Abandoned Children In America Essay

When most people hear or even think about abandoned children, they think about the children in China or in other countries, but never once think about the hundreds of thousands of children that are abandoned right here under our nose in the United States. Child abandonment is not a new problem and exists throughout the whole world. “Abandonment occurs when a parent, guardian, or person in charge of a child either deserts a child without any regard for the child's physical health, safety or welfare and with the intention of wholly abandoning the child, or in some instances, fails to provide necessary care for a child living under their roof.”(2) Some people think that the children here in the United States have it better off than most children in different countries so they decide to help them instead. They are forgotten and left to take care of themselves most of the time.
Many children abandoned by their mothers are most often addicted to drugs. The mothers can’t afford to raise a child and afford their addiction, so they make the decision to let someone else take care of their child. “One reason why a mother may not be able to make sound decisions for her child is because she is addicted to drugs. The American Council for Drug Education states that drug addiction harms the baby and the decisions the mother makes before, during and after birth.”(1) Another reason is quite simple. It was an unwanted pregnancy and the parents didn’t want the child. The most common of this scenario is teenage pregnancy. The teenagers are too scared to get an abortion and too scared to inform their parents so instead, they hide the pregnancy as weight gain to the parents. Then when the birth occurs it is most often left in a bathroom trash can or even worse, thrown in a dumpster. But sometimes they care enough to leave them somewhere to be found and taken somewhere safe, like foster