"Am I A Jerk For Throwing My Siblings In Foster Care So I Can Have A Better Life?"

Recently, a heart-wrenching story from a 19-year-old woman went viral on the AITA subreddit. The story came from a Redditor nicknamed Maybeenobaby whose family of eight siblings, all younger than her, “hit the rock bottom.”

“My mother and stepfather are going to be going away for a long time, and everyone is in a rush to get all these kids into homes,” the author explained. And because Maybeenobaby is the only one who’s over 18, everyone expects her to do it.

But now the author feels like there’s finally an opportunity “to have a better life,” so she decided to take the 6-year-old sister and move to another state. Meanwhile, the seven other siblings will have to go to foster care. Quite likely feeling rather guilty, Maybeenobaby wonders if she really made the right decision.

National data (from The Children’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published the FY 2020 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which showed that the number of children in foster care had decreased for the third consecutive year in the U.S. As of 2020, there was an estimated 407,000 children in foster care nationwide.

On average, children and teens stay in the foster care system for 12 to 20 months. The majority of foster youth stay with their foster family for 1 to 5 months. At an average age of 7 years old, many children enter the foster care system as a result of living in an unstable home environment, mistreatment, or neglect. Foster care provides children a stable environment for development and growth.

When a child reaches 18-21 years old, which is the post-high school age, they are no longer qualified for foster care placement. It leaves them to find ways to support themselves as part of the general population. However, when children age out, unfortunately, nearly 20% of these young people will end up homeless.