Dear Annie: Visibility for Foster Youth Lifestyle

I grew up in a foster family and I see almost zero percent of former foster youth somewhere in the media, stories or headlines, unless of course it’s about someone who got into a foster family as a child and then was adopted. family.

The problem is that this is a distortion of the former foster youth. The vast majority of foster youth are never adopted.

Here are some alarming statistics: our homeless population across the country is almost 50% made up of former foster youth; 7 out of 10 girls in foster care have a child under the age of 21; and half of all children born to foster youth are taken and given to foster families.

We have a high rate of suicide, drug addiction and alcoholism, early death. Our incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder is twice that of war veterans. We graduate from high school in almost 30% of the population and only 3% graduate from a four-year college.

Every single problem of social justice that has arisen concerns issues that are never addressed in the most acute and troubling parts of our country and the world. With such results one would think that I would have died by now. No one adopted me, and I was expelled from all the foster homes where I lived. And here I get a diploma and raise my own children.

But every story of foster youth is about someone who is adopted. This is not about the results we are facing.

There is nothing about this in public debates about oppression and privilege.

It seems that people think that it is a privilege to have a family.

I think your readers need to understand this, especially when I see stories of people who were adopted and then reunited with their biological parents in later years.

The whole point of these issues is never discussed, and frankly, I find it very sad to see. – Family privilege

Dear family privilege: What an important moment you are making! Very often the media is involved in the study of a group of victims, and I understand your frustration with the fact that you have not been seen. Let’s hope that the trials and tribulations of the foster youth are covered more. You look like an amazing mother, and your kids are lucky that you are. Thank you very much for your letter.

Dear Annie: People often write to you with complaints about messages on social networks, and you offer to block the poster or deprive it of friends.

Another option is to “unsubscribe” for the person. I have quite a few friends and relatives who have strong opinions different from mine. Their cheeky, rude and sometimes untrue memes kept popping up on my page.

By “unsubscribing” them, I can still go to their pages and see their public activities if I want to, but their political memes and swear words don’t occur to me every time I log in. – Unsubscribe

Dear unsubscribe: Thank you for your wonderful suggestion based on your success in keeping in touch without taking offense or getting angry.