Is Foster Care Failing America's Most Helpless Children?

Tampa, FL � May is National Foster Careshedding light on the secret lives of foster children
Month and according to government statistics, thereand doing what she can to help and motivate,
are over half a million children in America�s�I was inspired by faith and overcame the
foster care system today. For perspective,victim mentality so it�s my responsibility to
that�s more than the population ofhelp other foster children triumph as well.�
pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Beyond theIuculano explains her long term goal is to open a
numbers, each child bears a personal story thatgroup home for �aged out� foster
starts with heartbreak and almost always ends withcare kids, �I want it to serve as a transition
it, too. Is the system failing America�s fosterfrom a system life to a self-sufficient life. The plan is
children?to offer a happy environment that encourages
�Yes,� answers foster childbonding with others, not treatment like a second
advocate Margaret Iuculano, whose tragic tripclass citizen.� In the meantime, proceeds
through the system is documented in the new bookfrom her book, �My God Box,� will
�My God Box.� �Childrengo to many different not for profits dedicated to
are ripped from their less than idyllic homes andchildren.
shuffled around to foster parents who don�tFor Iuculano, even the slightest failures in the foster
always have the child�s best interest incare system are unacceptable, �These
mind,� she continues.children are already at risk. Leaving them unprepared
The now successful mother, wife andfor adulthood is a travesty.� It�s
businesswoman found many of the families that tooknot realistic to have everyone write a book about
her in during those horrifying childhood years weretheir foster care experience or open a group home
using her and the system as an additional source offor �aged out� adults, but Iuculano
income. �I�m not saying all fosterpoints out, �You can do something. Get
parents are bad,� says Iuculano.involved with a local charity. It�s up to all of
�That would be unfair to those who fosterus to try and change the failures of the foster care
for the right reasons. But there are manysystem this month and beyond.�
unscrupulous people who bring emotionally fragile andIuculano�s website is
physically wounded children into their homes simplyMargaret Iuculano�s personal account of
for the paycheck. And the more kids they bring intohow the foster care system failed her and others
their home, the more money the government paysand the subsequent triumph over her childhood
them. The system needs a major overhaul.�demons to become a successful wife, mother and
Another issue of particular concern to Iuculano isCEO is chronicled in her book, �My God
when foster children �age out� ofBox.�
the system once they turn 18-years-old or completeOnce she accomplished professional success that
high school. Are vulnerable youths who have bouncedincluded owning two companies and serving as
from home to home and school to school able handlePresident and CEO of a multi-million dollar Microsoft
life on their own?consulting company, Iuculano turned her focus to
According to Iuculano, despite having access to freechildren�s advocacy.
college, many �aged out� adults areIuculano was habitually beaten by an alcoholic
not prepared for higher education since they did notstep-father, who labeled her an
grow up in a stable learning environment.�incorrigible� child and insisted she be
�Couple that with the fact that only 38% ofplaced in foster care. She then was a firsthand
foster care kids are employed 12 to 18 months afterwitness to the shattered foster care system, which
their discharge from the system, and it�swas commonly used by foster parents as source of
sadly obvious why there�s an upward trendadded income, not a way to make a difference in a
of homelessness among those who have agedvulnerable child�s life.
out.�Iuculano, who currently lives in Tampa, FL with her
As survivor of the system, Margaret has moved onfamily, hopes her story will encourage activism on
to own two businesses and serve as the Presidentbehalf of America�s forgotten children and
and CEO of a multi-million dollar Microsoft consultinginspire others who have faced seemingly
company. She is now focused on the mission ofinsurmountable struggles.