Residential Care 3.1

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

Many studies have shown that kids who are in Foster Care develop emotional, social and life skill problems that will affect them long-term, that will cause problems in their future as an adult. Some may often not be able to learn the basic life skills that will help them as a functional citizen in society. Many cannot maintain personal relationships with other people because they don’t have trust for anyone.

Sadly even more children are abused than actually reported, “research has revealed alarming rates of abuse in foster care. One independent study after another has found abuse in one-quarter to one-third of foster homes, and the rate in group homes and institutions is even higher. And for reasons related to study methodology...even those figures almost certainly are underestimates” (Richard Wexler). According to Wexler a majority of figures addressing the number of children abused are put together by the child welfare agencies. Which means that to make their programs look better they have a tendency to overlook warning signs of abuse within a youth’s foster

Many people are supported in their homes by people who work along side the health and social care service such as social workers,nursers ,doctor and care givers or they may get support from their family members and friends. An elderly person may choose to stay in their own homes instead of a residential care home while seeking help and support from others,however this can lead to potential opportunities for abuse happening to the person who Is being looked after. When an individual is getting support at home by a carer, the individual being cared for is vulnerable and defenseless and therefor this makes them a target for abuse,another example is abuse by strangers,when an elderly person lives alone they are at risk of people calling at the door and then gaining access to their homes,they may steal items from them or mistreat them or cause intimidation.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Every year millions of children suffer from child abuse and maltreatment. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment 2013 (2015) report shows that in 2013, there were approximately 3.9 million reports of child abuse made in the United States. Of those reported, 678,932 were deemed victims of child abuse and neglect (child maltreatment 2015). Of the four common types of abuse, i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, “the greatest percentages of children suffered from neglect (79.5%) and physical abuse (18.0%).” (Child Maltreatment, 2015). The data also shows that, the youngest children are the most vulnerable to maltreatment, 27.3% of

Helping someone find a good home for foster children might be a difficult task to do, but it's not impossible. The work it takes could be long and extensive, but with the help of a good social worker, will always get done. Every year millions of children get placed in foster care, social workers are often overwhelmed trying to find adequate foster parents. Although some foster parents are caring for these children for the wrong reasons; there are still some good foster parents that are caring for the child, to benefit the child.

“There is no greater problem in family law today than the problems of adequately addressing child protection concerns in proceedings under the Family Law Act.” (Family Law Council, 2009, p. 15). Over the past decade there has been two main reforms which are reducing the overall number of child abuse related reports in Australia (AIFS, 2014). One of these is improved intake and referral pathways into family support services for vulnerable and at-risk families (AIFS, 2014). The primary assumption supporting this contemporary reform regarding child protection agendas has been credited to families being able to access “the right services at the right time” (Adamson, Bromfield, Edwards, Gray, Hilferty, Katz, et al., 2010). After a report to Community Services an assessment if risk will be made and it will then be determined if the concerns for Elijah’s safety requires statutory intervention (AIFS, 2011.) Conducting investigations to determine whether there is a risk of significant harm to a child is the main task of child protection departments (AIFS, 2011.) Child abuse and neglect negatively affects a child’s development. This can include physical, psychological, cognitive, behavioural and social aspects. It can result in attachment difficulties, trauma, physical health problems and learning

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 most common psychological problems developed by these children are ADHD, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and bipolar disorder. Many children suffer from attachment disorders from their foster families when taken in at a young age. Removing children from their home has proved to be traumatic to the psychological development of the child, thus creating a tough decision for child protective services when children cannot be taken in by family members (Lohr & Jones, 2016). Researchers have found that children who are in foster homes or congregate homes are more likely to be put on psychiatric medications including antianxiety, antipsychotics, stimulants, and

Residential care facilities were originally ‘poor houses’ where elderly people were sent for economic reasons. Once placed, they were forgotten and left feeling isolated.