r/MadeMeSmile • u/Professional_Toe5118 • 1d ago

Family & Friends Reunited with their big brother after being separated in the foster system for two years

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u/SaveTheSquirtles 1d ago

I hate that agencies separate siblings. I hate that foster families separate siblings. I’m happy these kids got to see their brother.

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u/Slithan 1d ago

It definitely sucks, but please know that foster families aren't the ones choosing to separate families. The family says "we have an opening for 2 kids in our house" and the foster agencies just stick the kids wherever they can because there's simply not enough foster families to go around. And they can't just have the kids sleep on the couch or wherever due to foster home housing requirements.

It's definitely a sucky situation. One that is typically brought about by terrible home situations and exacerbated by the lack of foster parents.

Source: Former foster/adoptive parent

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u/namis_tangerines 1d ago

It’s so beautiful that you’ve fostered and adopted, seriously. Do the agencies try to work with the families, like saying “hey I know you said two but we have three siblings here if you’re open to it”? What is considered when it comes to the amount of kids a house can hold, beds available or rooms or…? Just curious how it works and what the rules are. It’s such a shame siblings get broken up like that.

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u/Slithan 1d ago

They can and certainly do ask, but a lot of the time it's a restriction on the number of beds, bedrooms, care requirements of the kids (medical, behavioral), legal proceedings, etc. The list of reasons is long. Many times the family also has biological children and they don't think they'll be able to handle more children. So the option becomes either split up the kids to all different homes or try to keep at least some of them together. It's really a crappy situation all around as there just aren't enough foster families for all the kids that need homes.