Creative Writing: Foster Home

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.

“I thought you were by yourself, because I didn’t see your family. So I got nervous.”

The cops found me after three days. They decided it wasn’t working for me living at that other house so they moved me to different foster home. I’ve been to three different foster homes in the last month and a half, and now I’m on my fourth. I guarantee you I won’t last long here either. I’m already leaving this place without their permission.

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.

“He sounds like a good friend. When he comes to visit maybe we could meet him,” Peanut said.

Abundant amounts of children who have been in and out of foster care are known to have more behavioral problems than children not in the system. Whether we want to believe it or not, there are bad people in this world. Somehow some of these “bad people” become foster parents for the wrong reasons. Some take in foster kids for the extra income. This makes no sense to me considering foster parents make nearly no money. Their average pay is one dollar and five cents and hour (“The Foster Life”). This money and usually the foster parents own money are spent on the child. Foster parents like this are huge contributors to the impacting trauma on foster kids’ lifes. With lousy foster parents comes frequent moves between homes. Researchers have found that frequent moves in foster care can be detrimental to child development. Some caregivers would go as far as neglecting the child they are meant to be protecting. This furthers the consequences, and changes the child’s life for the worse. Due to these circumstances, Medicaid steps in and covers majority of foster kids. Studies have shown that children who are in foster care are twice as likely than non-foster children to form behavioral issues (Becker, Jordan, and Larsen). There are other down sides to foster care other than a irresponsible caregiver. There are hundreds of children who need placement in foster homes. This leads to

Each year in the United States, 24000 youth who were under the state care ago out of the system and get discharged because they have reached the legal age (pathway). The literature review indicated that 12 to 36 percent of this population will be homeless at some point after being discharged from the foster home. Among this population of the subgroup, permanency becomes issues. This study will look at the youth who aged out of the foster-care system and the likeliness of became homeless due to housing outcome, using the case study of aged out foster youth housing experience. The study will explore the causal relationship and other links that may contribute to housing instability and homelessness among young people who exit foster care once they reach the legal age (18-year-old). Some definitions have been created in trying to explain the outcome of housing instability.

Children in foster care face multiple obstacles to their healthy development, including poor physical health, attachment disorders, compromised brain functioning, inadequate social skills, and mental health difficulties. Even in the most successful foster care placements, children will experience a sense of loss associated with unfamiliar home surroundings, a disruption in daily routines, and loss of personal belongings, pets, and family members. How a child experiences loss depends on many factors, including the child's developmental level, the significance of the people separated, whether the separation is temporary or permanent, and the degree of familiarity of the new surroundings.

One of this disadvantages of foster care, is there is an instability in the system. At times social workers are unaware that the placement of the child was ruled in court for the return of the child to their parents. Another disadvantage is that the transitory environment of the foster placements has been a problematic component in the child welfare system (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 316). Some children already experience attachment issues prior to removal from their home. These issues will further advance and creating more problems with the child. Since foster care is a temporary environment for the child, children may adjust to this temporary placement only to be removed and either return home or be placed with another temporary family. These transitions effect the child’s behaviors and emotions. The goal is to provide the child permanency. However, the foster care system is not meant to

"I'm so sorry. You're right, this is all because of my dad and you have

"Sorry, there all for me. I don't share my homemade Sopaipillas with people who ignore me." Cody jokes."so what happened?"

It is all too common for foster kids to be resentful towards their social worker, and I want to make sure that these

We are FosterHope changing the lives of abused children. Under the original name of St. Francis Home for Children we have been providing foster care for over 30 years in the Sacramento Region.

Picture going to a house where eleven or twelve other kids live and you have to share a room with three of those kids. You have no personal space or somewhere to go if you want to be alone. Most likely you didn't get to take any of your personal belongings with you besides your clothes, but why would you want to take any personal belongings? Chances are they'll get stolen by another kid in the home. The foster parents are probably just in it for the money so they don't care if your things get taken. Also picture going to a new school where you know no one. We wonder why foster kids age out and why no one wants to adopt them. It’s because the homes these kids do go to are abusive or don't give these kids enough support. Everyone needs someone. Whether you want to accept it or not. You need someone who you can vent to and someone you can go to with a problem. Kids in the foster care system most likely have no one Don't get me wrong, I know there can be good homes out there for kids but for the most part,the homes for these kids are bad. Foster care laws need to be changed and re enforced.

Mental health care is often not prioritized in United States. Many, though, require the support for their mental health and depend on the government to support them. Children in the Foster care system are one of the many groups that do not receive the care they deserve. Maintaining good mental health is hard for any individual but children in the foster care system have an added burden. Children in the Foster care system have already gone through a traumatizing experience. The traumatizing experience at a time when still developing can have a major impact on their futures, behavioral developments and mental stability. Not properly helping them adjust to the life in this system is neglect. Children placed in foster care have been removed from their home and not able to care for themselves. They depend on others and for the most part the resources they require are not accessible or not in abundance for them.