ohhhhcanada

First of all, thanks for doing this AMA! I think you have a unique and powerful story, and it’s an important one to share.

To preface my question, I saw a movie recently where the main character teenager was in a foster home, with very loving foster parents. But she discovered paperwork that showed her foster parents receiving a monthly stipend from the government, and she was devastated to find that her parents were being “paid off” to be her parents.

My question: From your perspective, how does it feel to know that foster parents receive financial aid from the government? In your experience, do some foster parents “do it for the money”?

Personally, I think it is good if the government puts money into social programs. If they can incentivize people to become foster parents, or at least somewhat remove barriers for those who may want to be foster parents, it can change lives. But I’m also horrified at the thought that some parents could see this as a sort of “paycheck”, and foster for the wrong reasons.

Thanks again for your time!

That is an awesome and in-depth reply.

That was my instinct as well, that you’d have to be an idiot to do it for the money.

I’m in nursing school, and working clinical rotations, and it’s the same boat. People do not work in healthcare for the money. Otherwise, everyone would do it. For the most part, the people participating do it because they want to, and the money just helps.

I’m excited for your future college endeavors! One thing I’ve learned across my three degree changes is: it doesn’t matter which road you go down. Just pick a path and start walking, and you’ll eventually get where you’re supposed to. Good luck!

Yes but people call black people african American even when they’re neither.

My dad for example is half-Jamaican but born in the UK and raised in Canada. He’s black but people here in the USA call him African American even though no part of the label is true. Unless we go back far enough to say that black Jamaicans were brought over to be enslaved in sugar plantations, so he is African in descent. But if you go way way back, aren’t we all?

There seems to be a growing trend, where private social media companies like Twitter and Facebook can almost determine the results of an election through their spread, influence, and internet trolls, but at the same time are not held to the same legal standards as, say, a political foundation or news company.

I seem to remember last election, where suspending Trump’s Twitter account was seen by some as a coordinated, leftist ploy.

Do you think this will change? In your opinion, will we see social media companies becoming more regulated in the future, or less?

And, if they do introduce a stipulation where these companies are responsible for what’s said on their platforms (similar to news companies) would that be the end of FB as we know it?

Thanks for doing this AMA!