MinisterofDOOM wrote:Agreed. Foster care, adoption, etc. are just band-aids. They don't fix the real problem.
Unfortunately, this nation (and its citizens) will have to remember where its balls went before the real problem will ever be fixed. The world is inhabited by two groups that, together, form the majority: the people who believe the world owes them everything, and the people who are so afraid of hurting someone's feelings that they willingly cater to the first group's broken mentality. I'd even go so far as to suggest that the idea of NOT helping people like that woman hasn't even dawned on either group. Of course they'll help her...that's how it works...right?
Welfare (or similar systems...whatever you want to call them) needs to have strict checks and limitations. The point is NOT to do everything for the people in need of help, it's to assist them in doing things FOR THEMSELVES. Take some of the load off in one area so they can put forth the necessary dedication in another area. You don't just buy them a damn home and say "there you go." No one benefits from that.
^^
As great as this all sounds, it's infeasible because you can't just "cut off" kids. You can do it with adults, but those adults *are* protected, for all intents and purposes, from the consequences of their own actions when they can hide behind twelve children. The state can't let minors live in destitution.
People are never going to just start being responsible, at least not within a generation. I'm not sure what the solution is, it's a difficult problem. Any solution would have to simultaneously make things livable for the children whilst also making life very very difficult for the adult, very uncomfortable.
And then there are always exceptions. Even if this woman has marketable job skills, I guarantee you that she will never be able to support twelve kids on her own no matter what she ends up doing, at least not properly. Too far gone. Now, that doesn't mean we should suck it up and give her a cushy existence, she needs to feel the pain, but the kids shouldn't, and therein lies the difficulty.