Monday, October 19, 2009

Children of the U.S.- The forgotten children.


According to the 2009 report put out by the CWLA 510,885 children were living in the foster care system. There is a lot of media attention on the stars going out and adopting children from third world countries. What about the children in the United States? Are their needs not relevant? On television their are infomercials on children living in third world countries who need to be fed. In the year 2007, 18% of the children living in the United States were living below poverty level. I am not denying the needs of children in the third world countries. However, it seems that the children of the United States are the forgotten children of the world.
In the year 2006 there were 139,064 children in the foster care system waiting to be adopted. All the stars and the high profile individuals out there should be adopting our children and donating to take care of our children first before they head over to a third world country to take care of children of another country. Oh excuse me, would that not bring them enough media attention? I used to be a fan of Angelina Jolie until, she started adopting children from other countries. If she would like to adopt children of another race, I am all for it but, there are plenty of beautiful children right here in the U.S. who are in need of a good home. I believe everyone should love everyone the same regardless of race. We are all beautiful. Does Angelina Jolie & other high profile individuals know that 34% of children in the foster care system are African American, 40% are white, 18% Hispanic, 2% American Indian/Native American & 7% of other races & ethnicities. So, the next time all the Angelina Jolie's of the United States decides they want to help children in the third world countries they need look into their own back yard first and help a child living in the United States, they need you.

Here is a snapshot of the children living in the United States.


America’s Most Vulnerable Children:A Snapshot
Estimate of referrals of possible child abuse and
neglect (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,300,000
Children substantiated/indicated as abused or
neglected (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905,000
Children who died as a result of abuse or
neglect (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,530
Children living in out-of-home care (2006) . . . . . . . 510,885
Children adopted from the public foster care
system (2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,705
Children waiting to be adopted (2006) . . . . . . . . . . 139,064
Children living in poverty (2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,247,238
Children living in low-income families (2007) . . 28,803,055
National Poverty Rate (2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5%
National Poverty Rate, children under age 18, (2007) . . 18.0%
National Poverty Rate, children ages 5–17 (2007) . . . 16.8%
National Poverty Rate, children under age 5 (2007). . 21.2%

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