Readers write

Foster care fees punish struggling parents

The recent article highlighting a federal judge’s ruling that Georgia’s child welfare agency stop imposing “erroneous” foster care fees on struggling parents exposes a deeply flawed and punitive system (“Georgia must stop charging parents ‘erroneous’ fees, judge rules”). Annalinda Martinez’s story of incurring $13,000 in debt from her children’s placement in foster care after seeking housing assistance while escaping domestic violence highlights how our state penalizes families for experiencing poverty.

As a former educator and human services provider, I have witnessed firsthand how poverty affects our communities. Georgia data reveal that 71% of child welfare referrals stem from neglect, primarily inadequate food and housing, vastly outpacing physical, emotional and sexual abuse combined. Inadequate housing accounts for 20% of foster care entries in Georgia, double the national average.

Most children are separated from their parents not because of intentional harm, but because of inadequate access to resources. Charging impoverished parents monthly fees, even after their children age out of the foster care system, creates a state-sanctioned poverty trap.

Georgia’s child welfare system should support families, not punish them. State legislators should permanently eliminate these administrative fees and redirect wasted enforcement resources into housing assistance and proactive family stabilization.

JUSTIN HOWELL, DECATUR

Being in lockstep with Trump could cost GOP

President Donald Trump has asked voters to “pretend” he is on the ballot to help Republicans in close races. But there is a reason every Democrat is running against him.

Does he not realize that his shtick has worn thin, that aside from the 30% or so of the voters who are completely committed to him, virtually no one else has a positive view of his ever-changing and often exaggerating pronouncements, including those like me who have voted for him all three times and still think his policies are, on balance, positive.

Being in lockstep with Trump may be a winning formula in the primaries, but not in the general election, as Rep. Mike Collins and others are about to find out.

ROBERT D’AGOSTINO, SANDY SPRINGS

Nation needs financial fresh start

Our nation needs a fresh start — a reorganization to at least rid some of the country’s interest expense (e.g., limiting Treasury obligations to 2% interest). Yes, the markets will go haywire, but possibly only temporarily.