Foster Care as a Tool of Capitalism
Foster care meets the needs of capitalism in several interrelated ways. Early on, the system’s architects feared a class of children who would be seen as a source of potential future disruption — “children of poverty and vice,” in the words of Charles Loring Brace, one of the system’s founding fathers. They feared these children would eventually explode in rage against the rule of capital. In recent years, instead of citing the threat of public disorder, policymakers have expressed a fear of dependency on the part of children who have not been properly prepared for their role in society and cannot meet the needs of employers. The foster care system in the United States fulfills the needs of capital by reinforcing social control and a model of family life that is very much rooted in the capitalist mode of production.
The System Acts to Hide the Harm that Capitalism Does to Black Children
The system attempts to provide a safety net to prevent the most extreme harm caused by an economic system that consigns 20 percent of children — and 40 percent of Black children — to poverty. Local government has to be sensitive to public discontent when children are harmed, and child welfare systems are responsive to periodic scandals involving horrific cases, usually involving the death or extreme abuse of a child. By focusing on vigilance and intervention in response to family crisis, the system situates the cause of harm to children in their parents and caretakers, and not in the damage done to families and individuals by capitalism or in the lack of commitment to meet children’s material needs.
