The foster care system in the United States is broken. Nearly half a million children under 18 are currently in foster care, and the statistics for drug abuse, homelessness, poverty and mental illness among former foster kids are staggering. Cris Beam (Transparent; I Am J), a former foster parent, explores the cobbled-together child welfare system and asks hard questions: What is the goal of foster care? Why is the system failing these kids? How can we do a better job of protecting and nurturing them?
Each state's foster-care system is a patchwork of government, religious and other nonprofit organizations--often operating at cross purposes. Beam focuses on New York, following several youths (ranging from infants to teenagers) and their foster families over a few years. She touches on many aspects of foster care: financial motivations for foster parents; issues pertaining to race, class, gender and children with special needs; and conflicts between parents, their biological children and their foster children.
Most heartbreaking is Beam's sensitive exploration of the rights of biological parents. Although the system allows for returning children to their parents if they can prove they are responsible, children are often left in limbo for years as their parents struggle with addictions and other issues.
To the End of June is more descriptive than proscriptive, a layered portrait of foster children and the families who care deeply about them. Beam offers no simple answers, but her thoughtfully written narrative makes one thing clear: the system needs to change. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams