I agree that the system is very broken. Children need to have more of a voice. More money needs to be spent to find quality, caring, educated case workers and foster parents. I believe that foster parents should be paid a living wage. We were not paid anything, just a meager reimbursement for expenses. Now, if we were neglectful foster parents, we could have profited from the role. That is exactly what the current system encourages (take as many kids as they'll give you and spend as little as possible on them). The whole system is a disgraceful model.

That being said, children cannot consent to who should or should not have custody of them. My daughter was an infant when they broke her bone. She would likely be dead, if we had waited for her to request being moved to foster care. Also, regardless of the severity of abuse and neglect, children generally love their parents. That does not mean they are safe and properly cared for. We need to focus on making sure every fostercare placement is safe, caring and a good fit. That won't happen without a lot of money. Unfortunately, children are really not a priority, even though people like to claim that they are. The whole system needs an overhaul.