*rolls eyes*

I’ve read a lot of books on the foster care/child protection/adoption system, covering the past thirty or forty years, and no, I don’t think it’s improved in any practical, visible sense. Some old problems get solved, new ones pop up like bubbles, the whole thing is like boiling water. It needs to be completely transformed. It’s irreparably broken.

I would recommend the following books: “On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System?” by Martha Shirk and Gary Stangler, “Orphans of the Living: Stories of America’s Children in Foster Care” by Jennifer Toth, “The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care” by Nina Bernstein and “Beyond the Foster Care System: The Future for Teens” by Betsy Krebs. I can’t quote from them because I don’t have them with me — I checked them out from the library within the past year. But they contain stories and data to back up my own statements.

Your diversions are best for topics like:

“Foster kids – Where are they now?”

“Sue the CPS! Yes, really!”

Stop digressing, please focus on your original statement of:
“CPS in its various forms has come under fire so many times before. Look at the Rilya Wilson case. Look at Nixmary Brown. But it seems like their problems never get fixed.”

” it seems like their(CPS) problems never get fixed.”
Translation:
-I’m not sure(uncertain) if CPS ever improves-
WRONG.

I have statistical data that proves your statement is false.

NYC

http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/downloads/pdf/stats_annual_fy07.pdf

Miami

http://dcfdashboard.dcf.state.fl.us/docs/storyboard/southeast_web.shtml

Yes, the CPS in Florida and NYC have improved. Even a slight upward trend, I consider improvement. The media doesn’t always report the positive aspects like; the faster 24-hr response rate, or the increased caseloads that have converted to independent living status, or the improved open/close case ratio. Why? Because it’s not newsworthy. We hear about the few terrible cases that enrage us and make us cringe. But we don’t hear about the other 11,000 cases.
The good thing about the negative media, is that it does propel the CPS forward and they manage to tweak their services a bit, allowing them to offer some improvement.

You said: “Look at all the statistics as to how fucked up kids who grew up in foster care tend to be, how many become dropouts, drug addicts, incarcerated, etc.”

Meaghan, where are your stats to validate your statements?

I’m on the defensive as you’ve replied, disagreeing with my initial statement.
Consequently, I’ve provided you the links to validate said statement. Let’s do a comparison using YOUR stats.

Again, where’s your data?

Diversion: “Do you think CPS was any better before the Bush administration?”

I did not suggest that. Read my next sentance. “No child left behind”.
IMO it was a failure. hence why our welfare system is lacking in resourses to make drastic improvments.

She’s already there.