Originally Posted by
Atrea
The problem here is, unfortunately, this adversely affects innocent parties: namely, the children.
They didn't ask to be born into poverty because their parents are irresponsible.
You can say, "take them away from the parents, then", but if you understand the magnitude of what you're suggesting, then the current system (which sucks, admittedly) is by far the cheapest. Think about it - if you took kids away from every irresponsible parent, you'd have millions of children taken. Foster care, aside from being a potentially very awful environment for a child to grow up in, is a great deal more expensive than a few hundred dollars more a month given to the parent(s) by welfare and social services. The fact that we'd split up homes - even homes where the parents are not going to be winning any "X of the year" awards - in order to spend more money is ridiculous.
It's disturbing to see such care given for children in other countries, but so little for the children in our own communities, who face squalor all the same.