A few weeks ago, I couldn’t sleep. Nothing on my mind in particular was keeping me awake. It was just one of those nights where I couldn’t relax. I grabbed my phone and opened up the note section. Without much thought I started typing and didn’t stop until I got everything out of my mind. I didn’t read it until the next morning. This is what I wrote that night.
I have big dreams to change the child welfare system. The system my kids were born into. A system that is failing.
We engage in a system that is broken.
Even if you engage within that system with a desire to do good within that broken system it is still broken. The system will still work how it was intended to. Because that’s how systems work.
We are sold a narrative in our society that the hero will prevail. The big bad system will change drastically overnight to accommodate the hero’s intentions. Good will win in a quick time frame and all will be right in the world. In reality, that is far from how change actually happens.
The truth is without funding at the highest levels broken things stay broken. Broken people in a broken system are unlikely to change it. Without change in policy at the very highest levels, the system will stay broken. What we need is a seismic shift to fix the broken safety net. We can cheerlead first families but no amount of cheerleading is going to change systematic brokenness. The system is what has to be changed.
I have big dreams and aspirations to change the child welfare system.
I don’t really know what the future holds. I don’t know exactly where my journey will take me. But, as long as there are kids in this broken system who have no voice….I’ll continue to use mine.
Koko