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Adopted and Locked Away: Kids promised ‘forever homes’ instead confined in for-profit institutions

Associated Press

2026

In this 29 April 2026 article, Claire Galofaro & Sally Ho report on the number of adoptees who have become a part of the USA’s “troubled teen industry”.

Galofaro & Ho write that despite representing only 2% of American children, adoptees make up between 25% & 40% of those in residential care, there because of their alleged reactive behaviour.

Adoptees have told Galofaro & Ho that this is a “shadow orphanage system”, whereby children who are promised “forever homes” are instead institutionalized, “some for years, in oppressive and sometimes abusive facilities”.

Trauma warning: This archive contains material relating to care experience including references to abuse, neglect, sexual violence, and institutional harm.

 

Children and young people in social care, and those who have left, are often subject to stigmatisation and discrimination. Being stigmatised and discriminated against can impact negatively on mental health and wellbeing not only during the care experience but often for many years after too. The project aims to contribute towards changing community attitudes towards care experienced people as a group. See glossary HERE


Website set up with support from The Welland Trust 

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