Unfortunately in some prospects, American society is highly driven by money. People are willing to go to any extent in order to obtain it. Nothing is off limits when it comes to finding a way to access it. Many individuals want a lot of money, but do not truly know the value required to earn it. There are also those that assign a high value to the lives of children.
The intent for granting financial compensation for offering foster placement is to reimburse a person for taking the responsibility for meeting the obligations of that child. There is also an additional element as to why individuals are awarded for foster placement: to encourage others to offer foster placement because there are many foster children that need to be cared for, but there are simply not enough qualified people out there that are willing to provide a home for these children.
There are some that are aware of the financial incentive that comes with offering a home to a foster child, and although that may have some influence over the decision-making process, they will always do their very best to care for that foster child, no matter what.