Political Memes

As a person who participated as a parent in the foster system in Texas, I'm here to say that its about as abusive and dysfunctional as you could possibly imagine. Kids get shuttled between foster homes at the whim of state administrators. The entire focus of the program is to minimize how much they spend. The well-being of the children is an absolute afterthought. You can and will be sued by the agency if you voice any kind of complaint or try to act in the best interest of the child in your care. And even in the middle of said lawsuit, they'll try to assign you another kid, because their left-hand doesn't know what their right-hand is doing.

Its a physical, financial, and emotional pain machine for everyone involved. Absolutely nightmarish.

On the other hand, you have "domestic adoption" which amounts to a bunch of expensive private agencies doing all the things CPS is supposed to be doing while CPS officials provide a rubber stamp. Significantly less traumatic for the people involved. But because the private system is entirely funded by the adoptive parents, you're talking about spending $50-80k to cover the budgets of all these little independent agencies tasked with finding candidates, vetting households, and caring for expectant mothers.

The Texas model for adoption is the closest thing you can image to a full privatization of social services. It exists by, of, and for upper class predominantly white childless adults. I feel slimy every time I have to interact with it, and the only thing that keeps me going is the idea that I might be keeping some innocent kid out of the clutches of the disastrous public system.