4 ms·

I have a son enrolled in boston public schools. I live in a gentrifying part of town. When I go to the prarent meetings the principal (who is an absoutely AMA

by swalsh 6y ago

I have a son enrolled in boston public schools. I live in a gentrifying part of town. When I go to the prarent meetings the principal (who is an absoutely AMAZING women easily putting in 80 hour weeks) had to fight tooth and nail for funds to add a social worker to the school. The range of incomes between students is HUGE. There are a lot of parents struggling to pay rent, and definatley don't have the ability to invest in their childs education outside school the way I've been fortunate enough to. We put about $8k into a fund to help these parents... but it's not even close to enough. Honestly, if you want to improve outcomes, maybe we should look into helping struggling families pay rent, and become more stable.

losvedir 6y ago
When my wife and I got our foster care license I was astounded by how many resources our state puts towards foster kids after they're put into the foster system: hundreds of dollars a month to the foster parent, life coaches, psychologists, tutors, birthday and Christmas allowances, great medical care. And the main goal is reunification with their family. Meanwhile, before being put in foster care they and their families get no support! I often think about how broken of a system that is. I feel like if half the foster resources went to the families to begin with, then we could avoid a lot of foster care (parental abuse notwithstanding) in the first place! And it's so traumatic taking kids from their moms.