This post drew a thoughtful email, and many thoughtful comments at Sound Politics.  What I want to do here is to expand a little on the argument made in the first post, and to answer a question raised by some commenters.

First, let me mention an example sent to me by an astute emailer.  When Florida's Department of Children and Families actually lost a foster child, news organizations had no trouble connecting (Republican) Governor Jeb Bush to the failure; for examples, see here and here.  And Governor Bush responded, naming a new head of the department and then, when that man didn't work out, another new head, Luci Hadi, who looks good to me.  (But then I am a sucker for any woman who believes in data and tells her staff, "What you measure is what you treasure.")

Would Washington state's (roughly) comparable bureaucracy, CPS, be better if local journalists were more willing to blame (Democratic) governors for its failures?  I think so. That's a hint to you, Ms. Balter.  And to you, Ms. Paynter.  Assuming you care more about protecting children than keeping Democrats in the governor's mansion.

On one point, the suitability of Enrique Escayloa Fabregas to be a foster father, I was less clear than I should have been.  Let me put it this way.  I am a single man of (I hope) good character and no criminal record.  I would never have considered applying to be a foster father to adolescent girls, for all sorts of traditional (and very good) reasons.  One hundred years ago, almost every American would have thought such an arrangement too dangerous — and they would have been right.

Several commenters wondered whether orphanages might not be better from some of our children.   As it happens, there are some authorities who think they would be.  Among them is economics professor Richard McKenzie, who was sent to an orphanage at age ten.  He says it wasn't so bad.

In August 1994, I attended a homecoming in North Carolina to collect remembrances for the last chapter of my new book.  I spent a weekend reveling with 500 of my fellow former orphans and their families in the good memories we have of our childhoods at the Barium Springs Home for Children.  With our group, the supposedly unbreakable cycles of poverty, abuse and neglect clearly had been broken.

And being an economics professor, he collected some data:

I redoubled my efforts to find out just how orphans have done, surveying the alumni of nine homes in the South and Midwest that had been supported by Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Jews, Masons, Odd Fellows and private foundations.  I now have responses from more than 1,600 white middle-aged and older orphanage alumni.  Basically, I found that as a group, the orphans in my survey, who went to their homes at an average age of 8 and stayed an average of nine years, have outpaced their counterparts in the general population by significant margins on practically all measures, including education, income and attitude toward life.

The orphans' high school graduation rate is at least 10% higher than their counterparts.  Their college graduation rate is a fourth higher, and they have a higher percentage of advanced and professional degrees than do other white Americans in their age group.

And the orphans don't seem to have been damaged emotionally.  I would like to see more data, but I would certainly be willing to consider orphanages for some of our children.  (You can find more on the subject here and here.  And McKenzie has edited a new book on the subject, which you can look at here.)

But are orphanages politically practical?  Could an elected politician get away with advocating their greater use?  Maybe, though the politician would have to be exceptionally persuasive, and would be wise to wait until after a scandal.  It would probably be easier for a Democrat to make such an argument than a Republican.

Finally, I would like to end by noting that I phrased my first post as a question.  I did that because that I do not know enough about the current system here in Washington state to propose an alternative.  I am convinced that it could be better and that we should hold our elected leaders responsible for its failures, but I would not go farther than those two very general conclusions.   Many thanks to the commenters who helped me come to better understanding of our system, especially those who shared their personal experiences.

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.

(One commenter wondered whether I had any experience dating women with children.  Yes, I have, and he may be amused by my two brushes with the Barbie Wars.

Fabregas has a dual Spanish-American citizenship.  I would guess that means that he immigrated here and somehow gained American citizenship.  It would be interesting to know how he did that, since I had not thought we had a critical shortage of waiters.)