People do not unserstand what it is like to be in the custody of the state. The kids that are in there do not have the benefits of kids who have both parents and a stable home. They do without a tremendous amount of things. They are not truly loved and they do not have the support most kids do. Just to go to a friends house they need to get a background check on both the parents and the parents have to be with the child the whole time he or she is with that famiily. Most kids in the system just come up with a lie so that they do not have to tell their friends that they are in the system. I mean, who would want to tell their friends "oh by the way, before I come over your parents have to have a background check because they might be bad people." It is embarassing to have to do that. I would not want to ever go anywhere. Most of you might say that you would go anyway and say forget them and stuff. If the kids in the system did that, they could be arrested, sent to DJJ, sent away from what little family they have, they could get sent to a lock down facility or they could be sent to a program out of county so that they have more restrictions on them. When your in the system you really have to think about what will happen after you do something. One small mess up that kids do in a real family could get the state child in a ton of trouble. It makes some teens that are in the system upset when they see teens and younger kids with families take that for granted. Most all of the kids in the system would give almost anything for a real loving family. To see someone disreapect their family, runaway,do something to hurt their family or do something to tear their family apart it is like they do not care about what happens. Some of the kids that are in the system, it is not even their fault because it might be their parents that made them be put in the system. Some parents are not fit to be parents, they do drugs, alcohal, they beat their children, sometimes it is not like that though. Sometimes, the parents get killed or something. So there are several different reasons why a child of any age could end up in the custodyof the state. This is when the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" comes in handy. When some kids get put in custody they make a complete change to their lives for the better. I know several kids who are and where in the system. Some of them turned into fantastic business people and great parents. Then a small percent of them were not as successful with their lives. I hope that who ever reads this will realize that their are great kids in the system and they just want to have people except them and not judge them just because they are in the system. Next time a friend tells you that they can not come over or they tell you that they are in the system make sure you just be there for them and accept them. You do not know what they are truly goung through within. Who knows, one of your best friends may be in the system and they might not have told you yet. The kids that are in the system are like any other kid. You can not tell them apart in a crowd. They are civilized people just like you and I. Next time someone in your family makes you upset do not storm out and say you hate them, remember that you are lucky to have a family to get on to you and make you made. At least you have a family there to support and take care of you in the long run.