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. Some abuse that occurs in foster homes happens because the parents are ill equipped to take care of a child with special needs or with more aggressive behavior. The article “A Descriptive Study of Abuse …show more content…
Works Cited Allen, B., & Vacca, J. S. (2010). Frequent moving has a negative effect on the school achievement of foster children makes the case for reform. Children and Youth Services Review, 32(6), 829-832. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.02.001 DePanfilis, D., & Girvin, H. (2005). Investigating child maltreatment in out-of-home care: Barriers to effective decision-making. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(4), 353-374. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.11.010 Euser, S., Alink, L. R. A., Tharner, A., van IJzendoorn, M.,H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. (2014). Out of home placement to promote safety? the prevalence of physical abuse in residential and foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 37, 64-70. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.12.002 Font, S. A. (2015). Child protection investigations in out-of-home care: Perpetrators, victims, and contexts. Child Maltreatment, 20(4), 251. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1732543511?accountid=7098 Morton, Brenda. "Seeking Safety, Finding Abuse: Stories From Foster Youth On Maltreatment And Its Impact On Academic Achievement." Child & Youth Services 36.3 (2015): 205-225. SocINDEX with Full Text.
Over 28% of children in state care are abused while in the child care system. Once placed in foster care, a child is not always guaranteed to be safe from abuse. Ashley Rhodes-Courter was abused in one of the foster homes she was put in. She was starved and beaten almost on a daily basis when living in that home. Courter went through fourteen different foster homes and attended nine different schools in a span of nine years.
The low expectations placed on foster kids leads to lower graduation rates for those aging out of custody because most foster children do not have a supportive adult to keep them in line when they get tired of school. The lack of stability already puts foster kids at a disadvantage and leaves gaps in learning and development that are omnipresent in their lives. The instability that marked Pelzer’s teenage years made it difficult for him to continuously readjust, and he felt that every time he adjusted to a new environment, “something happened” (Pelzer
When a child is placed into foster care, many times they have trouble adjusting. This may be caused by developmental delay. In an article, by Brenda Harden, she states that, “Moreover, research demonstrates that children exposed to violent, dangerous, and/or highly unstable environments are more likely to experience developmental difficulties.1 Children exposed to violence within their homes experience the most deleterious outcomes. For example, children exposed to physical maltreatment often experience impairments in their physical health, cognitive development, academic achievement, interpersonal relationships, and mental health.” Most children are more likely to experience problems if it has to do with violence or abuse before they were taken away and placed into the system.
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.”
I believe the foster care system should be changed for the better of the foster child. The system as many foster kids will say is messed up, and in fact I totally agree. The child feels that if he/she spoke up about what was going on in their “home” whether it 's abuse or other reasons they will be located right back into another home where this can just possibly happen again. The last thing any of these children is abuse and more relocation. Most of these kids just strive to be happy and in a forever home that they want to live in.
This report is to highlight the impact residential care has on young children 3.1 What is Residential Care? Residential Care is care provided for old or sick people or children in a residential faculty. Children in care is also referred to as a looked after child. A looked after child is someone under 18, lives away from their parents or family.
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
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.
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
Danielle Jackson Carlton - 5 English 11 1 March 2018 The Broken System we call Foster Care Yes foster care is an essential system used to provide loving homes to children, but unfortunately these systems have become broken and can no longer keep kids safe under their care. Everyday children are being placed in foster homes facing abuse, unloving parents, and even death. The system has only progressively gotten worse leaving behind children traumatized to a point where no amount of love or therapy can fix them.
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.
Even though the circumstances of a foster care system are not significantly the best considering why the child ended up there in the first place. This systems helps build relationships with troubled youth helping them stay involved in school, abstinence from drugs and alcohol, gangs, and most importantly away from jail. Foster care is a place where kids know that they are not alone, and people are doing everything they can to find them homes. Providing a place of reassurance, nurture, and safety foster care has a substantial impact on the outcome of children in their future. Throughout this system these kids circulate around multiple social, political, and economical effects during their time in a foster care system, and unfortunately after the age of 18 where they are faced to survive the world alone.
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).
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. Child safety is the primary goal of out-of-home-care; however, maltreatment investigations are still reported in those institutions.