Quote · The Shawn Ryan Show
#314 Jen Lilley - The Dark Truth About the American Foster Care System
Where this was said
Jen's Own Foster Care Journey Begins
At 28:53 · chapter starts 25:00
Jen Lilley traces the roots of her advocacy to her childhood: her father was a judge and her mother worked at a crisis pregnancy center, and their home regularly housed people in transition — though never as licensed foster parents, to avoid the appearance of judicial bias. That exposure planted seeds of empathy that would eventually blossom into a full-fledged foster and adoption journey. She then lands one of the episode's most startling statistics: children in foster care are twice as likely to suffer PTSD as combat veterans. And she takes direct aim at the most common reason people give for not fostering — 'I'd get too attached.' Lilley calls this statement the most maddening thing she hears as an advocate, arguing that emotional attachment is precisely what traumatized children need from caregivers.
Children in foster care are twice as likely to suffer from PTSD as combat veterans. They never signed up for a war, never had a choice about being on the front lines — and yet they carry more trauma than most soldiers ever will.
Research shows children in foster care are twice as likely to suffer from PTSD as combat veterans, reflecting the severity of trauma they endure.
