Texas’ Foster Care Crisis: Dangerous Effects of the Heartbeat

Act

On May 19, 2021, Texas’ Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the Heartbeat
Act, one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws. The Act took effect on September
1, 2021, and we have yet to truly see the repercussions of this bill. There has been little
mention of the effect it will have on Texas, but it is not foolish to assume that the Texas
abortion ban will negatively impact the foster care system.
The Heartbeat Act is a bill that will prohibit women from receiving or inducing an
abortion after the detection of fetal cardiac activity. It has been determined that after six
weeks gestation, a heartbeat should occur and the pregnant female has opportunity to
be sued by private citizens if an abortion is performed or induced. The notion that
enough women are able to suspect they’re pregnant before six weeks to make this law
fair is misguided. According to Planned Parenthood, when they sued Texas, its lawsuit
said that roughly 85-90% of the abortions they performed occurred after six weeks
gestation. They referenced their own 2018 survey to report that 16% of women were
less than six weeks pregnant at their abortion appointments. This means that 84% were
not at less than six weeks gestation. Six weeks is not necessarily long enough for a
woman to suspect pregnancy. To expect women to know is to expect them to not have
irregular menstrual cycles and to be wary of their method of birth control.
There are a shocking amount of children in foster care, and a struggling system
to support them. According to the Kids Count Data Center, there were 47,913 children
between the ages zero and seventeen in the Texas foster care system in 2020, a
decrease of roughly 3,500 kids since 2019. There is an exponentially larger amount of
children between the ages of zero to three that enter foster care, as opposed to four to
seventeen year olds. While there is a demand for infant adoption, it is not plausible to
assume that all babies born as a result of this law will end up in healthy homes.
Nationally, about 62% of infants put up for adoption are placed with their adoptive
families within a month of birth, leaving a still whopping 38% of babies in foster care,
rounding out to roughly 3,404 infants without a home. This is not taking into
consideration the children that will be removed from their biological parents only a few
years after birth.
According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 16,522
children were removed from their home in 2020. The most common reason for the
removal of a child is neglect, and after that comes parental drug abuse. There is no
question that exposure to violence and unhealthy environments during developmental
ages can permanently damage brain function, and the rate at which this is occurring will
only increase as more women are pressured to give birth and care for a child against
their wishes. There will be instances where women who have unwanted births will
choose to keep their child, this has the potential to severely damage both the mother
and the child, resulting in child removal later on. It has been speculated that there is a
link between substance abuse and unwanted pregnancy. According to the US National
Library of Medicine, rates of unintended pregnancies are higher among substance using
women, especially opioid users. This directly ties back to previous statistics stating that
the second most common reason for child removal is due to parental substance abuse.
A correlation between experiencing unwanted pregnancies and poor mental health in
women has also been explored, not to mention that this may force women to stay in
contact with violent partners. These factors will create unsafe environments for children,
causing the population of children in foster care to increase at a faster rate than past
years.
Texas is currently experiencing what some have called a foster care crisis. The
state has failed to find appropriate and safe placements for many children, and although
temporary, this lack of space creates opportunity for these children to experience
trauma such as physical or sexual abuse. Due to lack of funding and placement facilities
shutting down, for years now some kids have had to spend nights in unlicensed facilities
like motels and churches. Although this is illegal, because of increasing demand it is
happening anyway. According to state data referenced by The Texas Tribune, in the
month of June 2021, 415 children without placement (CWOP) spent at least two
consecutive nights in an unlicensed facility. This has been an issue for decades, but has
recently become more persistent. Up until 2021, the number of children in these
circumstances rarely went over 100. There are clearly a few “bad apple” facilities in the
foster care system, but it will not be coincidental when as a result of the Heartbeat Act
causes the number of CWOP to skyrocket, exposing more children to what has been
deemed “a broken system”.
Foster care is not ideal for any child, but when compared to the at-risk
environments that some were removed from, it is the better alternative. Although,
unfortunately, it can have especially negative effects on a child’s development and
mental health. Foster care is intended to be a temporary, safe alternative to unfit
parental care, but children during their youngest ages require some tender love and
care to become a healthy individual as they grow up. Foster employees and volunteers
are sometimes not talented at or even capable of providing the individual attention
young children need, especially when the foster care system is under as much strain as
it currently is. The only real solution to this is adoption, but as more time goes by without
the appropriate care, children experience more trauma and mental health problems,
sometimes creating “problem children'', who are less likely to get adopted. Some
children never get adopted, whether it’s due to this hypothetical or just bad luck, and at
some point they become adults, no longer requiring foster care. The concept of aging
out of foster care makes some sense at first glance; when a child in foster care turns 18
or graduates high school, they are deemed too old to receive care and are responsible
for their own wellbeing. When looked at closer, there are dangers involved, these
people will most likely not carry on as any other young adult. One of the most shocking
effects of aging out of the foster care system involves young women and unplanned
pregnancies. According to the Children’s Home Society of Minnesota & Lutheran Social
Services, 7 in 10 girls who age out of the foster care system will become pregnant
before age 21. They also discovered that more than 90% of these births will live with
their parents, who as a result of aging out, face extremely high rates of unemployment,
homelessness, substance abuse and lack of education. All of these factors can
potentially create unstable living environments for the children born in these
circumstances, leaving opportunities for child removal.
Greg Abbott, Texas Governor and the man who signed the Heartbeat Act, is not
prepared for the repercussions of what he has made law. In May 2021, state Senator
Bryan Hughes defended the bill by saying “If a Texan’s heartbeat is detected, his or her
life will be protected.”. Based on my previous evidence towards the dangerous cycle of
damaged women and children the bill will create, this statement is a slap in the face to
all the future generations of children that will be born out of fear. Fear of being sued will
force countless women to go through the very personal, time consuming, and costly
process of pregnancy and birth, which up until this year was a personal choice.
To suddenly prohibit women from getting safe abortions and claim “protection of
Texans” is sickening and delusional. When considering the time it takes to realize
pregnancy and make an appointment, not including many other factors that come with
receiving this medical procedure, this bill has banned abortion almost entirely. The
Heartbeat Bill will not only disrupt the lives of the thousands of women who get
abortions annually, but will further overpopulate and negatively impact the struggling
foster care system Texas currently provides, condemning future generations of men and
women alike to a life of fear, uncertainty, and misfortune.

Works cited

“8 Big Reasons Kids Enter the Foster Care System.” Adoption.Com,

adoption.com/8-big-reasons-kids-enter-the-foster-care-system. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.

Bohra, Neelam, and Reese Oxner. “Texas Foster Care System Desperate for More Funds,

More Beds.” The Texas Tribune, 21 July 2021,

www.texastribune.org/2021/07/19/texas-foster-care-crisis.

“Children in Foster Care (0–17) | KIDS COUNT Data Center.”

Datacenter.Kidscount.Org,

datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/3061-children-in-foster-care-0-17#detailed/2/any/fals

e/574,1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867/any/8263,8264. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.

Dorman, Sam. “How Many Abortions Would Texas’ 6-Week Ban Prevent?” Fox News, 2

Sept. 2021, www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-6-week-abortion-ban-prevent.

Najmabadi, Shannon. “Texas’ Ban on Abortions as Early as Six Weeks Becomes Law.”

The Texas Tribune, www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law.

“NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic.” Www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Org,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031466. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.

Russ, Stephen. “Infants and Toddlers Are More Likely than Older Children to Enter

Foster Care Because of Neglect and Parental Drug Abuse.” Child Trends, 15 Apr. 2020,

www.childtrends.org/blog/infants-and-toddlers-are-more-likely-than-older-children-to-ent

er-foster-care-because-of-neglect-and-parental-drug-abuse.

“What Are the Dangers of Aging Out of Foster Care?” Adoption.Org,

adoption.org/dangers-aging-foster-care. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.

“What Is the Adoption Rate?” Adoption.Org, adoption.org/what-is-the-adoption-rate.

Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.