Less Global, More Local

I have to admit that I didn’t see the news story myself, but a friend called it to my attention. My friend is one of those unsung heroes in the world of youth advocacy; someone who adopts young people out of the foster care system. If my count is correct, she’s working on number four right now. That’s four young people getting a real chance at a loving, stable home, and four young people those of us in the runaway and homeless youth field don’t need to worry about aging out of the foster care system and ending up on the streets.

My friend was a little upset about an article she saw in the Oregonian (Portland’s main newspaper), and I have to say I second her emotion. The article was a front page story lamenting how international adoptions take “too long”. International adoptions. The article mentioned not one word about the estimated ½ million young people in foster care right here in this country waiting for adoption, nor did it mention that for a large percentage of these kids the wait will be in vain as many will age out of the system without ever being adopted. Nor did it reference the Casey study that revealed that as many as one in four will end up homeless on our streets, adding more numbers to an already overwhelmed and under-funded system of services for runaway and homeless youth. In fact, some estimates are that 40% of the homeless youth on our streets are young people who have aged out of the foster care system.

Nope. Not a word about any of that. Instead, the article lamented the length of time it takes to travel (as my friend put it) “across the world to adopt needy kids in other countries, often spending thousands and at times participating in corrupt systems, when children who need homes languish here”.

I understand her frustration, don’t you?