Surprisingly enough - yes it is easier here than elsewhere in the world. For another class I did a project on surrogacy and adoption and California, OC & San Diego, specifically, is considered quite the hot spot.

I saw this on the news sometime this last week (or might have been the week before.) Though I'm sad, I'm hardly shocked. I forget what they said of the outcome for those guilty of taking the stuff, but if I remember correctly, one employee lied about how many of these goodies were around during the audit in which this was all found out.

I wouldn't say the whole system is screwed up. Especially since this appears to be a case of a few individuals who committed errors; not the system.

When Susan and I had exposure to the OC Foster Care program, they seemed to have their stuff together and were (possibly still are) rated one of the best systems in the country.

And I say that this a good thing for kids in the US and less so for kids overseas.

Not when the kids are in and out of care because their parents can't get their act together. When I was majoring in Social Work there was a lot of focus on kids who were removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect, drug abuse by the parents, etc.. The foster parents wanted to adopt them but were blocked every step of the way by the birth parents cleaning up their act long enough to stop the adoption process, and then as soon as it was stopped they would go back to their old ways. Those kids had homes who wanted to raise them permanently but because of the parents they were shuffled back home, then back in to care, back home, back in to care. It's not uncommon. :(

But is it better for the child to be with their parent where possible or instantly shuffled off to some stranger as soon as Mom and/or Dad have a glitch in life.

There is no clean delineation as to when it the perfect time for the child to be removed from the parents permanently. Many parents are able to get their act together. The best thing for a child (very generally speaking) is to be with the parent.

With this in mind, I stick with my original statement.

I would generally agree with that statement. The cases I was referencing had the child going from foster home to unstable bio home, foster home to unstable bio home over and over again. Yes, it is usually best for the child to be with their parents. But not all parents should have custody of their kids. Parents who abuse and neglect their kids, have their kids removed, 'straighten up their act' only long enough to stop their kids from being adopted then start abusing and neglecting the kids again as soon as they get them back (repeat process numerous time) should not be able to do that to their kids.

It's scary and sad what happens to a kid who is bounced in and out of care, then ages out with no stability in their lives.

They are.

I spoke to a friend who is related to someone high up in LA's foster care agency. Apparently, it was a clique of managers and their staff that saw these donations as their prerogative to take for themselves - one of the perks of the job. It wasn't just the tickets; there were also thousands of dollars worth of gift certificates and vouchers intended for the foster families that made their way in to these people's pockets. Sickening.

I'm still waiting to be adopted...

I always wished I was adopted.

My parents often wondered if I was swapped with their real child while in the hospital.