[MilehighDad]

I hinted at it earlier, but there is a key piece of information missing here, and that is the state and county this child is in. I didn't ask directly because I feel it may be more than Greenmama wants to disclose online, but I do believe it plays heavily into how people are interpreting the information that he is in a group home. Yes, group homes cost the counties more, so if sufficient foster homes are available then only severe kids will go to a group home. However, in many places now, group homes are simply a place to keep more kids than foster care can manage. Particularly the hint that this group home is run by a Catholic charity indicates that there simply isn't a foster home available where he is.

And, from a wider viewpoint, if you take every kid in a group home and eliminate placing them in an adoptive family that already has kids due to the risk to those kids, then you are condemning most of those kids to aging out of the system.