6 years ago my cousin, Payton, came to stay with us. At the time we didn 't think anything would be permanent. Now, six long years later, I couldn 't imagine what my life would be like without my brother. Sometimes, parents are unwilling, unable, or unfit to care for their children. They often make poor choices that lead to their children going into foster care. Foster care is the temporary placement of a child in a new home. Today, I will be explaining what foster care is, the effects of foster care, and the process of adoption after a while of care. On any given day, there are about 482,000 children in the foster care system. My hope for the future is that people can learn more about foster care and realize how big of a problem this actually is. Being involved with the whole system changed how I thought about it and I now realize just how important the matter is. When I say I am involved in the foster care system, I am meaning that one of my closest family members was in …show more content…
Like I said before, foster care is the temporary placement of a child in a new home. To be a foster parent, you have to go through a lot of training. If you are ten years or older, you have to get a background check. They do this so they can figure out what kind of person you have been and if you are fit to be a foster parent. In your background check, you should include a criminal history search, information contained by a health care provider, information about your credentials, information maintained showing that you have never neglected or abused a child, information regarding any denial to the person of a license, and information to see if the person is guilty of committing a sex offense or serious crime. In the foster care system, they are VERY picky. There are 22 grounds for disqualification that can 't happen in a matter of five year prior to applying for a foster child. Although it is a long and exhausting process, it is all worth it when you know that your foster child is in a safe
Foster care is one of the oldest social systems, its official implementation dating back to 1909, when the federal government officially suggested that foster homes were the best way to care for children, as opposed to the former system of orphanages and orphan trains. Foster care began as a voluntary way for parents to ensure their children could live a better life, but has since become a largely involuntary way to remove a child from a potentially dangerous situation (Rosenfield et al., 1997). Social workers predate this system, first appearing within the first Charity Organization as “friendly visitors” in 1877 (Segal, 2020). Social workers and foster care have long been intertwined, but social policy dictates much of what the foster care
Foster care is not a perfect system. Many children that are put into the foster care system are separated from their siblings and put into harmful environments. These environments are supposed to be safe and give the child a chance at a better life. However, children living in group homes are not able to develop secure attachment to the people who are supposed to take care of them. Children bounce back and forth from house to house, family to family, causing them to live in an unstable environment through most (if not all of) their child hood.
Laura Finley states, “Indeed, restoration of the family is achieved in over half the cases of foster care, according to federal statistics. Where this is not possible, permanent adoption is the goal with about twenty percent of foster children. Other children are simply waiting until emancipation…” (Jacobs and Finley). The issue with this view on the foster care system is that its completely sugar coated.
The eligibility requirements is something I would change about this policy because I believe that if a child is taken from any neglectful situation or home, that child should be tested for disabilities or counseling to see if that child might need further help. Furthermore, they should a smooth transition period or someone to help the kids in foster care with a plan for when they leave the home. Also the policy should have the same eligibility requirements in each state because. When the eligibility is different in each state it is only effecting the quality of care to the children in the foster care system. This policy has been around for many years and I personally cannot say I see a big change in the results of the foster care system, so no this policy has not been implanted effectively.
Have you ever thought about how it feels to be ripped out of the only place that you know as home? To get no explanation of why your parents just did not want you anymore? Not a lot of people think about this. Usually, the only people that do think about this is children that are experiencing or have experienced this problem. The children’s rights website stated that, “On any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States.”
Common misconceptions associated with being in foster care portray youth in the system as orphans. Youth in foster care are supposedly delinquents, and will perform poorly in academics compared to their peers who are not placed in these institutions. In society, these stereotypes are often pretended, but very little people understand the circumstances and factors the youth in the foster care system are facing. Youth in care are often juxtaposed to their community counterparts, to signify the impact of being a ward of the state, rather than being with a family member.
Studies have shown that thirty percent of children in foster care remain in care for more than two years. The longer children stay in care the more placements they are likely to experience. More than half the children who enter the foster care system will be moved to a different home in their first six months. It is also found that children care for more than two years will experience about three different placements. Nearly all of the moves have nothing to do with bettering the well being of the child.
When a kid enters foster care, it is because their family has been deemed incapable of caring for a child or children. However, sometimes more of the pain comes from the foster care system itself. Between constantly changing homes, case workers switching, parental visits that may not go well, and separation from loved ones, foster children have been through a lot inside of the system. Three Little Words is open about all of this pain and is a great resource for insight on what may be going through a kid’s head. Ashley is more than qualified to speak on behalf of foster youth in America.
600,000 children in the US go through the foster system each year. Those are children who were neglected, abused, or orphaned. The foster care system still has its flaws and many children do fall through the cracks. The number of children in the foster care system could continue to increase if abortion in made illegal in the
a. Foster parents can have an impact on the lives of a foster child by giving them a safe place to stay where they can feel loved and cared for. Foster parents can also provide the love and support that these children need especially if they came from an abused or neglected home. According to (Hasenecz, 2009) there have been several shocking stories about children being abused and neglected while in foster care or even worse reports of social workers who knew of the abuse and neglect and failed to report it or do anything about
We all end up lucky or unfortunate. We get lucky with the parents that love and care for us, and unfortunate with the ones who do not want us, or don’t care for us. For foster kids, they go through several houses with several different families. Sometimes these families are not the ideal family, and there is abuse and neglect in these homes. Foster kids never really get a break until they are adopted by a loving family.
To better understand the experiences of children in foster care, it is important to provide an overview of the foster care system. The foster care system is a temporary arrangement for children who are not able to live with their biological families. While the system is designed to be temporary, some children end up spending years in foster care, moving from one home to another. This instability can have a profound impact on children, leaving them feeling unsupported and uncertain about their future. Despite these challenges, foster care adoption can provide a permanent home for children in need, giving them a sense of stability and belonging that they may not have
Enhancing the Foster Care System The foster care system plays a crucial role in providing temporary or permanent care for children who are unable to live with their biological families due to various reasons. However, the current state of the foster care system reveals significant gaps and challenges, and there needs to be an approach to improve the well-being and future of children in foster care. The foster care system can be enhanced by training foster care providers, increasing the stability of care, and addressing the unique needs of a child.
Children in foster care often have a high risk of having developmental problems. Seeing that most children in foster care were, taken away from unfit parents a lot of these children have faced some, type of maltreatment. "Proponents of foster care note that 70– 80% of children in out of home placements have been maltreated in the home of origin..."(Lawrence 58). Because, maltreatment is common before placement, poor development outcomes are a risk. Consequently, foster children are at risk of falling behind in development, and up to 80% of foster children have a developmental problem.(Hodges 2156).
Literature Review Throughout the years, research has been conducted on the effects that foster care can have on children. In the United States alone, there are roughly 670,000 children who have spent time in the foster care system each year (“Foster Care,” 2017). Of those children, approximately 33% of them age out of foster care system. Studies then show that the foster care system has had varying effects on the children who are/have been a part of it. In many cases, studies have noted the effects of attachment for children in foster care.