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. There are many factors for children entering foster care such as high rates of poverty, community violence, unemployment, incarceration, substance abuse, drug abuse or child neglect. They are most likely removed from their homes to avoid them from immediate physical harm.
Children in the foster
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Children can also experience grief, due to the loss of relationship with their natural parents. When a child experiences a change in their environment they are faced with emotional and psychological challenges. Many children show signs of depression, withdrawal and even aggression. (Chipungu, S) Attachment disorders in some children may cause disturbance of sleep, hoarding food, excessive eating, self-stimulation and failure to thrive. One study found that almost 60 percent of young children in foster care were at a high risk for a developmental delay or neurological impairment. (Child Trends) In Social Work practice, help meeting the needs of the children and families in the foster care system is our primary goal. Social Workers play a major role in finding replacement homes, qualified foster parents and coordinating resources for families. Clinicians are under the impression at times that the foster care system is a short-term fix for children but sometimes it become a long-term solution. These challenges are worth studying because it is important to be aware of the needs of young children in foster
Each year 542,000 children nationwide live temporarily with foster parents, while their own parents struggle to overcome an addiction to alcohol, drugs, illness, financial hardship or other difficulties (Mennen, Brensilver, & Trickett, 2010.) The maltreatment they experienced at home, the shock of being separated from their birth parents, and the uncertainty they face as they enter the foster care system leave many children feeling abandoned or lost. Children have many needs, but while in foster care these needs are not always met. A supportive family environment is created for those children whose parents are not able to take the
Many children are suffering due to various complications in their life. Children of all ages end up in the foster care system year after year. Their hardships influence them to feel really depressed and stoic. Many people do not read autobiographies, but the book, Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter teaches people about the complications of a first-hand foster child, how the foster care system is, and book reviews of famous authors and well-known magazines, as well. The story gives hope to people who believe there is no way out anymore, and it influences upon the world’s culture greatly.
This shows that these kids need more care from the system. “Despite the increasing numbers children in foster care and foster parents are mostly invisible in communities and open lack many needed supports and resources.” (1) This shows that even though the numbers of children who enter the foster system are increasing the community can not support them all. This evidence demonstrates that because of the lack of many needed support and resources these kids are not getting the help they need physically and emotionally. If this issue is not resolved more of these kids will have failed
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
Fortunately, more than half of children in the foster care system get reunited with their birth parents or primary caregivers. In addition, more than 2 million children live with grandparents or other relatives because they were not able to return to live with their parents. Approximately half of the children in foster care spend at least 2 years in the system and one in five children remains in the system for 5 years or more. Some children in foster care move between families as many as seven times during their stay.
There are a couple of reasons why they are in fostering agency. Mostly is because of family issues. There are children that cannot feel the love of their parents anymore because of some arguments. However children should not be just abandoned because of that.
One major concern in the foster care system is that the population of foster care students experiences more behavioral and mental health issues than that of the general population. In fact, compared to the one in five general population children, more than half of the population of foster care children experience a behavioral or mental health issue (Ogg, et al., 2015). Using the number initially presented, that would mean that more than 214,000 children in foster care suffer from a behavioral or mental health issue. Continuing the comparisons of foster care population to general population, children in foster care are “twice as likely to have a learning disability” says Turney
In order to do this, a case worker should be given at most 17 families to look after, and more caseworkers should be hired. The social caseworkers should also talk to the foster kids each time they go to the house and make sure they feel safe. If any complaints are made, it should be investigated immediately and the child should be carefully monitored. Another way to reduce abuse within the foster care system, is to have steady consistent training program for case workers. Case workers need to be taught to be stricter and “bring caseloads into compliance.” (Turner) This way, caseworkers will be able to handle the foster families
Foster care systems have lots of flaws and problems. These flaws impact the children severely. Some problems in foster care is abuse. Types of abuse that are inflicted on the children are mental, physical, and sexual. Children also often develop social and learning problems when in the foster system.
Since most of these children have been victims of repeated abuse and neglect, they are often broken- as a result, support services for foster youth should be
Approximately 800,000 children every year come in contact with the foster care system.” (News, ABC) Foster care is the raising or supervision of foster children, as orphans or delinquents, in an institution, group home, or private home, usually arranged through a government or social-service agency that provides remuneration for expenses (dictionary.com) “On September 30, 2004, 518,000 children were in the U.S. foster care system. Most children are placed in foster care temporarily due to parental abuse or neglect.” (News, ABC) Assuming that these numbers rise every`inge year that number had probably doubled because the ABC News article was written in 2006, 11 years
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.
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.