The Presidency of the Joes: more like INFRASTRUCTURE WEAK

There are 60000 children in foster care in California.

Put them in group homes in the care of social workers.

1 Like

I donā€˜t know if the situation in the US is different but in Europe unaccompanied minors are pretty common.

Wait this is Ikes? Lolz

I would favor placing these children with the people they were intended to be with, likely extended family

BUT

I would also want to gather extensive data on who they are placed with to a degree that might be uncomfortable if the plan was for them to join relatives who are also undocumented. Whatever system is in place, the government should know where these children are.

Maybe interesting

https://twitter.com/sarahnferris/status/1364345424321126407

Iā€™m plenty livid that weā€™re not doing more on this issue, but you guys are all seriously overestimating the availability, quantity, and quality of foster homes in the US. Anecdotally Iā€™ve seen way more kids abused in foster care than in residential facilities (not counting ICE hellholes).

5 Likes

As opposed to the majority of domestic terrorists who are radicalized by racism and religion and now Facebook and Fox?

Who else was a domestic terrorist over time in the US? Some early anti-tax rebels that in a lot of ways were just more extremist revolutionaries and some Vietnam war protestors and the occasional late 19th century anarchist?

Otherwise itā€™s the Confederacy, the clan, the anti-civil rights crowd, and now these idiots since OKC bombing through 1/6.

Fair point, but could this just be a problem that money could solve?

A quick google seems to say that foster parents get paid something like $400-$800 per month per child. Iā€™m hypothesizing that if you were to increase that by a factor of 5, the availability, quantity and quality would rise dramatically.

Not sure the bolded is true unfortunately. It might be the inverse. The really shitty foster homes are the ones in it for the money. The quality homes are the ones that are in it for helping kids.

2 Likes

This is strictly a matter of political will. ICE gets billions every year to put children in cages.

2 Likes

It could be. Iā€™m just spitballing.

But I wonder how many would-be great foster families are rejecting the concept entirely because of financial concerns?

Hard to say. Unfortunately paying for foster parents is in some ways similar to building private prisons - in that youā€™re creating a dynamic where the people in authority are incentivized to provide minimally for their charges while profit-taking for themselves. Obviously the average foster parent is better-motivated than the average for-profit prison operator (and some of them are fantastic), but there are plenty who are not and the results are horrific. Iā€™m not certain that paying more alleviates this issue; it might exacerbate it by increasing the ratio of parents motivated by money vs. compassion.

The second barrier to what everyone is talking about ITT is that foster parenting generally requires a fair amount of training and licensure requirements to get into (though obviously many people just go through the motions and continue to take their paychecks). We donā€™t currently have a system that can magically just crank out 5,000 new, quality foster parents at will. Iā€™m all for improving the system, but this is what we have now.

6 Likes

I think foster family quality varies. My SIL did it intending to adopt and we have our two nieces. But Iā€™ve known other people for who itā€™s a paycheck. I think most are committed to their role of provided a safe home but the bad apples get a lot of the press.

But just about anything has got to better than kids in cages. Really the HHS secretary should be personally overseeing conditions, demanding ICE transfer all unaccompanied minors, etc.

1 Like

Kids in non-cage facilities is better than kids in cages. At least some kids will have to be kept at least temporarily in such facilities, even if they will eventually be released to relatives of some sort.

What should such facilities look like? Should the government refuse to transfer custody of a child without the recipient proving they can provide housing, food, and other aspects of a stable environment? Is there an established agency that would be tasked with social worker home visits?

Are you joking or raised by wolves? There are hundreds of thousands of children in this situation as Iā€™ve said repeatedly. Of course itā€™s not perfect, but itā€™s better than the propaganda photos of prison.

Short term there must be college dormitories sitting unused. Youā€™d have pretty much everything you need in one place.

Whatever the arrangement, transparency is the key. Inspections often with public reports.

1 Like

Why would I be joking?

When unaccompanied, undocumented minors are caught crossing the border, it would be normal for them to go some sort of processing while their fate is determined. AOC has some valid thoughts on what these processing facilities should look like.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1364408712010600450

Kids will have to be temporarily housed in facilities while undergoing processing. I donā€™t really see any way around that.

What should the process look like? Government should act in loco parentis for these children. That means that if the correct process is handing them over into the custody of people who are waiting for them in the US, the government should verify the relationship they have to the child and that they have the means to care for the child and that they will properly represent the childā€™s interests in immigration hearings.

Some of these kids are crossing the border unaccompanied to join parents who have already made that crossing undocumented and wish for their children to join them. I realize that my idea of what the process should look like would cause problems for people in those conditions, who want to avoid government attention. I donā€™t really see a way around it, though. I think taking proper care of these children means releasing them in a way that allows for them to kept track of.

1 Like

thought this tweet was gonna be about NBA TopShot

2 Likes

$10 by 2025. Lol sounds serious.

1 Like