Abstract This study examined high school completion rates of foster care youth in Louisiana without extending foster care to age 21 in comparison to studies of the high school completion rates with rates of foster care youth in Louisiana to the high school completion in states that extend care to age 21. The foster care […]
Foster care is a temporary placement for children who have a home environment that has unsafe living conditions that affect the child’s well-being because of abuse and neglect. Family preservation and the safety of the child is the primary goal for children placed in temporary foster care. When focusing on family preservation, child welfare agencies […]
The foster care system in the United States is responsible when a child is deemed unsafe in the house they are living in and is put into a group home or private home with parents who have been approved by the government. The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System estimates that the number […]
“Currently, the Foster Care system is home to 442,995 youth children across the United States. This number has been on a steady rise for five years due to a subsequent increase in child abuse most specifically drug abuse rising from 32 percent to 34 percent as of 2016 (AFC 3). With more children entering the […]
1500s: Beginning of placing children into foster homes – English Poor Laws in the 1500s allowed poor children to be placed into indentured service until they became adults. The practice was brought to the U.S. and children were placed into the homes because their parents were deceased. 1636: First foster child in U.S. – Less […]
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Get startedFoster care protects and takes care of children or teenagers who have been saved from their families following allegations of abuse and neglect or both. A foster care system is an arrangement where a minor is placed under a private home, group home or ward that has been certified by the government. The minors are […]
Operating from 1853-1929, the Orphan Train Movement transported around 250,000 children. The children on the bus consisted of those who had been abandoned, did not have a home, and whose parents were deceased. They were brought to Canada and the United States and were placed throughout to their new homes (DiPasquale, n.d.). The purpose of […]
Foster Care is a system in which a minor is being put into a group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a “foster parent” or with a family member approved by the state. Instead of being safely returned with their families or moved quickly into adoptive homes many will be […]
Foster Care Related to this necessity, foster care it is when a child is separated from their biological parents and placed in a temporal family. This service is provided by the State, in other words, for the State, there are some factors such as being a child at risk of abuse or their biological parents […]
Child maltreatment often results in removal from the parental home and increases the risk for behavioral health concerns. The foster care experience can further increase this risk. It is therefore wise to consider aspects of mental health for children in foster care including prevalence, risk, treatment, and policy recommendations. Keywords: child maltreatment, foster care, mental […]
Foster care is a temporary living arrangement made by the state for a child. Children are often placed in foster care because either a child protective service department employee or a court appointed judge has deemed the home unfit for a child to stay at. Foster care not only affects the child’s life now but […]
Charles Loring Brace, social reformer and philanthropist, is noted as a founder of the foster care system as he removed children from the streets of New York City in the mid-19th century and sent them to farms in hopes of bettering their future (Marriott). This act, known as the Orphan Train Movement, along with others, […]
The foster care agency takes in about 250,000 kids every year. Having that many children entering the system increases the issues of finding the proper caregiver for a child. Just as these problems are created, many effects can develop for the child that can last short-term and possibly long-term. Luckily, there are many ways to […]
Historically, social workers have advocated against the concept of sibling separation for sibling groups that have been placed in the United States Foster Care System. Presently, the separation of siblings remains prevalent in the U.S. Forster Care System, with as many as 60 to 73 percent of foster children being placed apart from their siblings […]
The Foster Care System has been in place for many years. It is designed to provide a home to children who can no longer stay in their own home. For this particular organization, the saying, “things are not always what they appear to be” takes effect. Many cases and investigations have taken place at numerous […]
Just like any other aspect of the human body- the brain can also get sick. Battling with people’s emotions is caused by events in people’s lives, and mental health circumstances go beyond these emotional reactions to specific situations. As an African American and having first-hand insight on how mental illness is treated within our community, […]
“Foster care as a whole has become a broken and corrupt system that can no longer keep kids safe under its care. Everyday children are being placed in foster homes facing different forms of abuse, unloving parents, and even death. The system has only progressively gotten worse leaving behind children traumatized to a point where […]
Many of us in this classroom grew up in a loving and caring family but few have had the same opportunity. There are many students that grew in the foster care system but wasn’t that caring for most people in that system. Some kids in the system were mistreated and didn’t really have that much […]
“Foster Care is temporary care given to a child when there are certain issues occurring in the family. Those issues jeopardize the child’s safety and that child is unable to remain in the home. The service is provided through DSS and the children are placed with those that best fit their needs. During the separation, […]
The foster care system was created to care for children whose parents are unwilling or unable to take care of them until those parents could provide a safer home for their children. The system was originally created as a temporary service, but over the years, it has become more of a permanent one because the […]
Growing up in an orphanage can be extremely detrimental to a child’s well-being. Studies show that children adopted from overseas orphanages revealed developmental delays in 50 to 90 percent at initial evaluation with a significant proportion in multiple areas such as language and motor skills. The longer the individuals spend in an orphanage the greater […]
Our foster care system is broken. Children go from one house to the next never knowing what having a home really means. These children are not able to make friends because people come in and out of their life within a short period of time Children develop trust issues because of this broken system; they […]
News came from Keap Street, a group home that houses LGBTQ youth in New York City. Bella had once again attempted suicide by inhaling the screen from her crack pipe. She was hospitalized but fortunately managed to survive to see her 21st birthday a month later. Despite narrowly escaping death, Bella faced a new challenge: […]
Youth in child care and grown-ups who some time ago were put into consideration have lopsidedly high rates of enthusiastic and conduct issue. Among the zones of concern has been the absence of exhaustive psychological wellness screening of all youngsters entering out-of-home consideration, the requirement for more careful distinguishing proof of youth with passionate and […]
Adoption is a person can legally take care of the child and raise it like it their own. Adoption wasn’t as common as it is today. In prehistoric times, adoption was to help the adults more than the kids. In 1851 the first adoption law was passed in Massachusetts. In the mid- 1900s mostly all […]
After a report is filed by either a mandated reporter or a concerned citizen, Child Protective Services begins a screening process. During the screening process, Child Protective Services determines whether the information provided in the report is enough to merit an investigation. CPS also uses this process to ensure that the information provided is accurate […]
It is apparent that cases of child abuse and neglect are more common in our country than we would like to admit. So what are we going to do about it? That is where Child Protective Services comes in. Child Protective Services (CPS) is a branch of every state’s social services department that assesses, investigates, […]
Child Welfare policies began to be implemented in the United States in 1974. The major Child Welfare policies are as follows: AFCARS- The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. The system was created to collect and preserve case information on all children who are in foster care as well as all children who […]
Useless, alone, scared, ashamed, hopeless, frightened. These are some feelings that kids have when they are going through hard times like foster care. When these kids are being forced into foster care they can’t keep very many personal belongings the only thing they really have is emotions and memories. Those are the only things that […]
The law allows states to provide such services to young people who are likely to be out of foster care (with no lower age limit), young people who are out of care and young people 16 years of age or older who have left foster care for parentage or adoption. The CFCIP requires states to […]
On average, 500,000 children are in foster care at any given time (AACAP). Each experience in the system is unique to every child. Some may find that being in a foster home is traumatizing or abusive, while others might see it as a blissful escape from their past. Including personal experience on the topic, we chose to research the shortcomings of the foster care system. In our search, we found all kinds of statistics ranging from the number of homes (or lack thereof), to the average time any child spends in the system. We also found articles written by people, more specifically parents, who have personal experience taking part in the system. Every source seemed to agree on one thing: the system is broken and is in desperate need of fixing. Our goal with this paper is to expose the truth behind the broken and inadequate parts of the system as well as explore ideas on how it might be fixed.
One of the ways to reach our goal of this paper was finding resources that can share a personal experience or that we’re able to expose the positive and negative aspects of the system. One of the articles we found is Pamela Red’s “Pros and Cons of Being a Foster Family,” and is written from the perspective of a mother who was in the system and had fostered children in her home. The obvious pros that were mentioned included rescuing children and giving them somewhere to go, making them feel wanted, and being a motivation for the children if everything has been lost. Red also listed the cons of the system, and when looking at the side of the list by side, there were a plethora of cons or faults within the system. A few of the main cons that Red listed are leaving one’s home, drug babies, stares and judgment, doctors’ visits, behavioral issues, and the sometimes dishonest social workers. Given the severity of placement, many would think that there would be a failsafe within the system to stop or help many of these problems. While it may be impossible to stop drug babies (children born already addicted to a drug or list of drugs because the mother did them while pregnant) or a group of untrustworthy people in the system, there are ways to potentially help fix the other problems. Some of the problems may be resolved better by help from the nearby communities as well; any helping hand can be significant in helping impact this system for the better.
Another article we came across on our research journey was an article by Katie Dupere called “6 Problems With the Foster Care System- and What you Can do to Help.” This article, as said in the title, is about problems with not only the system itself but with the way people act and treat others within the system. The article opens with a foster care system survivor named Jordan, who is now an activist for the children in the homes and works in the system now herself. She poses as a motivation for the kids who got into the rough parts of the system and she shows them that they can make it out just like she did. Following the short story of Jordan, Dupere starts listing the six problems she is focusing on: group homes are too often a go-to, teens age out without support, foster parents need more support, not enough focus on reunification, children’s needs are unheard, and the system has too many rules and players. One of the biggest societal issues she mentioned was the lack of foster homes and the increase of foster children being thrown in with random families. It is said to be the “most important criterion for placement.” The other two main issues connected with both the foster parents’ and the foster childrens’ needs not being met. The parents aren’t getting enough support so they can achieve the success they need and the children’s needs are just being ignored and neglected. After breaking down the problems with these few topics, she then describes ways to help fix the problems or what one can do to help. A couple of the suggestions to help that go hand in hand are to have more adults become foster parents so there are more homes and to help babysit or tutor people in the system who genuinely need the insight and help. This knocks out several birds with one stone because it can make more homes available for the children and educates either the parents or the children with what they need to know so the process comes across easier. These are also ways to help as an outsider or random person in the community without requiring money or a lot of effort. The system is not the only part that is broken pertaining to foster care, it is also the people and the way they’re treated. In ways, it may even be up to anyone else to help because any support can be very significant.
A really interesting source that was found is called “A Framework for OT Within Foster Care Transaction” by Casey Blaesing, Tessa Burt, and Paulina Calli. There are many statistics posted and it seems to be more of an interactive journal website when finding all of the information. One of the main topics posted was that children in the foster system almost never get a proper transition when they age out of the foster system. The federal law requires that the transition process should start at least 90 days prior to the youth turning eighteen which is when they are deemed as an adult by the government. There are so many kids in the foster system that they have to boot the eighteen-year-olds out in order to get another kid into the group home. The transition services can include post-secondary education such as college plans or employment. When youth in foster care don’t receive the transition process, 22% of them will be incarcerated at age nineteen (Blaesing). There are around 4.2 million youth that is homeless and a quarter of them were from foster care. The foster systems aren’t setting the kids up for success like any other children that live in a typical family house. They get kicked out of their homes and are left without the skills they need to succeed and build their own foundation for success, and aging out of the system is the downside for those children, especially those that have nowhere else to go.
There are many children in foster care that experience cognitive and behavioral problems. While children from all backgrounds can have behavioral and/or cognitive problems, they tend to be more present in children in the system. Due to the severity of most foster situations, it can hardly be surprising that many of these children have cases of depression, anxiety, and even PTSD. Foster parents need to be willing to take extra precautions in order to help the child (or children) handle any given situation in the best way possible. In an article by AACAP it says that, “Challenges for foster parents include…finding support services within the community…[and] dealing with a child’s emotions and behavior following visits with birth parents.” Knowing a child and the situation they were in also helps foster parents when looking for help. Many times the recovery process includes the “birth parents, foster parents, mental health professionals, and child welfare staff…”(AACAP) all parties are necessary to help diagnose properly(if needed) and provide the proper care for every child. Not all cases in the system are the same, nor is one child’s process going to be the same as another’s. Foster parents should treat each case like it’s something new and handle each child with care.
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