A foster home is a place where a child who was neglected, abused, or in need of a family is supposed to be able to go to feel safe and loved. Children in foster care expect to be brought into a home filled with people that care for them and will be able to give them a better life. According to the state of Maryland, this is exactly what these children are provided, but there are a few articles that claim otherwise. The information uncovered while researching this topic has only supported the claim that foster care in Maryland is not adequate, even though the state believes that it is. According to the Maryland Department of Human Resources, “foster care is a temporary service that provides short-term care and supportive services to children …show more content…
Maryland has recently reduced its foster care budget by seizing children’s Social Security survivor benefits, which is paid to dependent children when a working parent dies (“Injustice at DHR”). Maryland has been applying for these benefits in the fames of foster children without intending to provide them with the money. All of the money collected through these programs goes directly to the overall foster care budget instead of to the specific child for which it was intended (“Injustice at DHR”). Legislators have openly criticized this act, but have acknowledged that prohibiting it would present extraordinarily difficult financial problems for the state to overcome. Regardless, the state has an obligation to care for abused and neglected children, and these children are not required to pay them back. Not all children in foster care are placed with their own individual foster families. According to the Maryland Department of Human Resources, a caseworker is assigned to every foster child, whose initial goal is to find a place for a child to live (“Housing for Foster Youth”). The caseworker first tries to find a family member who can provide and safe and nurturing home. If that doesn't work out, foster homes are looked into. Group homes may also be an option, but are almost always used as a last resort (“Housing for Foster