The foster care system is not broken. It’s operating exactly as designed.
Kids are getting hurt in state custody. Our dollars still prefer removal over prevention. We literally pay per child per day in many contracts. We hide the ball behind confidentiality even after fatalities. And we still warehouse kids despite federal findings of systemic abuse.
That’s not broken. That’s the blueprint.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it: the foster care system isn’t “broken.” It’s functioning the way it was built. Incentives that reward removal over prevention, contracts that turn kids into billable units, and a fog of secrecy thick enough to hide failures until they’re fatal.
In late July 2025, three-year-old Ke’Torrius “KJ” Starkes Jr. never made it back from a supervised visit. By the time anyone realized what had happened, he was gone. A child left in a vehicle on a sweltering Alabama afternoon. If you’re tempted to file this under “one person’s unforgivable mistake,” don’t.
The pattern is bigger than a single tragedy: since 1998, the U.S. has averaged roughly one child heatstroke death every ten days in parked vehicles, according to federal transportation safety officials.
The Uncomfortable metric nobody wants to say out loud
When the Children's Bureau grades state performance, it doesn’t just track entries and exits. It tracks maltreatment in foster care — kids harmed while the state is their parent — measured as victimizations per 100,000 days in care. Translation: the system knows harm happens inside it, and still treats that harm like a performance variable, not an emergency brake.
WHY “HELP AT HOME” LOSES TO “TAKE THE CHILD”
For decades, the most reliable federal dollars were tied to having a child in foster care. In 2018, Congress tried to rebalance with the Family First Prevention Services Act, finally letting states draw Title IV-E for time-limited prevention services (mental health, substance use treatment, in-home parenting) to keep kids safely out of care, but only if states build and implement approved plans.
There’s also a federally authorized adoption/guardianship incentive that pays states when they exceed baselines for finalized permanency. It’s lawful, sometimes helpful, and definitely directional — a nudge with a preferred outcome.
The per-diem economy (aka kids as revenue streams)
Follow the money. Many states pay private child-placing agencies a per-diem administrative rate for each child in placement. Don’t take my word for it. Read a clean, public example: Michigan’s manual sets cost-based per diem payment rates for private agencies and congregate care facilities under state contract.
You don’t need an MBA to see how a head-in-bed becomes a line of revenue.
“We can’t tell you that.” the secrecy is policy, not a glitch.
Ask for case files after a tragedy, and you’ll smack into law. Child protection records are confidential by design. In Alabama, disclosure is allowed only in narrow fatality/near-fatality circumstances — otherwise, expect closed files and heavy redactions.
Low sunlight, low accountability. that’s the point.
Congregate care still hurts kids (and we pay for it)
When children are sent to residential treatment, federal auditors have documented abuse, misuse of restraints, and deaths, with spotty enforcement and repeat violations over time. If you’re picturing “treatment,” the GAO picture looks a lot more like liability.
The workforce is underwater (and kids pay for that)
Caseworkers don’t set incentives; they drown in them. The NSCAW III workforce study captured who’s doing the job and at what cost across dozens of agencies in 2021-2022 — a pandemic-era snapshot of burnout, turnover, and the conditions that predict worse outcomes for kids.
And when states write their own federal Program Improvement Plans, they routinely flag turnover and high caseloads as drivers of safety and permanency failures.
okay — so what do we fix, and how fast?
Measure what matters and act on it. Put your state’s maltreatment-in-care trend on a dashboard and set public targets with consequences.
Tip the scales to prevention and kin. Fund Family First plans that actually reach families early — mental health, SUD treatment, in-home coaching — and make kinship the default, not a detour.
Break the per-diem habit. Replace head-in-bed admin rates with outcomes-tied contracts (stability, reunification, well-being), starting with what your own manuals already disclose.
Sunlight after fatalities and near-misses. Follow what the law allows and expand it: release timeliness, decisions, and corrective actions so the public can see patterns — not just platitudes.
Shut the door on abusive facilities. Use federal findings to suspend referrals and claw back dollars from programs with repeat harm.
Staff to Safety. Tie funding to workload standards and retention — because high churn isn’t a surprise; it’s a setup.
Treat transport like a clinical risk, not an errand. Require two-step child checks and route documentation, and train on the federal heatstroke data so “I forgot” stops being an excuse.
Resources & reporting
If you or a child is in danger: call 911 (U.S.) or your local emergency number.
For confidential support, contact Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 or childhelphotline.org.
If you see a child alone in a vehicle:
call 911 immediately.
Try to locate the caregiver; if the child appears in distress, follow dispatcher instructions to intervene.
Note time, location, vehicle description, and plate number (NHTSA, 2025a, 2025b).
If a child in foster care is missing after transport or a hand-off fails:
Call 911 and request a welfare check.
Notify the caseworker, on-call supervisor, and the contracted transport agency; insist on written confirmation of last-known time/place.
Document everything ( names, times, actions taken).
This article reflects the author’s analysis and opinion based on publicly available government and official reports linked in-text. It is for educational purposes and is not legal advice. Allegations remain allegations unless proven in a court of law.
Corrections? Email theadvocatesbrain@gmail.com with a credible source. We review and update posts as needed.
Last updated: 08.19.25.
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