Children are young fragile beings brought into the world with hopes to change it. In order to flourish, a child requires the same basic needs that any adult would also require. That is, shelter, safety, security, love/belonging, and health. Unfortunately, due to the horrible incidents of maltreatment, abuse, and or neglect not all children have had access to these basic needs. In fact, a lot of these essential needs are actually taken away from them when children are abused and or neglected by their biological family members or any adult in charge. When an incident such as abuse occurs, child welfare systems are given a huge opportunity to step in and give these children their basic needs back. “The child welfare system is a group of services designed to promote the well-being of children by ensuring safety, achieving permanency, and strengthening families to successfully care for their children.” (National Center for Homeless Education, 2007; Pg.3). The irony in that definition is that most children in welfare systems are not safe and neither do most children attain permanency. Child welfare systems are a dangerous place for young children to enter. It is a place where children will experience constant instability and disruption. Children in child welfare systems will feel as though they have no real home.
As of the late 90s, over 50% of children in the system are placed in the home of a relative, which has proved to have beneficial results compared to an unknown foster home (Rosenfield et al., 1997). According to Altshuler and Gleeson (1999), the child welfare system has two main goals: permanency and safety. Encompassed in these goals are the jobs and life's work of hundreds of social workers. Permanency implies a longstanding place of residence for children, whether this be through reunification or adoption by a foster family. Safety being a priority reveals the unfortunate truth that sometimes, the child’s biological family will not be the right option for the child.
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 child has a purpose in this world and that is not to be abused or to be miss treated by anyone. It should only take one person to help a child in need. We should all put our best foot forward to make sure they are taken care of. I think the system fails children because they don't have a voice. Contrary to popular belief they do.
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.
1. Context an Importance of the Social Problem that Underlies the Policy: A) 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%).”
The child protection system protects the children from being abused though it is a difficult work to do. Though it seems to be a cruel system to many to separate a child from his or her biological parents, and there is obviously risk about the nature of the foster parents but it is true that the system is saving lives and futures of the abused and neglected
Every year thousands of children are taken away from their families and promised a home full of joy and laughter. For most children, this promise is broken. They are placed in homes full of yelling and pain. Children end up in unloving and abusive homes. They are placed in danger every day because they have been placed too fast and without enough care.
These children being treated immensely different, as if they stand lower than everyone else which can enlighten why they have a predisposition to put on an act. Society habitually limited their expectations to close to none in distinction for a child of the system for the widely held belief that these children appear distressed and useless. In some households, the foster kids turn out to be victims of abuse or forced to go to group homes. The majority of foster children have never felt anodyne in their homes, lives, or with their foster families along with themselves, honestly that not a good life. Under no circumstances feeling secure in life?
Youth homelessness in Canada is not a new phenomenal, it has become more and more severe over the past 20 years. “One third of homeless individuals on the streets are under the age of 25”(Cino, Rose). It is a significant social justice issue in Canada. Within our community people are increasingly aware of the sight of youth sleeping in parks, asking for money and sitting on sidewalks. Youth homelessness is caused by tragic life occurrences such as abuse, illness or unemployment, while many falsely assume homelessness is a choice.
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 was not meant to be a permanent solution for these children.
Every year, 2 million children come into contact with the child welfare system due to investigations of parental abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). A recent policy implemented by Anytown’s Department of Job and Family Services pertains to the issue of child endangerment. It states that, “any household having one or more documented offenses of domestic violence, child abuse, or drug or alcohol related offenses committed by the mother, father, guardian, and/ or caregiver, will result in the removal of any child or children from the home.” The child will be placed in the care of the state until documentation can be provided on the offender, whereas they are “offense free” for a period of no less than six
Policies are put in place for people to follow not only in the government setting but also in much smaller settings. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016) defines policy as a clearly stated or implicit procedure, plan, rule, or stance concerning some issue that serves to guide decision making and behavior (p. 87). In the social work field policies are put into place so that there is guarantee that all clients are treated with the same respect and are offered the resources that are available to them in their community. In this paper I will discuss policies that are in place for children that are being abused and what is in place to help them. Not only are we concerned with if these policies are working but also how are they being paid
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.
According to The Child Welfare Outcomes Reports made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011 there were approximately 742,000 cases of confirmed child maltreatment. The national child victim rate was 9.9 child victims per 1,000 children in the population. This rate decreased from 10.3 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in 2008 to the most resent 9.9 rate in 2011. The state rate varies ranging from 1.2 child victims per 1,000 children to 24.0 child victims per 1,000 children. Even though the rate has decreased some of these instances are not reported until something major occurs like in Brianna’s
One of, if not the most important issue regarding child welfare is the role parents play in their children’s lives. A major issue facing the protection of children is lack of proper parenting education. According to research by the National Children’s Alliance “More than 3 million American children are investigated for child maltreatment each year. " The site also states that “Nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S annually" and even more alarming statics is that “In 2016, an estimated 1,750 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States.” A major part of this issue stems from parents who overwhelmed or are underprepared to be parents lacking the proper resources and parental knowledge to take care of their children.