How the system failed us: Former foster youth tell their stories
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youth → fail → stories
Tyrome Laundersville was 9 years old and he didn't understand what was happening the day his mother and father put him in the family car at their home in Iowa and drove him to foster care.
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mother → understand → care
He remembers thinking: "'Oh we're going somewhere fun.'"
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we → remember → ?
Most children in foster care live with families, with relatives or with other foster parents.
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children → live → parents
But about 10% of disabled kids in foster care live in group homes and institutions, compared to just 4% of those without disabilities.
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% → live → disabilities
An NPR investigation found children with disabilities, including physical and behavioral health disabilities, are the largest group that goes into foster care — and they have the worst outcomes.
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they → find → outcomes
We obtained federal data on more than 500,000 children and youth in foster care in 2025.
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We → obtain → 2025
We calculated that disabled children stay in foster care 50% longer than kids without disabilities.
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children → calculate → disabilities
They're less likely to return to their parents or to be adopted.
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They → return → parents
To get past the numbers and better understand the issues of children with disabilities in foster care, NPR interviewed former foster youth about their experiences — like Laundersville.
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NPR → get → Laundersville
When Laundersville was 9, his occasional screaming, aggression and property destruction were things his parents just couldn't figure out.
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parents → figure → ?
The hope was that he'd get treated at that facility and come home.
What happened was that he kept getting moved from place to place.
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he → treat → place
"Being a child who's nonstop moved around in a facility in that situation from 9 years old until I was 18, it's really hard," Laundersville told a group of child advocates and researchers in a speech in 2024.
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Laundersville → move → 2024
"I missed my parents.
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I → miss → parents
I'm not going to deny that.
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I → go → that
And even when I was mad or hurt, I still wanted them there.
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I → hurt → ?
I still forgave them.
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I → forgave → them
I wanted them to fight for me.
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them → want → me
And I needed that connection.
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I → need → connection
And when it wasn't there, it just left me feeling abandoned.
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it → leave → me
"
Laundersville would get lots of labels from doctors: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
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Laundersville → get → doctors
Going to locked-down residential treatment centers — some where he needed permission just to use the bathroom — only made his problematic behaviors worse, he said.
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he → go → bathroom
He'd have meltdowns at one facility and then get sent to another that was bigger, more restrictive and more punitive.
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that → have → another
"I had a hard time with aggression, both verbally and physically," he said.
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he → have → aggression
I was hurt.
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I → hurt → ?
And I didn't know how to properly express myself after the many years of just not being heard.
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I → know → years
I just wanted someone to understand me and not judge me for my behaviors and actions that I've always had my whole life."
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I → want → that
One person who understands is Marissa Pike, of Massachusetts.
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who → understand → Massachusetts
"When I was frustrated, I would scream and yell and that was my way to express that I was angry and I was mad," she said.
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she → frustrate → ?
"And so I just was kind of labeled as problematic.
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I → label → ?
I was labeled as confrontational.
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I → label → ?
I was labeled as aggressive and defiant."
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I → label → ?
Pike was 12 when she went into foster care.
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she → go → care
Because of her behavior, she says she got moved to 30 placements in less than 10 years.
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she → say → years
She was medicated with anti-psychotic drugs.
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She → medicate → drugs
But Pike was misdiagnosed.
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Pike → misdiagnose → ?
It would take a few years before she was diagnosed with autism.
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she → take → autism
It was at the core of all the behaviors that kept getting her in trouble.
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her → keep → trouble
"I would be overwhelmed doing something and I would refuse to go where the staff would want me to go," she says.
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she → do → something
Simple activities or routines at a treatment center could overstimulate Pike and set off a cycle of meltdowns and punishments.
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activities → overstimulate → meltdowns
…and 98 more, not listed.
The Aporia
