From the archives: This story was last updated in February 2019.
It’s a sad reality that there are some foster parents in the United States who take in foster children for the sake of earning the government monthly paycheck of approximately $600. Instead of spending the money to care for the foster kids, they spend it on themselves, or on their biological kids. Such was the case with one mom from Arizona.In the clip below, one Arizona mom, Angela, is dining at the Sugar Bowl ice cream parlor in Scottsdale with her biological son, Xavier, and foster child, Emma.
Angela pampers Xavier, whilst she treats Emma poorly.
While Xavier is allowed to order whatever his heart desires, Emma only gets a $2.95 potato salad.
Emma can’t even get an ice cream sundae, simply because she’s a foster child.
“Because he is my real son, and you are my foster kid,” Angela tells Emma blatantly. “I only got a certain amount of money from the government, and I am not spending on you.”
Now and then, she threatens to put Emma back into foster care if she doesn’t obey her rules.
She reminds the girl she is just a foster kid. “Technically, you are not a part of the family,” she says coldly.
When Emma goes to the restroom, Angela shamelessly promises Xavier an iPad if they stop the girl from getting what she wants.
Hearing the family’s conversation, one fed-up patron decides he’s heard enough.
The man with a mustache confronts Angela, “I’m offended by the notion that you receive money from the government to take care of your foster child and spend it on something else.”
He adds that her behavior is “reprehensible.”
After telling her his mind, he leaves the restaurant swiftly.
But before he steps out of Sugar Bowl, John Quiñones—host of ABC’s reality TV show “What would you do?”—shows up.
Turns out Angela, Xavier, and Emma are actors engaged by the TV show to reenact the scene as a social experiment to test the restaurant patrons. All their reactions had been filmed by hidden cameras.
The man is glad the whole thing is fake.
As to why he spoke up, he explains to Quiñones, “We live in a civilized society where we have to look out for each other.”
The “family of three” reenacts the same scene several times. At one point, they sit down at the counter—and that’s when the emotions crank up a notch, or three.
One dad, seated next to them, overhears the interaction and reacts in the most beautiful way.
Check out the dad’s incredibly compassionate response in the video below.
All kids deserve a happy home, and as parents, we have the responsibility to create a home where children—be they foster or biological—feel safe and loved.
