B. THE MAIN IDEA IS EXPRESSED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD PARAGR...

18. b. The main idea is expressed at the beginning of the third paragraph: “Perhaps it’s time to considercreating special group homes as a means of providing these children with stable and safe environ-ments.” The first two paragraphs describe the problems with foster care, whereas the last two showhow group homes would address those problems. The passage does argue that the current foster caresystem is at least to some extent a failure (choice a), but that is part of the larger argument that some-thing else must be done. The passage refers to prisons in the last paragraph, but this is to compare thetreatment of children in foster care with the treatment of inmates in prison, not to compare grouphomes to prisons (choice c). The passage argues that children in foster care need more stability (choiced), but this is one of the supporting ideas, not the main idea. The author may feel that no system isperfect (choice e) and acknowledges that group homes are not a perfect solution, but again, this is adetail within the passage, not the overall main idea.