Aging Out Research Paper

Youth aging out the foster care system is a major concern for social workers. In 2012 approximately 697,000 children spent time in the foster care system. Foster care is intended as a temporary solution while addressing the needs of the family of origin to ensure the safety and stability of children in need. On average these children spend 2.2 years in the foster care with 9% spending five or more years in an out of home placement. Between the ages of 18-21, depending on the state, a child “ages out” of the foster care system. Aging out.Those youth who are unable to attain permanency through programs such as adoption, splic and appla are forced to seek alternatives such as independent living . These youth may become homeless and face larger

In the United States there are over a half a million children in the foster care system. (AFCARS Report, 2015) The foster care system is a temporary arrangement for children whose parents are not able to care for them. (adopt.org) Foster care can be arranged through the courts or a social service agency. The goal for a child in the foster care system is usually reunification with the birth family, but may be changed to adoption when this is seen as in the child's best interest.

A question asked by few, but the answer known by millions. The definition of the Foster System is “a temporary arrangement in which adult/s provide for the care of a child or children whose birth parents are unable to provide care for them” (Center). The adoption system is more or less the same, except adoption is a permanent placement of children with an adult/s that is not their birth parent/s (Center). Foster care can be informal or arranged through the courts or a social service agency. Usually, the overall goal is to get the children back to their birth parents, but that may change if there were another option that would be better for the child (Center). An example of the courts trying to get a child back to their parent would be with the story A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. This story is an autobiography of Dave’s life dealing with an abusive mother for years, and it continues with a sequel that goes to show how the courts almost put Dave back into the care of his mother, but then he testified and went through living in the foster system until 18. Once the option of going back to the birth parent is out of the question, adoption is the next step. A story that shows this would be Tricia Spellmon’s story. She was put into the Foster System as soon as she was born, and was moved to different homes until the age of 2. After being at that home for two years the foster parents decided to adopt her, and at the age of 4 she became a part of a better family (Spellmon). This type of adoption is called a foster adoption, which means that a child is placed into a foster home with the expectation that the foster parents are going to adopt them (Center). The other type of adoption is when the foster parents will not adopt them, but since they are in the foster system the birth parents rights have been terminated, so children are legally free for adoption (Center). In the end, the adoption system is just a branch of the foster system, and

Joyce Meyer, a Christian author and speaker once spoke: “If you can help a child, you don’t have to spend years repairing an adult.” In America, there are many social issues that are neglected because they do not have a daily effect on each individual. As a result of this, one of these issues is the foster care system in America. Foster care is a program worldwide that helps neglected and abused children be put in safer homes through a brief period of time until a social worker allows the children to go back into their original home or be adopted by their foster parents or other individuals. According to http://www.adopt.org/what-foster-care, “Some will be separated from their siblings. Others will be bounced from one foster care placement

Foster care is supposed to be temporary, but for many teenage youth in foster care it is often a permanent solution. Foster care was never meant to raise children into adulthood. Even though foster care is supposed be temporary, most teenage foster youth reach their 18th birthday and become emancipated and end up living their lives without a family. Currently, 40% of foster youth in the system are between the ages of 11 and 21 (Child Welfare 3). Foster care is supposed to be a temporary arrangement in which adults provide care for children whose parents are unable to do so, due to issues within the family such as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or homeless. The earliest documentation of foster care can date back to the Bible, which

The second problem hindering foster care is that teens that are placed in group homes often age out of the system without proper support. When placed into group homes, children and especially teens are left without the chance to connect with a permanent, adoptive family and the connections to create a supportive system. Unfortunately, the reality of aging out of the system is pretty upsetting. One in five teens who have aged out of the system will become homeless, more than 40% of these teen won’t complete high school and within two years of leaving foster care, one in four will end up tangled up in the justice system.

A population-at-risk I have chosen was the youth aging-out of foster care. By calling it "age-out" I’m referring to it as occurring both before and after leaving foster care. Nationally, there are 20,000 youth in foster care who are at the aging out of foster care. Generally, these children has been abused or neglected. There are those who feel as if foster care can have some type of impact on this particular lifestyle for these youth adults aging out of this care. Some feel that there may be some foster care homes that may possibly not help the child deal with their situation for leaving their family homes. For example, the child may have been physically or sexually abused, and or, have lived with parents with alcohol or

“ In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years” (Children’s Rights). There are simply not enough people looking to adopt or to foster individually. Many kids, especially teens, are immediately placed in group homes. These homes do not provide the same stability and support that a foster (or adoptive) family might. Group homes are actually 7 to 10 times more expensive per child than placement with a family. Not only do many children spend years waiting to be adopted, in many cases after a certain age children will be subjected to “aging out of the system.” While there are different laws in each state, for the most part this means that after a certain cut off the state no longer actively looks for adoptive families and instead waits for the child to turn 18 and therefore, become legally independent. According to TheForgottenInitiative.org, more than 30% of homeless people in the US were previously in Foster Care. An estimated more than 40% of youth who age out of the foster system won’t complete high school. Very few teens are emotionally ready to be completely independent at 17 or 18, regardless of family support. The foster system is simply not designed to fully take care of children, and it certainly

“In the U.S. today, approximately 400,000 children and youth are in foster care at any given time and each year about 20,000 of these students emancipate (i.e., age out) of foster care” (“Students in Foster Care”). There are many children in this world who are separated from their parents. Placed somewhere by the government. They are being placed somewhere not familiar to them or somewhere far from where they lived before. Many people are not aware that foster children need help in their education and one of the reasons would be that they do not even know or are not aware of what defines a foster child. Therefore, what is a foster child? Well, this definition describes it accurately, “... Webster 's II New Riverside Dictionary defines

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, every year close to 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system and are faced with cold hard realities of adulthood. This does not include the youth who leave the system, which is estimated to be another 30,000. Most adolescents anticipate their eighteenth birthday, as it brings on a new found sense of independence and most importantly a time of celebration. However when foster children reach eighteen, they begin facing the challenges of transitioning to adulthood. These children disproportionately join the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed. These youth are unprepared for the independent life they are forced to take on. The average age that young adults who have never experienced foster care leave their family home for good is 24, and 40% return home again at least once afterwards (Margolin, 2008). With these facts being stated, we yet expect youth who has dealt with rejection after rejection to leave “home” of the state custody permanently and fin for themselves. These youth sometimes have fewer than $250 in cash, only one-third have drivers licenses, and fewer than one-quarter have the basic tools to set up a household, let alone the skills to know what to do with the tools (Krinsky, 2010). Youth exit care with no more than a garbage bag of their belongings, finding themselves alone at the age of eighteen, with little reason to celebrate what is supposed to be an exciting milestone

By dictionary definition foster care is a noun meaning, “supervised care for delinquents or neglected children usually in an institution or substitute home” (dictionary.refernce). According to federal definition “foster care is twenty-four hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents or guardians and for whom the stat agency has placement and care responsibility.” This also includes placing them into foster families, foster homes of relatives, emergency shelters, group living, residential homes, child care institutions, and pre adoption places, (TuCollaborative). The ideal foster care system is very beneficial because it helps keep children that “have no place else to go” (du Pont, 48) out of the streets and in safe,

The safety of children should be one of the main goals throughout the world. Foster care is something that can help children's safety. It helps children for many different reasons, but for the same purpose. It was not till the 1800s, people started to do something about the children who were unsafe. It was started when the children were told to work in the fields and in the house with their parents instead of getting an education. The children were not happy with this so they set off to New York City. When they reached New York, they were taken by families that were going to help and not force them to work at such a young age. The main issue that raised awareness was a case involving siblings that were forced to harm each other. It was taken

Every year over 20,000 children will age out of the foster care system. In most cases they will be eighteen-years-old, however in some state they can stay until age twenty-one. However, this is voluntary, and many don’t stay. Many will become homeless, lose access to school, social support and financial resources (Fowler, 2017). The number of children aging out is growing as well. From 2008 to 2013 the number grew by four percent (Rebbe, 2017).

Most of youth foster formers are not ready at eighteen to live by their own. Kids who grow in the system never experience normal growing-up. For example, the relationship between parents, the balance of a family, getting or keeping part-time jobs, performing daily tasks, etc. Due to the incapacity of the foster care system getting these kids prepared to live like a healthy, independent adult some state has extended the emancipation age until 21 for foster