Siblings In Foster Care

Siblings have a bond that ties them to one another for their whole lives, whether they live together or hundred miles apart. There are some situations though that split up a sibling relationship like divorce or foster care. Foster care can be the glue to hold the children's future together, but it is the knife that cuts siblings apart. The splitting of siblings especially in foster care can be traumatic and detrimental to those children. Due to regulations of age or number of children allowed in a foster home, siblings must be split up which can cause behavioral, psychological, relationship issues with one or all of the siblings.
Splitting up sibling relationships in foster care can affect some children to have behavioral problems. With the

According to the Journal of Student Social Work, the loss of a sibling through foster care creates a reaction much like one experiences due to the loss or death of mother or father. There is a grief that sets into children that can cause depression and detachment. Already the child has been separated from their parents, their home, and school, so when the government makes the decision to take siblings away from one another, kids suffer greatly. Older siblings experience guilt, for they put the blame on themselves that their siblings would grow up alone without them. Removal of siblings is such a draining process for the children that it will in most cases cause children to develop depression from loss and disconnection from those around them. These problems could be temporary, but in most cases often than not, psychological dysfunctions will last the child's whole adolescent

When children are taken from their homes at a young age and placed in a foster home they are already create a form of disconnection, yet when taking them from their siblings their familial connections are torn away ten times faster. Siblings provide leadership, care, and challenger in each other's lives, siblings are meant to guide one another and help their family in tough times. When one doesn't have their sister or brother to be their guide, the child may not join the right crowd. Then the serious issue of full disconnection from all relationships. When one is separated from so many things all at once, it is very rare for that child to form a bond, with the adults or the other foster children. Bonds in these situations are a necessity and it could be detrimental to a child's growth if it goes without any sort of long lasting relationships that can be considered stable. Relationships connections are needed for a child to have a safe and stable life, the dismantling of siblings causes stable connections to explode.
Age gaps, gender, the amount of children entering foster care, all are reasons for placing siblings into separate foster homes and terminating sibling relationships. There effects of placing siblings into different homes are traumatizing for multiple people, for it causes more harm than good for all people involved. Foster