According to Crosson-Tower (2010), children enter foster care for causes such as but not limited to physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment, domestic violence, substance abuse, and physical or mental illness of parents. In addition, she states that the death of parents can cause a child to enter foster care if no available relatives could undertake their care. Many of these causes of child maltreatment may also come from parents who are poor, uneducated, and experienced childhood trauma (Crosson-Tower, 2010). Therefore, the cycle of child abuse and neglect will continue if not provided the necessary services to prevent and treat the
The foster care system is setup to provide needs and protect children who have been neglected or abused. The main goal of the system is to take the children out of dangerous homes, and relocate them to a safe home, and to hopefully reunite the children with their biological families. While they are in foster care, their life should be greatly improved. Help should be given to those who are struggling with mental and emotional disabilities. Life skills should be taught to the children in preparation for the future. Foster care is meant to normalize the child’s life as much as possible and give help where it is needed. Although the intent of the foster care system is protecting neglected children, it may be causing
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. However, youth who have experienced care, have faced harsher realities. According to fosterclub, foster youth are 5x more likely to develop a mental disorder, 25x more likely
The foster care system is something that very few people have experience with. People believe that it 's the best possible option for children who are in abusive homes, but that 's not always the case. Various researchers have found that abuse and neglect still occurs in foster care. As the amount of research done on this topic increases, more and more people are trying to figure out ways to stop it such as better training for foster parents, focusing more on the child 's needs and outcries of abuse and conducting more research on the topic.
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
Joseph A. Doyle Jr. (2007) discusses, “Children investigated for abuse or neglect are not tracked over time in a systematic way.” (p.1584). If the foster system does not efficiently track the wellbeing of these children, it makes it difficult to provide all the necessary support for them. Providing a program that will help track, transition, and counsel these children will greatly impact the overall improvement of the foster system.
Foster care is a system in which a child under the age of eighteen, is placed in a temporary home away from one’s parents due to physical or mental neglect. Children from as young as a few days old to teenage years are placed in foster care every day. The amount of children in the system affect how needs are met and how high these youths are placed on a need of special care for problems that were developed before and while in the system. Most of which occur because they are abused and that is why they were taken away. Foster care is an escape for those being mistreated. It gives a chance to do things that maybe would not be possible if stuck in the situation that originally caused such problems. Foster
Granting children, the right to visit their incarcerated mothers is a contentious topic with both sides having strong claims and counterclaims. Terrance Bogans does an outstanding job in his essay, “Being Mommy Behind Bars: The Psychological Benefits of Child Visitation with Incarcerated Mothers” addressing why children should be allowed to visit their incarcerated mothers, citing many reasons and using many argumentative components. Bogans has an explicit thesis in the conclusion “Child visitation must be increased in order to alleviate the psychological strains that take place during incarceration” (15). Bogans uses this clearly stated thesis to tell his main point and to address his opposition. The author’s purpose is to convince readers that children and incarcerated mothers have a right to see each other and no one should stop that.
Our foster care system was developed in the 19 century, and it all started with Charles Loring Brace taking in homeless children. The system has come a long way since it started by passing laws, such as the child abuse prevention and treatment act, that protect children, and among another things, however, it still has problems. Some of the major issues they have are children placements, preparing them for adulthood, the rules and regulations with the foster parents, and drug abuse among teens in foster care.
Correspondingly, releasing a baby into the care of a former drug addict runs the risk of relapse and is a danger to the future of the child. Due to lack of proper care, officials remove the child when a mother does not seek sobriety. With the mother undergoing so much change and barely grasping reality, she is in no condition to look after a baby, she must first help herself. Most hospital workers fail to convince mothers to enter into drug-treatment programs, and some mothers refuse the care-most being poor and uneducated women (Condon 2). These mothers are not able to give the right care for their children and risk the child’s safety. Whereas in some situations the mother might not even realize the extent as to how serious the case is. Separating
Minors in care show certain themes that can damage their reputation in adulthood. Acknowledged by Ainsworth and Hansen, movement of homes while being in care puts children at risk to someday be placed as a juvenile offender, become a parent at a young age, and to endure poor educational achievement. Thirty-eight percent of males and thirty-nine percent of females in detention have a history of being in foster care services (89). Ainsworth and Hansen also report that there are a number of fosters who are under seventeen years old and are pregnant or getting someone else pregnant (89). Allen S. Barton and James S Vacca, authors of ¨Bring Back Orphanages- An Alternative to Foster Care¨ state, because of foster care relocation, children are left with educational problems and needs (6). Educationally, children may receive low grades due to poor understanding because of how often they move from foster home to foster home. Children are not just having difficulties in
Children and adolescents in foster care represent a highly traumatized population and are at an elevated risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These youths experience a wide range of trauma ranging from familial separation, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, neglect, bereavement, and domestic/community violence. As of September 30, 2014, there were approximately 415,129 children placed in foster care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). The number of children entering the foster care system has dramatically increased in recent decades, and research suggests the surge is due to the rising number of neglect cases associated with parental drug/alcohol abuse, poverty, homelessness, AIDS, and domestic violence
Through previous studies conducted, the findings “reflect both insufficiencies in the foster care system and in insufficiencies in parenting and education youth bring into foster care (Scannapieco et al., 2007, pg 425).” As a result of children being placed in care most of their childhood, the findings of the empirical research must be viewed with caution. Such findings included that teens in fact have “significant difficulties transitioning into independent living and self sufficiency (Scannapieco et al., 2007, pg 425).” When it comes to education, compared to that of their peers, youth in foster care are drastically behind. A small percentage of youth exit foster care having just graduated from high school. Obtaining some form of education such as a high school diploma is required to attain employment. As a result employment is not standard among youth in foster care whereas, adolescents who are not in foster care are mostly likely to be regularly employed. In addition to employment and education, behavior and emotional problems are prevalent and those youth who live with foster
Children need to feel secure and loved and need supervision and guidance. If a parent cannot be present to care for and look after their children, it can cause the child to feel afraid and they may act out or behave in ways that they would not if the parent were living with them. Several studies have found that a significant number of children of incarcerated parents struggle with a variety of childhood problems that have long term implications for adult adjustment (Kjellstrand, 2012). Even if children visit parents in while they are incarcerated, the physical and emotional distance can become a strain on their relationship. I think more should be done to encourage courts to take families into consideration in sentencing and correctional facilities should have better resources for incarcerated parents to maintain healthy relationships with their children. A person should be punished appropriately for the crime they committed but the punishment should not include putting strain or forcing them to severe their relationships with their
According to a Child Protective Investigation, there are approximately half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, otherwise known as congregate care (group homes and institutions). Children are placed in congregate care when they are found to be in an unsafe environment. Usually children of abuse or maltreatment are placed first (Font, 2015). Out-of-home-care causes increased problems of attachment, behavioral, and psychological disorders in the developing child.