High school voice says, don't house children with criminals

Voices from high school students:
Crack down on foster parents with records
Cincinnati Enquirer, March 8, 2007, pg. C7.

The following are letters from seniors in Aaron Parker's government class at Lockland High School.

In regard to the front-page article "Foster parents get ultimatum" (March 6), they should have been giving ongoing criminal background checks the whole time. It's stupid not to be checking these foster parents' backgrounds. How can someone put a child in the hands of a criminal?

It's ridiculous to have 27 parents be arrested on charges of assault, violence, stolen property and fraud. It doesn't matter if the charges were dropped or lessened; these people did not deserve a child, and the child deserved better than those people. Criminal background checks should have never been overlooked or not issued. It's a shame that children are put in environments that jeopardize their health and safety.

-Adrienne Begley, Lockland