Why Are There 6,000 Children in Foster Care in Alabama?
The foster care system is continuously evolving, with children moving in and out of care hourly, daily, weekly, etc. There are over 400,000 children in foster care throughout the United States, and nearly 6,000 of those children are right here in Alabama. So, you may be asking yourself, why are so many children in foster care? Let’s take a moment to look at these numbers and break down the who, why, where, and what.
Who?
When foster care is mentioned, often there is a misconception that only very young children and/or teenagers are in foster care. However, when we look closer, we see that is an inaccurate assumption.
Children in foster care can range in ages as young as a newborn baby, up to 20 years of age in the state of Alabama, with the average age of a child in foster care nationally being between 8 and 9 years old. In Alabama, about 48% of these children are females and 52% are males. Of those, 56% are White, 34% are Black, 5% are Hispanic, and 5% are Multiracial.
So now that you see the breakdown of who is in foster care, let’s look at why so many children are in the foster care system.
Why?
There are a variety of reasons children enter foster care, and it is usually due to their family experiencing some sort of crisis.
Oftentimes, children will enter the foster care system because their parents or legal guardians have placed them in an unsafe situation. These types of unsafe situations can range from being exposed to domestic violence, having inadequate housing, or their parents abusing substances such as illegal drugs or alcohol.
Unfortunately, many children in foster care experience some sort of neglect or abuse as well. Abuse can be defined in different ways, but primarily speaking, we mean physical, emotional, or sexual. Sometimes children have been neglected because of parental substance abuse issues. Other times, their parents/legal guardians are unable to care for them due to a parent’s health issues or death, incarceration, or homelessness within the family.
As you can see, there are various reasons as to why a child might enter foster care. Now let’s look at where all these children go.
Where?
So, with all of these children in the foster care system, where do they go and how long do children stay in care?
Most of the children in foster care go to a licensed foster home with the average length of stay being a year and a half. Some children are placed with relatives, others go to emergency shelters, residential care homes, or family-style homes like our Campus Care Homes we have licensed through our agency. Lastly, others are placed in pre-adoptive homes or go into an independent living program.
However, there is still a large gap in the number of homes available and the number of children in care. Did you know there are only about 2,300 licensed foster homes in Alabama? Of those licensed homes, about 250 are licensed through Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries. This has allowed us to provide care each year to about 500 of the 6,000 children in foster care in the state of Alabama.
So, you may be asking yourself, what about the rest of the children? What can we do to help them? Let’s take a quick look at how you can get involved with our ministry.
What?
Now what? What can I do to help? That’s a great question, and on our website, you can find out more information about our ministry, what current needs are, and ways you can get involved.
The Bible is very clear that we are all to look after the least of these. James 1:27 says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…”
We all have gifts that the Lord has given us, and some may feel called to utilize those gifts by becoming a foster parent and some may utilize their gifts in other ways such as being a Prayer Partner, volunteering with us at our various locations, or by being a donor either financially or by providing items from our needs lists.
The ways to get plugged in are endless, and in the upcoming weeks, we will look further into more topics that will go deeper into how you can become involved. Some of those topics will cover the following: “What is a Foster Parent and What Do They Do?”, “How Do I Become a Foster Parent?”, and “How Can My Church Be Involved in Foster Parent Ministry?”
Learn more here about what your next step may be in caring for children from hard places.