Although foster parenting is one of the most rewarding experiences, it can also be an exhausting journey. In the Fresno County, there are thousands of foster care children who are in need of homes. Yet, there are only a few homes with qualified parents that are available. In order to provide homes, parents must undergo strenuous training courses that let them understand foster children. Besides, they must have compassion, understanding, and tolerance for the children. Foster parenting involves nurturing and providing a safe environment to previously traumatized or neglected children. By becoming alternate parents, they should give children ample time to adjust and learn from experiences. Even though the children are traumatized, the parents …show more content…
Child welfare officials are obligated to provide children who have suffered from abuse or neglect with appropriate homes. Unfortunately, The Children’s Rights Organization reveals that there were 4 million reports of child maltreatment in the United States. Based on the overall results, the data concludes that more than 78 percent of the perpetrators of maltreatment were parents acting alone, together, or with other individuals (“Child Abuse and Neglect” 1). When children are removed from their home and placed in foster care, it is also assumed that the children are no longer in danger. Parents who lack training and compassion end up maltreating the children. Some of these parents are also after the children’s reimbursements, so they do not take proper care of them. Furthermore, the system can fail to recognize child abuse or negligence during routine checks. From the data of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, study has shown that there is an increasing rate of maltreatment of children in foster care systems, especially at the hands of their foster parents. Of the eleven participants in this study, seven were abused physically, sexually, or both in foster care (Morton 222-223). The children become victims of abuse because of the parents’ malevolent intents. Since parents intend on harming the child, they do not provide the proper guidance and nurturing the children needs in order to be functional citizens of
In America it is stated that 1 in every 84 children live in foster care circumstances via "Statistics on Foster Care". There is a numerous amount of contrasting children from various backgrounds and ages living within these special housing homes, and many are repeatedly in and out from unstable circumstances. As children grow and mature into the new faces of the world, they face many obstacles and tribulations that will alter their lives. Living in fostering homes is a substantial example and the effects of living in these institutions can truly be great.
Foster children are placed in foster homes because of their parents participating in physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological abuse, and/or neglect towards their children; however, the parents of the foster children are affected by their children being put into foster homes and therefore has complex feelings towards the program. Parents usually put up a defensive shield when people tell them how to raise their child, and they think the foster care program is supposedly raising their children how they should raise them and not how they currently are raising them. When the mother/father visits the foster child there is usually shared tension between the two relatives because the child has a new family now. Nevertheless, while there the mother/father is making the child think about
The life for a child in foster care is much different than any other child’s. While growing up children look up to their father or mother. They aspire to be like them and follow in their footsteps. For the children placed in foster care all they see is that their parents could not take care of them. They will not have the memoires of growing up with their family, but instead memories of the different homes they have been transferred too. Foster parents love and care for all of the children that come into their homes, but it’s hard for the children to accept someone who moves in and out of their lives.
Many children prefer to live with their parents, so they always think the foster care system is the bad guy. Living with strangers is bad enough for them but to add on some foster homes are abusive. Foster Care goes all the way back to the Old Testament, which the churches require widows to care for orphaned children (“Care” 1). It would be a miracle that someone would treat the children like their own. Many foster homes are abusive just like the one Ashley had. Year after year, the increase of foster families is due to drugs, abuse, economy, financial, and psychological problems (“Care” 1). In this society, there are many problems that lead children to have the feeling of worthlessness. It is really sad how many children are in families of irresponsible parents. Child abuse occurs when a parent or caretaker physically, emotionally, or sexually mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, sexual harm, exploitation, or imminent risk (“Care” 1). It is disgusting how people would do this stuff to kids. These people have no heart and should be punished. Not everyone gets punished, but when the time comes, they will get what they deserve. Ashley’s book shows how her difficulties in foster homes were troubling. Many professional readers enjoy reading about her hard times.
Over 600,000 children in the United States are in the foster care system. Reasons include, abuse, neglect and abandonment. These children lack nurturing environments and stable homes. Children within the foster care system have more mental, physical and developmental problems. It is imperative to understand the challenges children entering the foster care system are exposed to. The system works best when children are provided nurturing, and short-term care until they can be placed back home safely or a permanent adoptive family. For many children, however, the stay is longer, with 30% remaining in temporary care for over two years. Staying in the system is detrimental to the child’s well-being. The foster care system is an unsuccessful intervention for children that cultivates development, health and mental issues.
In the past few decades there has be an increasing amount of children placed in the foster care system. With the amount of rising teen pregnancies and maternal drug abuse means increasing numbers of infants abandoned at birth. There have been many cases of child abuse or neglect that have been on the rise. State and local agencies are unable to suitably supervise foster homes or arrange adoptions. Statistics show that many children will spend most of their childhood and teenage years in the foster care system, which has shown to leave emotional scars on the child. Today, Child Welfare groups are looking for federal funding and legislation to increase programs and services aimed at keeping families together.
In todays’ society many Americans never think about our foster care system. Foster care is when a child is temporarily placed with another family. This child may have been abused, neglected, or may be a child who is dependent and can survive on their own but needs a place to stay. Normally the child parents are sick, alcohol or drug abusers, or may even be homeless themselves. We have forgotten about the thousands of children who are without families and living in foster homes. Many do not even know how foster care came about. A few of the earliest documentation of foster care can be found in the Old Testament. The Christian church put children into homes with widowers and then paid them using collection from the church
The number of children in the foster care system continues to increase. While the foster care system is essential in helping abused, abandoned, and neglected children, many children remain in foster care for long periods of time when family reunification or adoption is planned. Court delays can often extend the time between when children enter the foster care system and when they are placed into permanent homes. Significant differences exist in the quality of care and outcomes for children depending on their race and ethnicity. The percentage of children of color in the foster care system is larger than the percentage of children of color among the general U.S. population. However, the occurrence of child abuse and neglect is at about the same rate in all racial/ethnic groups.
The removal of children from foster placements are rapidly increasing. Many of the discharges are typical behaviors of children who have experienced trauma. The survey will sample 20 caseworkers from The Department of Family and Protective Services who have taught foster parent training in the last year. The survey was conducted to find out if there is a relationship between foster parent pre-service training and the number of children being discharged from foster placements within a 30 day time period. The research will conclude that foster parents are currently not receive enough training to care for fostered youth. This research is important to the agency because many children are without stable loving homes. They sleep in local Child Protective
The enactment of major federal legislation in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), focused a national spotlight on the development and well-being of children who have experienced child maltreatment. This legislation mandates public child welfare systems to meet the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of families and children, including children who have been placed in foster care. These mandates include maintaining children safely in their own homes, returning children to their families when possible, and providing services to families that promote their ability to meet the needs of their children (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,[USDHHS], 2011a). However, a recent national evaluation of public child welfare systems indicated that no state had met standards of substantial conformity with these mandates (USDHHS, 2011a). The reasons cited for poor conformity with standards related to maintaining children safely in their homes and providing family services to promote well-being included inaccurate assessment of the needs of families and
Foster care is something that 400,000 children in the United States, go through. I have personally been through this myself. To improve foster care for children, I have created a website along with an app. The name of both the website and app is Foster To Success. Foster To Success will especially be useful for foster youth, social workers, potential adopters, foster parents, and any additional people, who work with foster youth. But it can also be useful if you are going through a hard time. The app is free and available on iOS devices at the App Store, and on Andriod devices on GooglePlay. If you would like additional features the cost is ninety nine cents. I believe this will help improve foster care and help make it an easier transition for the children.
Helping these vulnerable children access the services, interaction, and the stability needed for them to grow-up to being successful members of society can be provided with foster placement. If the process is well planned and if the foster parents are given adequate support, the foster care system can be a valuable resource for abused and neglected children (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 321).
Everywhere across the world, more and more children are being placed into foster care or a welfare type system. Foster care can benefit children or harm them; the effects of foster care differ for every individual. These types of systems often have a major effect on young children’s physiological state. Children entering in foster care are often malnourished and have untreated health problems. A high percentage of children who are placed in these types of systems have mental health, physical health, and/or developmental issue which often originates while the individuals are still in the custody of the biological parents. Children in foster care should be provided with a healthy and nurturing environment which often provides positive long term results. The age of children in a foster care varies across the world, but it is often seen that majority of these children are young (George para. 1). There are more young children in the system because younger children require more adequate care than older children that are already in the system. Placing these children in welfare systems is supposed to be a healing process for them. Although this is supposed to be a healing process, statistics say these children have a negative experience while being in these systems, but this is not always the case. A number of children in foster care fall sucker to continuous neglect and recurrent abuse with the lack of nurturing and an unstable environment. These same children often have unmet
No two children in foster care have the same background. The youths can vary by the age when placed into care, the number of times they were put into care, the quality of the home and family they lived with, and the youths own emotional outlooks (Zlotnick 539). They can develop abandonment issues due to being separated from their biological parents, and stunted emotional growth due to the trauma that foster care puts on a young child. Children need to be raised in a stable and safe environment, and while plenty of foster care parents are loving and nurturing to the child, they may still be affected by being raised by multiple families in a negative way. Every year, over 1 million children experience maltreatment, and about half of these children enter foster care (Greeson et al. 92). Those who enter foster care have usually encountered multiple traumatic events, from either their parents or another caregiver in their lives.
More than two-hundred and fifty thousand children enter the foster care system each year, making it extremely difficult to find the right caregiver for each child. There are so may effects on the child that last their entire lifetime, making it difficult for them to trust others. Not being able to trust their peers, they often find it hard to make friends and long-term relationships last. Fortunately, there are many results that can improve everyone’s position in placing the child. Foster care agencies repeatedly create destructive situations due to the selected caregiver, as well as the plethora of glitches that are created. Due to the unacceptable and inappropriate selection of foster parents, the child frequently experiences difficulties and disadvantages later on. Most children are placed into foster care because of mistreatment and experience the same treatment in their foster homes. Unfortunately, a lot of times the foster parent will take their anger out on their foster child, making a wide array of short-term and long-term complications for the child.