Essay On Foster Care

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.

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

From existing research it is proven that children have mental, physical and development issues from growing up in foster homes. These young adolescents and children do not have the proper care in fostering homes as they would in an "all average American home". These kids are open to new traumatizing experiences not usually seen if one had a stable home, and these events causes permanent damage to one 's health state. Also with the simple fact that there are hundreds of children per foster home, all with different needs, still needing the basic necessities to thrive as a human without getting the proper funding calls for malnutrition children. Now these young kids are not just getting the proper care needed but they are also doing poorly in school and with daily challenges in life generally.

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.

According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the main goal of foster care is to one day return the children to their families. To this end, they are assigned a caseworker who is responsible for working with the foster family, the child, and their biological family or caregiver, providing them resources and ultimately facilitating the child returning home. (Department of Health and Human Services)

Benefits of the foster care system include: keeping children out of abusive homes; providing stability; and cultivating secure attachments. In general, proponents of the foster care system believe it plays an essential role in providing a safe and stable environment for maltreated, neglected, and abused children (Lockwood, Friedman, & Christian, 2015). In fact, “advocates suggest that family situations that necessitate the use of the foster care system are often very complex and therefore require patience and time. They emphasize that the temporary nature of foster care is the best solution while state agencies work to achieve family reunification or otherwise resolve the family crisis” (Geraldine & Wagner, para 4, 2015).

Many people across the country may not be familiar with what foster care actually is. Foster care is a full- time substitute care of children outside their own home by people other than their biological or adoptive parents (“Foster” par. 1). These parents may have their children taken away from them for many different reasons. There are also

The life for a child in foster care is much different than any other child’s. While growing up children look up to their father or mother. They aspire to be like them and follow in their footsteps. For the children placed in foster care all they see is that their parents could not take care of them. They will not have the memoires of growing up with their family, but instead memories of the different homes they have been transferred too. Foster parents love and care for all of the children that come into their homes, but it’s hard for the children to accept someone who moves in and out of their lives.

Many children will average about five or six years in the system and go through four to seven homes, making it hard for the children to find stability and have a productive life. Generally, when a child moves to a new foster home, it is far away, forcing the child to pretty much start all over from the very beginning. Moving from home to home and not having that stability causes the child to have many emotions, which are often ignored by foster parents. The neglect and maltreatment by a lot of foster parents is out of control, but a lot of social workers say there isn’t much they can do. And when the children age out of the system, there aren’t that many resources for them to be on their own. Once they turn eighteen, the foster parents usually send them out on their own, making it difficult for the children to finish school. An ideal environment for the growth of children does not usually exist anymore and in order to promote continuity in the social, emotional, and developmental growth of children, there has to be people out there willing to listen.

The foster care system is defined as “the raising or supervision of foster children, or orphans or delinquents, in an institution, group home, or private home, usually arranged through a government or social service agency that provide remuneration for expenses” (dictionary.com) The foster system is used when the guardian of the child is not fit to raise the child. Although it is believed that the foster care system is effective, there are many problems with it. When admitted into foster care, it is common to be moved several times. Being forced to move so frequently can lead to fear of being close to someone as well as misbehaving. While the idea of foster care is respectable, when put into action it fails to fulfill the goals and can often

Is the foster system really a good place for any person? Most adolescents would have to deal with other adolescents always starting fights, degrading you, and stealing your belongings. Adolescents in the foster care system turn to crime, have to deal with depression, and deal with having no one to really trust. When I was in the system, I was stabbed, I was shot, and constantly bullied; I hated each day of being in the foster system. I saw everyday as a struggle with no one to turn to. The only peace I had was to read a book and immerse myself into a make believe world. I believe the foster system is ineffective because children in the foster system struggle through their experiences of group homes and foster homes.

Helping these vulnerable children access the services, interaction, and the stability needed for them to grow-up to being successful members of society can be provided with foster placement. If the process is well planned and if the foster parents are given adequate support, the foster care system can be a valuable resource for abused and neglected children (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 321).

The numbers of children in foster care continue to increase annually with minimal attempts to intercept the causes of the escalation. Children are generally placed into foster care as a result of parental abuse or neglect; however, there are many racial inconsistencies circulating general foster care involvement. In the year of 2014, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System reported a total of 415,129 children in the foster care system. Depending on their situation, children in the system are in need of some sort of home, whether that be temporary or permanent. When experiencing this type of shift in their lives, many children tend to act out. Foster care in the United States is a

Children need help to make it easier to speak up and realize a home is dangerous and safely be removed before it goes any farther. Showing a foster child that they can go to someone like a help hotline can do good, yet most of them are afraid to come forward. Foster care is difficult and knowing a child will be safe is not easy, there is not a way to know what will happen until it does and a child has to speak up about it. Until there is a better solution the children will weep in pain in

Foster care is a big part of the child welfare system. When a child is taken into custody, and there are no kinship homes available foster care is the next step. According to the National Adoption Center (NAC), foster care can be defined as a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birthparent is unable to care for them. The online dictionary describes it as “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.” However it is defined, foster care is a well-known by many, especially the over 415,000 children from the ages of 0-18 that are in the foster care system (CCAI).