Social Services...

As of Monday this week, 652 children from state care have been listed as missing from the Department of Children and Families. Out of the 652, about 175 are from South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach etc.). Of those 175, five are listed as "endangered", 11 are believed to be have been abducted by noncustodial parents, and 158 are listed as runaways. None of these statistic list whether the child has been identified GLBT or questioning. So, here is what you can gather from these statistics. 652 human beings are *poof*, gone. Like Bryan Hayes (Jacksonville), 14 years old and his friend Mark Degner, 13. They were both living in a group home, and ran away from the home on Feb. 10th, 2005 . Over a year ago, and they just disappeared. The state assumes that they are still on the street.

You also can gather from the statistics, that if a child has been taken out of the home for neglect or abuse, put into foster care, there is still a good chance that they will be kidnapped out of the foster care situation by the care givers that were originally the ones that had their custodial rights taken away. Meaning...the state puts the kid into foster care, let say the reason being because the mother of the kids put his/her hand to the stove for misbehaving. Said mother has her custodial (parenting) rights taken away. Said mother thinks to herself..."Screw you, you ain't telling me how to raise my kids!" and kidnapps the kid from school, or the front yard of the foster home and disappears. Well, do they actually disappear? Really? They have to get a job. They can't just pop off the map. Right??

I don't know what "endangered" means. I mean I do, I am not an idiot. I don't know what the Department of Children & Families considers "endangered". Why is it in quotes? Is that a way of placating the situation? "...it's bad, but not THAT bad" is what I get from that. That is 5 (only going on the South Florida stats) that they know about. I mean of the 158 runaways, how many of their statuses changed to "endangered". And, wouldn't running away at 13, 15, or 17 still put them in the condition "endangered"? There is also an "pressumed" total not released or talked about. Pressumed meaning dead. Like Rilya Wilson who would be ten in September, who disappeared from her foster home at 5 years old. Her caregiver has been accused of her murder, although no body or clues to where this child is were never found.

So, why do teens/kids feel that there is no other way out of their abusive foster care programs except to run away? How much overhaul does the state run program need to be effective in helping these kids? Man this is one big mess!! I will be speaking with someone at ChrisKids.org soon. Hopefully they will help guide me through this big, horrible mess.