I'm afraid the person who wrote the editorial regarding foster children ("A home of their own," June 3) has never worked in foster care. I did for 22 years as a worker and supervisor. Yes, it would be better for most children if they were raised in a family foster home or by relatives. However, from my experience, though there were many fine foster homes, there will never be enough foster homes or suitable relatives to care for neglected or abused children, especially pre-teens and adolescents.
Good professional group homes can fill the gap caused by a lack of sufficient numbers of family foster homes and relatives. From my experience, no matter how much you attempt to improve the number, quality and salary for foster homes, there will never be enough homes to meet the needs of foster children. We need more, not fewer, neighborhood group homes and specialized larger group homes run by highly-trained staff and supervised by the state with more than adequate funding for salaries and facilities.
Albert Sherman, Baltimore