After the television became a household household object, Americans celebrated the traditional family. Everywhere a person looked, they found the typical husband and wife with 2.5 children. Even presidential candidates exuded the essence of a perfect family (Coontz, 2011). Even if the traditional family is changing, an adversary finds itself challenging the perfect family: foster care. The concept of placing a child who has suffered abuse or neglect is not new. In 1853, Loring Brace noticed the increase in the number of children living on the streets and thus founded the first non-profit foster home (Chittom & Wagner, n.d.). Research shows that 399,436 children were in foster care in 2012. Over a quarter of these children were placed with unrelated foster families (Children's Bureau, 2013). While foster care is a positive program, it highlights the destruction of the ideal American family in the United States. Although the foster care system had existed since the nineteenth century, it was not used much because the ideal American family was intact. Social policy tends to ignore what it does not advertise. The children of immigrants were often on the streets looking for work. They were sent on "orphan trains" and sent west. In the 1800s, no one talked about any sexual abuse children might have suffered on their journey west. Some of the small problems with the initial system were fixed, but the root cause of the system still existed. Families could not accommodate children and provide for them due to low income. Soon the government began offering money (George & Walker, n.d.). As a result, people have realized that the perfect American family does not exist if money must be offered to keep children out of the Reference Center's database. (Accession No. 12376228) Miller, L. (2013, August 11). “Until June”; Stories from foster care. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://www.salon.com/2013/08/11/to_the_end_of_june_stories_from_foster_care/Nakyanzi, L. (n.d.). The foster care system is facing problems. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132011Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2013, from http://www.togetherwerise.org/about/ourstory.phpPelzer, D. (n.d.). The lost boy. Retrieved from Dave Pelzer's website: http://www.davepelzer.com/books/lostboy.htmlPelzer, D. (1997). The lost boy. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications. Stout, M., & Encarnacao, J. (2013, December 4). Abuse in foster care is “very, very troubling.” Boston Herald. Retrieved from http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/12/foster_care_abuse_very_very_troubling