffled through the system. It is disheartening and I wonder what could have been done to prevent all those negative situations from occurring. Their stories upset me as well as educated me. And although I do not know either of them in person, I know that life was far from kind to them. Yet and still, they took those experiences and learned from them. They are so strong and brave to tell their stories. And it makes me proud. They overcame things they should never have had to deal with and I wonder why the system is so flawed in this capacity.