You would be shocked at the number of kids being raised in homes where they don’t regularly get food. Instead of removing kids from these abusive households, they create programs to “fill the gap.”
My sister was volunteering through her church to help one homeless mom with 4 beautiful little boys. She would deliver food, bags of groceries, toiletries, etc.
At Christmas, she purchased, with several hundred dollars of her own money, clothes, sneakers, and toys for the kids (the family had moved to a cheap long-term stay hotel and the mom got her room for free in exchange for working as a cleaning lady there).
The three younger boys were so excited to open their gifts and enjoy their things; they showered my very loving sister with hugs and kisses. The oldest boy thanked her but looked wary throughout; she couldn’t understand why.
When she came back the next week, she understood.
All the gifts she brought were gone. Their drug addicted father had shown up, taken everything, and sold it for pennies on the dollar to buy drugs for himself. Mom refused to press charges. The younger kids were so downtrodden and the oldest had a zombie stare, like he had seen it all a million times before.
My sister knew that any future generosity would meet the same fate and only brought them edible treats and inexpensive trinkets moving forward.
She worked as best she could with authorities to protect those kids. A few months later, “mom” packed them up and moved.
There are literally thousands of truly shitty people masquerading as parents out there.
Pat Buchanan said it best years ago, when he pointed out that civilized countries used to send missionaries to foreign lands to correct the dysfunctional behaviors and disordered morals that have now become commonplace and socially accepted here in the U.S.