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Well, I don't know why the kid was in foster care. I do know that in some states, the foster care system removes children and it is only later determined that there was no cause. There was just an article I posted here on CPS in Missouri, for instance, that stated "Drawing upon data submitted to the federal government by the Division of Family Services (DFS), CPS Watch has found that a whopping 77% of the children placed in foster care during 2000 were taken from homes where investigators had determined allegations of child abuse or neglect were unsubstantiated. " The article is titled , "Children Being Taken From Parents State Finds Innocent, CPS Watch Reports" I posted it on November 19, 2002. If I knew how to do a link to the article, I would.

Why are they doing it? For the money. Missouri receives over a $1,000.00 per month in federal Title IV-E funds per child it places into foster care.

I would never presume guilt or culpability on the parents' part where CPS is involved. Foster care is a for profit business much as adoption is a for profit industry. I'd want to hear more about the facts of the case before I came to any conclusion. It's entirey possible that this mother is completely innocent.

The FACT remains: the child died from negligence while in foster care.

I imagine that being a social worker is pretty thankless. If you take a child away from a parent because someone alleged abuse you get dragged over the coals. If you leave the child with the parents and the child IS being abused you're raked over the coals. No matter what you do you're going to make someone angry. Most of these folks are doing the best they can for the kids.

As for the $1000 per child, I bet it doesn't come close to covering the actual cost of the investigations and administration of each case.