The Dilemma Our client Tonya Morris is currently in foster care after her mom left her behind with an unwilling caregiver sixteen days after her father, Terence Calvert, was incarcerated. Tonya has been in the same foster family for nearly nineteen months and knows nothing outside of this family. Tonyas biological mother, Paula Morris, has a reputation of long time drug use and has been unable to locate since she left her. While Tonya was in utero she was exposed to drugs causing developmental delays and she went through drug withdrawal as an infant. Her foster family has expressed their desire to adopt her on more than one occasion. Her biological father, Terence, also has the desire to reunite and raise Tonya after he is released from incarceration. …show more content…
After being released from prison, the biological parents may have a harder time finding a job, obtaining housing and possibly obtaining welfare assistance (D’Andrade & Valdez, 2012). There is a lot of challenges and hardships that Terence Calvert will have to face just by being released from prison. Scholars have suggested that reunification can possibly be impossible due to the many obstacles the parents have to face after prison (D’Andrade & Valdez, 2012). Although there have been many studies done that advocate for children to return to their biological families, recent studies have shown reunification as a change that influences psychological functioning (Lau, Litrownik, Newton, & Landsverk, 2013). Tonya’s foster family is all she has ever known. A change in environment can cause Tonya to feel distressed and can take a toll on her developmental delays. Her every single need is being met and most importantly she is cared well for. Tonya’s needs are very demanding for a toddler with developmental delays and as of right now they are being met with no hesitation nor
Although the federal government controls the funding that will enhance the family relationship by supplying services, this unfortunately does not always rectify the family situation. If the system in place doesn’t work and the parent isn’t ready to have the child returned, this will leave a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. The parent may become frustrated and resort to behaviors such as substance abuse, physical abuse, and verbal abuse jeopardizing the parent-child relationship. As stated in Foster Care at issue, by Debra Bloom, family reunification is less likely to occur when parents are involved in the correctional system. Reporting that 16 % of mothers with children in foster care are arrested within 18 months, with the arrest occurring after the child has been placed in foster care. Suggesting that child welfare look beyond the system when developing potential outcomes.
This study explores patterns of educational engagement among formerly incarcerated young men. Among the three individuals that where interview prior to attending any transitional housing 100% of the interviewees where completing their high school diploma/ GED within the Los Angeles area. The process reflected below, looks at the question, post college admissions, what are some of the acclimation challenges that minority males who were previously former juvenile offender face when trying to obtain a degree in higher education? The emerging themes derived were:
The results of this study found that MI is an effective intervention method for those with a drinking problem. The results found that before intervention occurred (pretreatment), the control group drank 4.37 drinks per day and the treatment group drank 4.65 drinks per day. During the posttest, the control group drank 3.77 drinks per day and the treatment group drank 1.95 drinks per day (Beckham, 2007). According to Beckham (2007), “Consistent with the predictions, drinkers who participated in the study significantly decreased the average number of drinks per day” (p. 107).
Literacy has been proven to be a crucial part of a child’s development, especially in early childhood when books and bedtime stories solidify the natural course of their growth (Boyd, Johnson, & Bee, 2015). As children are like sponges, being exposed to a broad vocabulary bank benefits them greatly when they start learning not only verbal and spoken communication but when they interact socially as well (Boyd, Johnson, & Bee, 2015). For children whose mothers are currently incarcerated, it can be difficult to maintain a decent level of exposure to literature. In addition, female inmates experienced significant distress from not having regular contacts with their children (McPhail, 2018). The Mother/Child Read Aloud program, based in New Brunswick and operated by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saint
Children suffer significantly until someone decides to protect them. The government allocates funds to establish the foster care system and that system advances to enforce rights for children. When the right to remove children from an abusive situation first originated, the foster care system established a separation procedure for children from their abusive homes. This act of removing children from their families brought about psychological issues and trauma. Throughout earlier years, the foster care system adjusted their program according to the rules and regulations established to provide for the needs of children. However, problems keep appearing elsewhere. These children endure the brunt of every new philosophy in behavioral health management. Often, the biological parents will be left out of the solution. The foster care system develops services to train foster families in caring for foster children and behavioral issues. For some reason, the foster care system believes improvement simpler to reform the children and makes a trivial attempt of the reformation with family. The foster care system needs to try to achieve bonds within the biological family instead of the sole reliability on removal of children to be an adequate answer. The foster care system’s obligation should be to develop a training system for the rehabilitation of families and offer support to achieve the greatest outcome in child rearing. Foster care needs to adapt to supporting families emotionally,
I learned to be a leader in my house at an early age because I desire to make my family and my life better by successfully continuing my education and finishing a four year university. More importantly, the desire to help my brother Carlos to get a better treatment for his condition, cerebral palsy. Today I contribute to Carlos’s everyday care. In fact, I sometimes shower, dress, feed, entertain and help in giving him therapy for his body palsy.
The U.S. Census reported that 1.6 million individuals under the age of 18 were arrested in 2010, a substantial increase from previous years (OJJDP, 2012; US Census Bureau, 2012). Of those individuals detained, over nine percent were convicted as juveniles and entered into a juvenile detention facility (Risler, 2009). Approximately 500,000 children are currently in the foster care system, while almost 300,000 have medical problems, have neurological impairs, and developmental delays (Earls, 2013). In addition, they were all exposed to some degree of critical abuse or neglect, leaving almost 80 percent of those children with serious emotional difficulties (Earls, 2013). As a result of various complications, emotional disturbances, and
The research question for this article would be in what ways do mothers cope with the separation of their children due to incarceration? Over the years the number of incarcerated mothers between the age of 25 and 34 has dramatically increased. These mothers are likely to be single, poor, a racial minority and have at least two kids. The study conducted interviewed 74 mothers before the trail and during incarceration to identity coping strategies that were used to deal with the separation of their child or children. The results from the interview and previous research studies showed seventh techniques used in how mothers would learn to cope with the separation. First, being a “good mother” using motherhood as a central identity to comfort their
Introduction According to Bowen’s (2013) family systems theory, individuals in a family unit are all interconnected and the system is comprised of interlocking connections (Bowen, 2013). Consequently, whenever an individual in a family system is experiencing a stressor or problem the other individuals in the system will be affected by the stressor and will experience a change in the family system (Bowen, 2013). Bowen (2013) suggests that this family system can be used to understand the dynamics of the family unit and explains that an individual’s behavior has a specific function in his or her own family system (Bowen, 2013). By taking into consideration this theory when looking at a family struggling with an incarcerated parent, it is
When a person becomes a parent, their role in life undoubtedly changes. The person must become a teacher, a guide, and a helping hand in the life of the child. Research has shown that there is a distinct connection between how a child is raised and their overall developmental outcome. John Bowlby’s attachment theory emphasizes the importance of the regular and sustained contact between the parent-infant or parent-child relationship (Travis & Waul 2003). Yet, what happens when the only physical contact a child can share with their parent is a hand pressed on the shield of glass that separates the two? What happens when the last memory of their mother or father was from the corner of their own living room as they watched their parent
Children with incarcerated parents have lived an uneasy life. Children have watched their parents get in trouble with the law and watch them be handcuffed and taken away for arrest. Children struggle physically, mentally and emotionally when a parent is displaced away from the home. Children have many emotions when they see their parent going away with a police officer. Children are taught today, the police officers are there to help you but also deal with people that get in trouble and when you parent is taken away from you, you are aware that something bad has happened. As learned throughout research many things become an issue in the behavior of a child.
Parental criminality is considered as one of the risk factors behind the development of criminality in children and adolescents (Nijhof, 2009).These children have less educational success and struggle to build positive relationships with others. They tend to have poor social skills, attitudes and seem to be at a disadvantaged in society (Turanovic, 2012). Efforts have been made by researchers using qualitative studies in order to create an understanding behind intergenerational criminal behavior and get a closer look at their offending history. Findings suggest that the environment that children are raised in contributes substantially to parent and child criminal behavior particularly in neighbors of low economic status, where social strain
Being the child of an incarcerated parent has substantial amounts of negative influences on youth today. As young children, many consider their parents as role models. Someone who they can confide in, someone who will preserve them, and someone who will guide them through life. For most youngsters having an incarcerated parent, means that their admirable example in life is absent. Not having a parent present in one's childhood leads to innumerable negative outcomes and impacts.
Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children by Daniel A Hughes
As most parents know, raising a child can be a rewarding, as well as an expensive, undertaking. Often, both parents bear the financial responsibility of providing for their children, and their needs. When children do not live with one or both of their parents, family law court judges in Massachusetts, and elsewhere, may order child support awards. Generally, the purpose of these payments is to ensure that custodial parents, as well as non-custodial parents, fulfill their financial obligations as parents.