“What are you just standing around for? You’re supposed to clean the bathroom and the kitchen before lunch, my little pig droppings, and if you skip the corners, there will be no lunch. And where not having hot mush today…” “Yay!” “We’re having cold mush!” This is a quote from the musical Annie about a six year old girl who is orphaned during the great depression. One of the musical’s main characters is Ms. Hannigan who is speaking in the quote above she runs the orphanage, which Annie is unfortunate enough to have landed at. Ms. Hannigan is known for being horrible to the kids who live at the orphanage. Orphanages are now obsolete but kids without parents or whose parents can’t take care of them go into foster care. There are two different types of places someone can go into the foster care system. One place in the foster care system is the individual home setting and is the more common type the other is group homes. The difference between orphanages and the two different types of the foster care is that orphanages are a group of kids and what you typically think about in the foster care it is only a couple of kids according to the actical types of foster care group homes and kinship care written by family findlaw in 2016 a house setting up to six kids until it is considered a group homes and group homes can only have twelve kids. I will be going through some of the reasons why individual homes are better, the standards of places where they live, the adults that take care of them, the kids that are placed there, and then what happens when they get out of the foster care system,

  Miss. Hannigan’s orphanage is trash, there are leaks everywhere, and is described to be freezing cold. Despite all the rumors, the actual house are thoroughly inspected so that they are suitable for a child to like in. According to the article what to expect in the foster home inspection process written by Lloyd Nelson on June 30, 2014, the people in homes have to do normal house inspections. The house has to go through fire standards windows in every bedroom, working fire alarms, and a carbon dioxide alarm in every room of the house with a gas in it. Besides the fire inspections, there is a maximum of two kids per room giving the kids adequate living space. Group home standards are basically the same as the homes except they are supposed to be checked much more frequently. Where foster homes are only check once before a kid comes group homes are supposed to be checked anywhere between six months and a year depending on the state. Sadly, this is a rare occurrence. Once the initial inspection is passed, the adults are left to let the standards run wild and free. Not only do they need to be inspected more often but most have equipment for special needs on hand, but they don’t have to even though group homes are more likely to take care of children and teens with special needs than a foster home. This is not only where group homes are less safe for kids there are also the adults that run them.

To say Ms. Hannigan was an inefficient person to be in charge of one child even less multiple children would be understatement, but know a days she would probably  would have a little bit of a harder getting approved to run an orphanage. If you want to become a foster parent you have to go through a long process according to the actical how to become a foster parent written children's services in 2015, an adult looking to foster a child must to be willing to nurture a child in a crisis because some of these kids have been through a lot. They also have to get a physical, first aid training, basic water training, and have a driver's licenses. Also all adults living in the home have get their fingerprint taken to get a background check. This is all after you fill out form after form, get recommendations from people at work bosses and friends saying you are a responsible person as well as finding an agency, and this is all because you are trusting someone with a child life. A child that has already come from hard times. The people who run the agencies want to make sure they feel safe and loved these are kids. According to the actical obtaining a children’s residential program or child placing agency license written by the department of children and families, in group homes the majority of the people that work at the group homes are social workers which isn't a bad idea because most of the kids will need to have counseling even if they are in an individual home, but working in a group home and this is only one of many jobs they could have. For example my mom worked in a group home for a while, but now she mainly work with women who have been sexual abused. The core of the problem is the fact that consulars leave they don’t stay forever so the kids don’t have a steady environment to grow up in. They come from rough lives and for the most part things are constantly changing at this place they call home. As well people that want to open a group home don’t have to have a license to start and work in a group home all you need is the same license as the individual homes. More kids so a license that is meant to only be up to six isn’t the same for up to twelve.

In Annie all the kids are in the orphanage because their parents had died or they couldn’t take care of them because of the great depression. Even through all the inspections of the group homes and houses a truly important thing is the kids see different people are placed into foster individual home care and group home care situation. The first main difference is the age of the kids younger kids are mainly put into individual home and teens in group homes now kids can go into group homes and teens into individual home. Now kids according the article 12 common reasons children enter foster care by Carrie Craft in December 15, 2015, that are put into individual home are usually aren’t from being dead, but imprisoned, or they couldn’t efficiently take care of the kids because they have physical or mental disabilities. Teens in group homes are more likely to have mental disabilities or much more severe cases. They themselves could have committed crimes or continuously runs away. All these kids have been through a tough times and might need more help but why is it that putting them into an unstable place going to help them more instead of less. Also these kids in group homes are there for bad behavior but all together that can cause problems that the kids might encourage the bad behavior more that it stops it. Without the right reform they might not ever learn or stop the bad behavior.

In the musical, Annie gets adopted by the millionaire Daddy Warbucks, but for most kids that doesn’t happen. Of course all kids grow up most go to college and move out. That is a regular part of live especially in the U.S. and kids living in an individual home might not just be thrown out into the world without a home or help. The adults help them find where they want to go for college and what they want to do with their life. Some kids might also go home somewhere during holidays and summer vacation. On the flip side in group homes it’s very different even if they do get help applying to college by a counselor that cares for them but that consular might not have been working there for that long and not know them as well. They are also more likely to drop out of college and because of that not be able to get a job becoming homeless. That only continues the long cycle of the foster care system because according to the actical statistics on foster care written by foster club in 2014, half of girls out of the system end up pregnant under the age of 21. This is a vicious circle that needs to be stopped we need to go out and teach these kids and teen not to make the same mistakes as their parents made and tell them they are loved. We need to go and help these people and putting them into homes that can help and care about them more than random consular shows up just to leave.

We might no longer have to orphans that rich people can save young girls from or an evil lady. The kids in foster care face problems of insufficient homes, adults not constantly being in their life, and other kids in horrible situation infecting other kids with bad behavior. We put these kids in the situation when they could be in some much better home and environment. Orphanages might not exist anymore but problems are still there. I have proven why this is better so before you scream at you parents that you hate them and rather be anywhere else think about that you're in a safe place and you might want to stay there.