Hello Mark. I am sorry you had to go through the experience of being ripped apart from your family and placed in a dingy, probably neglectful foster home. My wife and I were houseparents. Now I am a program director for a program that works with youth who are about to be released from the system. The youth I work with were in abusive family systems. You are right, families are vulnerable. I wish that youth did not have to get involved with the system. Unfortunately, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse sometimes occurs in the home. And it also happens in foster care. I consider my work with kids to be the highest calling and I try to give every bit of myself to the work.
It is the hardest thing in the world to trust people to take care of kids. After what I have seen, I do not trust anyone with my kids. That includes day care. Youth is precious and innocence must be maintained. I agree with you. The system is broken. When we were house parents, some of our children came from abusive foster care situations. I could not believe why people did not go to jail for what they did with the youth in their care. Across the board, people who work with youth receive low wages. Unfortunately, we get what we pay for and we reap what we sow.