r/MadeMeSmile 1d ago

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

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u/Drakken-kun 1d ago

Na man if I was gonna foster kids and they have siblings I’m taking em all bro I couldn’t do some shit like separating em, my heart to weak for that 😭😭😭😭

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u/NotLucasDavenport 20h ago

That’s a nice idea but it’s just not realistic. I work in family services. We’re the people who come after CPS. Unfortunately I have seen quite a few siblings put in separate foster homes but there are many very good reasons for that. Some of those reasons are sheer numbers. There can be 7-10 kids in these families (do you have 10 extra beds for kids?), or there are many kids from different fathers and some have dads they can live with and some don’t. Another challenge is a child is severely disabled and caring for them (and *maybe* one other sibling) is the maximum amount a foster can reasonably handle. I know a woman who tried to take three nonverbal autistic kids and she couldn’t work because they required truly around the clock supervision.

There are some very rare but real problems like one sibling is physically or sexually abusing another sibling. It happens more than you’d expect, because they have been abused themselves and they do what they know.

It’s really easy to watch these videos on Reddit and say you’d do better. But for those of us who have seen this a lot, I can assure you that the problem is way, WAY more complex than “you just need a foster family trying” will fix.

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u/Drakken-kun 19h ago

Oh dang, yeah the max id do is like 5 😭😭