Case Study: Hennepin County Foster Care

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutritional Services is a federal program that provides health care and proper nutrition to low income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women during a crucial time for both mothers and babies. The mission of WIC is to “safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.” (Food and Nutrition Service, 2010).

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 Foster Care System with the kids who are in it is a massive social issue that America is facing today. There are more than 640,000 foster children in the United States every year. There are 23,000 foster children living in group homes at one time. There are 32,000 who live in institutions, and twenty-seven states do not meet federal abuse and neglect standards. (Attention) Personally, I am a foster sister, because my family currently fosters. Therefore, we see the issues and needs of fostering, daily. (Rapport and Credibility) This speech will discuss the importance of the nature of foster care, the catastrophic problems of foster care, and the proposed solution for the foster care system in America. (Preview)

The health nurse can be a great advocate in identifying both the current and future needs of the parent and baby. Many community services are available to assist with nutritional needs, prenatal care services, and future childcare needs (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2014). I myself was once a young pregnant mother who required assistance. Working a part-time minimum wage job while pregnant with my first child and attending nursing school full-time, I struggled financially. Before the time of healthcare reform, first-time pregnant mothers did not receive governmental assistance for health insurance or prenatal care. The community service that aided me during that time was the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program. Without the assistance of those wonderful nurses and program, I would have suffered from times of inability to buy food for myself while pregnant and would have also struggled to buy formula for my newborn. Not only was the food assistance godsend, the practical and applicable knowledge I gained from the nurse educators was

They advocate for the 8 million+ mothers and young children served by WIC and the 12,000 WIC agencies who facilitate WIC’s public health nutrition services for all the at-risk poverty stricken mothers and young children. Their mission statement, similar to WIC’s, is “to inspire and empower the WIC community to advocate for and promote quality nutrition services for all eligible mothers and young children and assure effective management of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children

I am very interested to work with and improve the community health early in life with “upstream” intervention, which in the end will lead to a healthier community and society.

The foster care system exists in order to enhance the lives of children whose parents were deceased rather than because of abuse today. Our outlook, principles, and ways of being concern for and protecting abused or neglected children and looking after families has shifted greatly throughout history. In this paper I will discuss and inform the readers on the three main components. The first part will discuss the foundation and growth of the foster care system as time pass. Secondly, describe the contemporary state of the system within the United States, including pertinent statistics. Lastly, considering future guidelines intended for the system, including ways in which the system can progress throughout the time.

Every year in the United States, hundreds of children and adolescents are taken from their parents and primary caregivers and placed in out-of-home care situations due to issues in their homes and family lives which contribute to unsafe living conditions. These children and adolescents often face many health, behavioral, developmental, and psychological issues.

Figure 1 shows foster home capacity needs by county: red meaning an under supply of foster homes, and blue meaning an oversupply of foster homes. From figure 1, we can see that Dallas County is facing a deficit (undersupplied) of foster homes available to foster children. We can also see from Figure 1 that the surrounding areas of Dallas, such as: Denton county, Collin county, Kaufman county, and Rockwall county all have an oversupply of foster homes. This means that children from Dallas county have no other choice but to move to foster homes outside of Dallas county. This results in moving away from friends and family, which can be traumatizing to a child. We feel that this is one of the primary problems we aim to fix in the Dallas foster care system. Early childhood

Youth aging out of foster care are one of the most disadvantaged populations in the United States. Unlike other young people in the general population who continue to live with family and receive support and financial assistance, foster youth transitioning into adulthood often struggle just to obtain and maintain general needs. Apart from the trauma associated with the history of abuse or neglect, foster youth are put in a circumstance that expect them to become independent and self-sufficient immediately as they prepare to transition out of foster care. According to Courtney, Dworsky, Lee, and Raap, young people formerly in foster care, compared to the general population, experience significantly different outcomes in areas of education, employment,

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) was established in1972. This federally funded program’s primary focus is the nutritional harm that hunger, and poverty creates specifically for mothers, soon-to-be mothers, children and infants (Blau and Abramovitz, 2014). This program has seen an influx of participants over the many years since its existence. Recently, in 2009 WIC underwent major changes that would benefit both mothers and their children. WIC required its participants to buy healthier foods and pushed grocery stores to provide healthier foods for the participants (Block and Subramanian, 2015). Most recipients of WIC are low-income and more than likely live in neighborhoods with food deserts.

Dallas’s foster care system is currently facing a shortage of foster homes and a high turnover rate among caseworkers and foster care parents. According to Dallas news, in the last year, 49 children spent two or more nights in CPS offices or nearby hotels because state workers couldn’t find them a suitable place to stay. It is also indicated that more than 30 percent of CPS workers such as investigators and foster care workers are quitting each year. This is a major threat since it prevents our system from keeping children safe.

You may or may not be familiar with the program popular government program WIC which is an acronym for The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. WIC is a great program that enables pregnant women, moms, and infants to purchase healthy food at low cost. They give you a series of coupons for each month that you take to a participating grocery store to get things like milk, fruit, beans, rice, cereal, and peanut butter. If you or your children have special allergies or nutritional needs, they ask for a doctors note and will provide you with coupons for special formula or milk. I remember when I was pregnant they gave you a $10 month allowance for participating fruit and vegetables, eggs, 4-6 gallons of milk per

The Gorgia Women's, Infant and Children's program (WIC) provides nutrition education and supplemental food to low income families. Families eligible for this program recieve a nutritional assessment, health screening,medical history, body measurements (weight and height), hemoglobin check, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, referrals to other health and social services, and vouchers for healthy foods. The main objective of this program is to follow these children until the age of five, increase the number of breastfeeding mother and the length of time they breast feed,decrease the number of overweight and obese children, and increase the nutrition education of people particioitating in the program. The vouchers supplied are for health

The study consisted of 12 parents who foster children ages 2-8 years old. The high levels of conduct problems among children in the foster care system and the added cost to families, society and services, there is a pressing need to support foster parents. Providing foster care to children with increased emotional, behavioral, and medical needs requires not only time, but patience in dealing with the child’s demands. Foster parents often voice they are unprepared to meet demand of children with increased behavioral and emotional needs and adolescents in their care. This situation can result in placement disruption, which further strains foster care resources and has negative impacts on foster children and youth. The incidence of conduct disorder