Foster Care System

They Cage the Animals at Night is a book written by Jennings Michael Burch in 1985.The book was based on true events that occurred in his life during the late 1940’s and early1950’s. Burch described the hardship of his life from staying at foster institutions and foster homes. They Cage the Animals at Night was not only a depiction of Jennings Burch’s life, but it also showed the way children had to face physical and emotional abuse in the foster care system. A large portion of the book revealed and described the rigorousness that Jennings faced alone. His experience of emotional and physical abuse exposed how children were treated like prisoners. This book raised awareness to authorities on the kind of treatment happening and proposed a change for foster institutions and homes to be monitored.

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. Restoration of original families in foster care is not always an accessible choice. For example, if a child is in foster care because their parent is sick, restoration is easy but in other cases when a parent is addicted to hard drugs and shooting up heroine everyday, it's not quite as “simple” as they are making it sound. Also, this quote mentions the other half of children stuck in group homes waiting to age out of the system when they turn eighteen. The drawback with this is aging out of the system is in no way a happy or ideal situation. When these used to be children, now adults, age out of the system they are left on their own with no family for the rest of their lives. They are completely alone and have no support system or anyone to fall back on if they need

Most children’s first words are “Mama” or “Dada.” So what happens to the children who are ripped from their homes, from the only life they have known? The foster care system has been taking children from their homes since 1912, but has it really done any good? Sadly, “40 percetn of these children put into out-of-home care facilities never return to their parents. More than half will be away for at least a year and the majority will have multiple placements, some in as many as 15 different homes” (Horrors of the Non Home). Is what the foster care system is doing really helping these children or are they just setting them up for failure? Although many people feel that the foster care system is the best solution, many nationwide organizations feel that family preservation efforts are more necessary for today’s society.

Protecting the child and provide an opportunity in which they will live a close to normal life is the goal. But with so many children in foster care and so little workers, children can be over looked. How can a child live in foster care their whole life? “It has been long stated and strongly held belief that foster care must not be a way of life for children, but rather that it is intended as a short-term treatment measure which, for the children’s welfare, must eventuate in their return to their parents or in legal adoption” (Kline,1972,p.51). Children eventually need to be put into long term, permanent homes. In the hopes that they will grow up and know unconditionally

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

Foster care is full-time substitute care of children outside of their home by people other than their biological, adoptive, or legal guardians. Children are removed from their own homes and placed in foster care in a variety of reasons. Foster homes fulfill an essential social need by providing for the physical health, emotional well-being, and daily care of children who, for various reasons, have been separated from their parents. This is what foster care is supposed to be about helping children in need. In this day in age in you ask someone about foster they only see what on tv. Foster care on tv is portraited as horrible people only wanting money, human punching bag or worst but no one shows the good that comes out of being a foster child

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

Foster care was put into effect to help children out of dangerous situations. The main goal of foster care was only meant to be a temporary placement for children. This allows the parents to receive the help they need to make their home an ideal environment for the child or children. The foster system fails to provide adequate support for children in its care. If the foster system could recognize the issues it faces, perhaps it would be able to operate more efficiently. Perhaps one solution to this problem is to provide a transitioning program and offer counseling sessions to better support mental health and emotional stability.

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

A big problem in the system that they fail to see is abuse. Abuse can be done emotionally, sexually and physically also mistreatment and neglect, all done by these certified state caregivers. Liftingtheevil.org cites the "troubling statistics from one study, claiming that over 28% of the children in state care are abused while in the system"(2017). There are many stories of abuse, and the abuse comes from the foster parents. We expect the children to be placed in safe homes. Instead, these children are being placed in homes that are traumatizing them with a voice not heard. A recent study done by a student at John Hopkins University found the rate of abuse was four times higher than that of the regular population. A foster child Amy stated

But unfortunately for some kids this isn’t very true. For this child his story proves a lot. At “www.layouth.com” a teen spoke out about him story, “My aunts and uncle would hit me when they were mad. But I was scared of them so I acted like a wuss. When my grandmother called me, I’d say, ‘Yes ma’am.’ I wanted to say, ‘Why do you hit me? Am I really a bad child? Why do you treat me like I’m not part of your family?’” As I’m reading his story he has a very remarkable story in my opinion, and he’s a perfect reason we need to change this system. He wanted to tell the cops or his social worker but he was afraid to because he would be hit by his foster grandma. For some children this may not even work but it is definitely worth a shot to help these kids like Deshon. I believe we need to help these kids not be afraid of their foster parent(s). Truthfully, if we give those kids the ability to speak up and get help, These foster parent(s) that they are being abused whether it be mental or physical. I want to help these kids so they don’t have control them

On November 18, 1999, the House of Representatives passed the H.R.3443, which is The Foster Care Act of 1999. This was signed into law by former President, Bill Clinton. The Foster Care Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-169) is there to help the many young adults who age out of the foster care system and have nowhere to go and no family to rely on (Social Security, 2015). With so many young adults aging out of the foster care system, there has to be a solution as to what they do next.

Thousands of children enter the foster care system every year because their biological families are unable to care for them, but in some cases being in the foster system ended up being the worse option. Ashley Rhodes-Courter, author of the memoir “Three Little Words,” and her brother are two such children that entered foster care only to be neglected by the system, a system in which people put their faith in to keep children safe. The foster care system failed Ashley in many ways while she was in their possession, such as never keeping a steady worker on her case, allowing her to go missing for nine months without verifying that she was safe, and keeping her in unqualified and overcrowded homes.

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.