Even Judges Can’t Create Placements for Children

Texas is struggling with too many foster children and too few placements. A state court judge has sanctioned the state, while a federal court judge wants new solutions. It is hard to figure out what the state can do, given that people don’t have to work with children. Prospective foster parents can decide that the risks of criminal charges and later civil lawsuits just aren’t worth the trouble. Organizations can decide that the costs of liability insurance and potential lawsuits are too great to stay in business. Even organizations that can stay open are having trouble finding enough quality people who want to put themselves in the line of fire working with traumatized children. There is no magic solution, even for judges. When a society makes an occupation toxic, then it will be hard to find good people to do that job. We can blame the state bureaucrats all we want for not coming up with some magical solution. In the real world, however, the more hurdles we create for people working with children, the more children we will have falling through the cracks.