Different people are motivated differently, so I can only speak for my family.
We originally wanted to adopt children because we can't have our own.
While researching adoption, we learned about fostering.
2/x
I just saw a thread about foster care, which did not paint an accurate picture of why children are removed, foster parent "salary", etc.
As a foster parent I have a few words about the experience.
Content and trigger warning, there will be talk of severe child abuse.
1/x
Different people are motivated differently, so I can only speak for my family.
We originally wanted to adopt children because we can't have our own.
While researching adoption, we learned about fostering.
2/x
Since then we have had several children come and go. Each situation was different, and I will get to that.
3/x
We do receive money to cover some of the costs we incur, like paying for medical care, buying them clothes, etc.
It is not anywhere near the quoted $39K.
4/x
We take kids under 3, and as any parent can tell you, diapers, clothes, food, formula, various medical costs... It all adds up really fast.
5/x
I repeat, kids are expensive, especially the ones who come to us.
6/x
So, why do kids come to us? Frankly, because they are in danger of dying.
A case came in where one of the kids in the house was beaten so badly they suffered permanent brain damage.
The parents were convicted of attempted murder.
7/x
Another case, a toddler was left alone in a hotel room without food or water, and was discovered alone, dirty, hungry, and dehydrated.
8/x
The most common reason kids come to us is because they are born addicted to drugs. They require hospitalization, and then months of treatment with methadone.
It's common that they are born, and abandoned at the hospital.
9/x
Some kids don't return. The parents disappear, and the extended family doesn't have more room.
10/x
Now, regarding the system, nobody that is part of the foster system comes out unscathed.
Kids suffer the most. Some return again and again. Even the ones who don't return suffer trauma that will follow them forever.
11/x
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I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.
I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.
In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.
So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.
Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
Ironies of Luck https://t.co/5BPWGbAxFi
— Morgan Housel (@morganhousel) March 14, 2018
"Luck is the flip side of risk. They are mirrored cousins, driven by the same thing: You are one person in a 7 billion player game, and the accidental impact of other people\u2019s actions can be more consequential than your own."
I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.
In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.
So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.
Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
