Instead of assuming what people want, we should be asking them what they need. 

This week Amanda speaks with Juvenile Law Center lawyer, Christina Sorenson, about the foster care to prison pipeline and the history of foster care in the United States. It’s difficult to understand how foster care got where it is today without discussing the history of it’s origin in the commodification of children. 

Foster care isn’t always to the benefit of the child, either. The common (puritan) perception of what is needed isn’t what has been linked to healthy child development, but many find themselves in situations that are beyond their control. This often puts children into institutional care where there isn’t an opportunity to acquire skills that are needed to healthily exist in society. Does the United States government give communities what they need in order to succeed? The short answer is ‘no’. 

Christina and Amanda discuss the differences in determining age between white children, native children, and children of color--it wasn’t the same for everyone. How does this system continue to perpetuate the adultification of children of color and the pipeline to prison? Why is removing a child from their home more cost effective than giving families the tools they need to thrive. 

Christina graduated from the Richmond School of Law in 2015. Afterwards she clerked at the Unified Family Court in Delaware. Christina is a Soros Justice Fellow, which funds outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the United States criminal justice system. 

Additional resources:

Financial incentives

Blind removals

Historical perspective

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