– Missouri experiences the problem of losing track of foster children
– Sharday Hamilton, a former foster child, shares her personal experiences
– Changes are being implemented in the foster care system to improve the situation
The Invisible Kids: Missouri and its Missing Foster Children Problem
Missouri is struggling with a crisis that has largely remained invisible – losing track of foster children. This predicament was recently highlighted through the story of Sharday Hamilton, a 28-year-old advocate for foster and homeless youth who herself had once been a runaway child.
A Deep-dive into Sharday’s Story
Hamilton carries a visible testament of her troubled time in foster care: a scar owing to an incident where she got hit by a bag of frozen food while trying to run away from her foster mother. Her experiences draw attention to the unnoticed issue of countless foster children that states, including Missouri, lose track of each year.
State’s Efforts to Combat the Problem
Faced with this alarming situation, changes are being made to the system in an attempt to curtail the annual disappearance of foster children. Reports suggest new measures and policies are in the works, which aim at plugging the gaps in the foster care system and ensuring no child falls off the radar.
The Breezy Take
At its core, this issue exposes an alarming reality about the inefficiencies of the foster care system in Missouri, and quite possibly across other states too. We need to do right by these children and ensure that they don’th2″> simply disappear unnoticed. Sharday’s personal experience underscores how critical it is to get to the root of this problem and make substantial improvements. Hopefully, the modifications proposed in the system will yield effective solutions, and every child at risk will finally receive the visibility and care they rightfully deserve.
Original article: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/11/10/states-lose-track-of-thousands-of-foster-children-each-year/