Came here to say this; The state's actions show a disturbing pattern where they:

1. Refused to help Brittany Wise with $10,000 in housing debt when she proactively asked for assistance to keep her family together

2. Then spent at least $6,200 per month (likely much more given special needs) to separate her children and place them in foster care - far exceeding what it would have cost to simply help with housing

3. Made her children's situation actively worse by:

   • Splitting up siblings who previously lived together
   • Placing children with behavioral challenges in unstable situations
   • Having some kids spend nights in DFCS offices due to lack of placements
   • Traumatizing a 9-year-old who just wanted to celebrate his birthday with his mom

4. Choice of policy priorities is telling: The state dedicates less than 0.5% of its $450 million family preservation budget to housing assistance, despite housing being the third most common reason for separating families

The math alone exposes the reality - this isn't about costs or helping families. If it were, they would spend the smaller amount on housing assistance rather than the larger amount on foster care. The system seems designed to punish poverty by taking children from struggling parents rather than helping stabilize families in crisis.

When the state chooses to spend more money to break up a family than it would cost to keep them together, that reveals the true priority isn't the wellbeing of children or fiscal responsibility - it's exerting control and punishing parents for being poor.