Child Care Framework

While it is always necessary to report suspected child abuse. The Department of Human Services (DHS) does not always do the best at ensuring that the children are in the best place for their own well being. After DHS receives the call that a child may be being abused they send out Child Protective Services (CPS) to evaluate wheiter or not a child is being abuse, treat the children if they are injured, and prevent the cycle of abuse and neglect from happening again. CPS and DHS do try and keep the families together if they can but if that is not possible the child is taken out of the custody of the parents and placed into the DHS custody and eventually introduced to foster parents. Children can receive a recommendation

“It’s about my entire life, it’s not just about my childhood. I want to know that I’m going to have someone to walk me down the aisle. That I’m going to have grandparents for my children.” -Mary (a girl in foster care). Adoption and foster care is used as a solution to a child not having an adequate home, but because of its many issues, the child is put into an unfavorable position and left with an uncertain future. Foster care is when a child is placed into a home and waits for a family to adopt them. Adoption is the act of taking legal responsibility of a child and to protect them . On paper, it sounds likes like an act of kindness, but adoption and foster care has many issues tied to it. Due to the many problems of adoption and foster care, such as the environment in a foster home, the behavior of their peers, mental instability, the adoption process, a child that experienced it impact their life negatively, as demonstrated in The Murderer’s Daughter by Randy Susan Meyers.

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

Though that was not until 1954, and before then, the first foster programs in the country worked more as a trading market for children who were taken from their families (McDonald, Allen, Westerfelt, & Piliavin, 1996). But with today’s laws and regulations set into place, it has become a much more trustworthy program to help children in need of protection, a home, a safe haven. The system is not as simple as a child is immediately taken from its family and placed into a new home or living environment. It is a lot more complicated and there are also many steps to the foster care system on the goals for placement of children. The best option is to hopefully keep the child with their families for as long as possible if the child is receiving adequate care, however, that is not always possible. The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Amendments of 1980 helped modify the existing programs in place prior to the 1980s with certain goals that system should try strive for: first being to keep the child in his/her home unless the circumstances made this impossible; second was trying to reunite the child with his/her biological families as soon as possible; third was adoption of the child to limit the amount of time the child was placed in temporary care; fourth was guardianship; and then if all else failed, long-term foster care (McDonald, Allen, Westerfelt, & Piliavin, 1996).

Jeremy’s case is also distinguishable from the present case, because here, the Department is not dealing with a child who has exhibited any aggressive or destructive behavior that would cause the department to be concerned for the safety and wellbeing of the child. Id. Nor is the Department dealing with a child who is in need of psychiatric care Id. Instead, the Department is dealing with a child, who is physically and mentally healthy. Id. The Department’s only justification for Stephanie removal is based on the fact that Stephanie’s nursery is located on the grounds of MCI, Framingham. Id. There is no other rational justification beyond this fact that the Department can provide. Id. There is no doubt that DCF is required to make reasonable efforts to strengthen and encourage the integrity of the family before commencing an action designed to sever family

Purpose; Child Welfare Information Gateway is a site the provides information in order to connect child welfare and comprehensive resources for professionals in order to protect and strengthen families. This site is provided by the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Their site provide publications , state resources including a national foster care and adoption directory, ways to report child abuse or neglect, free subscriptions, and a listing of news and events provided by the Children’s Bureau. The information and resources available on this site concentrate on focus areas including child abuse and neglect, adoption, foster care, child and family services review,

Adoption for a child waiting is the biggest gift of all and gives them a family they never imagined having. Envision being that person who gives them a sense of security, identity, belonging and a forever home. There are around 428,000 children in foster care in the United States, while only around 135,000 are adopted each year. More than 60% of children in foster care spend 2-5 years before being adopted, while some never get adopted. In 2014-15 just 0.5% of Australian children hoping for adoptive families were given a home. The average age of children waiting for adoptive families is 8. These are statistics that just break thousands of hearts. Many children put up for adoption have experienced abuse, neglect or a trauma in their birth families. This can cause emotional, behavioural and developmental problems. People often debate about nature versus nurture and which has more impact on childhood development. However, analysis demonstrates that children with adoptive families behave and develop the same way as those being raised by biological parents. By being that family who gives that child a home, you have given them a gift bigger than life. The chance for a child to have a family, get an education, and be able to do what they desire and pride themselves in being adopted. After all, children are children no matter their background. Adopting one child will not change the world, but for that child, the world will

Approximately one hundred and twenty thousand adoption cases take place each year. Adoption is the practice where the rights of biological parent(s) to the child are transferred to foster parent(s) permanently. Adoption of a child usually would take place at a tender age of the child’s life, so the child wouldn’t know of ever being adopted. Although this depends on if the child’s foster parents reveals to them the information of them being adopted. Usually a biological parent putting their child in foster care or up for adoption is all in good reason. Some of them could be; the parent(s) at the time of conception and birth weren’t ready financially to take care of

I was asked to read a file of a client to understand her situation and help her locate court ordered services. The client is a mother of two children, a seven-year-old girl, and a ten-year-old boy. The children were removed from their household due to negligence and emotional abuse. DCFS was contacted by a neighbor that reported child neglect. She heard the eleven-year-old child talk to other children about his mother “being drunk” and “passing out”. The neighbor also reported that some days the children will not go to school because the mother is hungover and tired. DCFS made an unannounced visit to the home. The children were not present, the mother allowed the social worker to come into the household. The social worker observed several big

In the US alone, there are over four hundred thousand children without permanent families and over one hundred thousand waiting to be adopted (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Couples who cannot have children and are looking for ways for to have children can adopt. Children in foster care are alone and in desperate need of someone to love them unconditionally, showing them that no matter what they are wanted. Adoption is one of the ways couples can have children, through the adoption process, couples can rescue a child from a life in the child welfare system, giving them a family and a hope of a better life, even through the contentious issue of interracial adoptions.

Research indicates that teen mothers, due to the fact that they are not mature, are more likely to have involvement with DCFS than an older mother, especially if they have had involvement with child welfare during their own childhood (Hudgins, Erickson, & Walker, 2014). Teen mothers are often unaware of their child’s needs emotionally and may not give them the attention they need leaving their child vulnerable to child abuse and neglect (Hudgins, Erickson, & Walker, 2014). If these young mothers have had any involvement with the system during their childhood such as being abused themselves or if they have been the abuser the likelyhood of future involvement is very high. The children of these mothers are then vulnerable to abuse and neglect by the mothers who don’t know better and possibly the same abuser that abused the mother, if allowed to be around the child. Teen mothers are 50% more likely to have a child in foster care than their older peers (Swedish, Rothenberg, Fuchs, & Rosenberg,

For any child care setting big or small, one of the primary responsibilities of provider is to establish and maintain an accurate and up to date record keeping system in place, to be able to meet the requirements of government and statutory bodies

Children go through difficult situations beyond their control. Many families have divorced, become widowed, lost jobs, or are abusive or neglectful. Children need to be provided with proper care and attention for them to become productive members of society. They also need to be reassured that situations are beyond their control and that they are not at fault. Many children also encounter psychological needs that require professional help from guidance counselors, psychologists, or social workers. The goal is to provide the children with security and a stable environment where they are properly cared for and are out of harm’s way. There are several groups and agencies that dedicate their

Each state has programs that are set up in dealing with the crisis of child abuse and neglect. Each state across the nation is looking into the different program in which they have and how the programs need to be adjusted so that the needs of the children and families are a better fit. Through the different programs that have been set up, some states have seen some improvements in the programs for child abuse and neglect while other state’s are seeing failures for the different programs. Through the research on the various programs, some states are seeing a decline in how many youth is having issues after becoming adults with going into the corrections system. While other states are not only seeing a rise on how many children are entering the state 's custody due to child abuse and neglect, but the young people are going into the corrections system as adults. With some states seeing a

Is the foster care system adjudicating for the needs of children or pretending to? According to the study conducted by Kristin Turney and Christopher Wilderman, “First, children placed in foster care had more mental and physical health conditions than children not placed in foster care.” (Turney & Wilderman, 2016, p. 5) Children remain shuffled around in the foster care from home to home. Then, the children given behavioral medications to counter act the trauma infused around them. Maybe society developed a “not my problem attitude” and refuses to look at the situation of these children in the foster care system with any depth. However, if the government chooses to abolish child abuse, the provisions for restructuring the entire family needs accessibility for reconstruction. Therefore, no hesitation when it comes to providing for these children and educating their parents or family on ways to cultivate a nurturing homestead. The United States become known for being the country of opportunity and cultivating the life where dreams come true. Yet, children remain confiscate from their family to prevent abuse and move around