Foster Care: Annotated Bibliography

The research topic Foster Care is the topic that has been proclaimed. The research question begins with, “What are some of the challenges facing the placement, and adjustment of Foster Care in the Valley?” This study is important because there are several challenges that are difficult for a Foster child facing being in Foster care. It is important in Social work that the Government with a Social worker must be responsible for taking away the child who is either being physical or sexual abused, neglected, or not being taken care of by their primary caregivers. In this type of situation, the child will be put into Foster care. It is key to understand the big challenges each child entering Foster care might have already experienced in the past

The author, Nina Biehal, tells of the treatment in foster care and the need for correction in her article, "Maltreatment in Foster Care: A review of the evidence." The author gives many facts about how the government needs to change the level of care provided for the children. This article is more of a constant reminder of how much still needs to change and the level of care offered to children of abuse today. Unlike the article by authors Kristen Turney and Christopher Wilderman, which bases their article on the number of children in foster care receiving mental health care, Biehal gives evidence to support the problems that result from being in foster care. My essay can use this article to paint a picture of the number of children in detrimental conditions and how foster care developed problems with their system to support my argument.

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.

The foster care system in America negatively affects the lives of adolescents in the system mentally and physically. On any given day there are over 428,000 children in foster care and more than 20,000 kids age out of foster care with no permanent family; therefore, they are being left behind socially, educationally, mentally, and under developed for the real world. Foster care first started in the nineteen hundreds when Charles Loring Brace created the “Children’s Aid Society” in New York. Then later on the 1900’s, social agencies started to supervise and pay the foster children’s sponsors. However, back in foster care’s history and still today, the kids in the system experince abuse and become mentally unstable. One out of five kids

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.

In the John Burton Policy Brief on AB 12 the realities of education for foster youth are highlighted, “The rate at which foster youth complete high school (50 percent) is significantly lower than the rate at which their peers complete high school (70 percent),” (2011, p. 2). This affects chances for higher education including college degrees. This has a significant impact on the community as “aged-out” youth without services have more chance of risk for: homelessness, poverty, unemployment, going to jail, prostitution, substance abuse, early parenthood and untreated health conditions. Samuels and Pryce state that foster care has not always been a positive, developmentally appropriate experience. Youth who are

As of 2016 there were nearly a half million children in the foster care system, with roughly 25,000 “aging-out” each year (Ahmann, 2017). Most adolescents “age out” of the system with no one to mentor or serve as a caring parent figure. Foster youth are in dire need of long-term adult role models to guide them to achieve success. According to Ahmann, 50% of foster youth left “the system” without a high-school degree, as well as with having higher rates of PTSD, and depression (p. 43). Ahmann presented that research has proven teenagers, in general, that have quality relationships from adults able to provide support, do better than those that do not. If research has shown efficacy in supportive adult figures in a teen’s life then one can conclude that foster youth would also benefit. Foster children are at a disadvantage a soon as they enter “the system” so giving them resources proven positive is vital to their future success.

This paper is a summary of what research has been done in the field of foster care. It will focus on foster care social workers, foster care parents, children in foster care, etc. In this work there will also be reference to aspects of adoption and foster care together. This paper will encompass all parties affected by foster care and will ultimately talk about what qualities are expected of social workers who work in foster care.

Over 600,000 children in the United States are in the foster care system. Reasons include, abuse, neglect and abandonment. These children lack nurturing environments and stable homes. Children within the foster care system have more mental, physical and developmental problems. It is imperative to understand the challenges children entering the foster care system are exposed to. The system works best when children are provided nurturing, and short-term care until they can be placed back home safely or a permanent adoptive family. For many children, however, the stay is longer, with 30% remaining in temporary care for over two years. Staying in the system is detrimental to the child’s well-being. The foster care system is an unsuccessful intervention for children that cultivates development, health and mental issues.

According to the 2015 Adoption and foster care Analysis and reporting system (AFCARS), 427,910 children were in the US foster care, making foster care one of the social issues in the USA. The US Department of Health and Human services (HHS) is working on this social issue for past few years, but is still not getting positive results — every year population of Foster care is increasing by 50,000 youths. The statistics about the Foster care system is changing every day. Some things that people don’t know about foster care is that they will not only lose their children—they had lost parental rights and had broken the laws, therefore this can lead to a punishment. Foster care has many laws related to it.. Once the parents had lost the children,

The foster care system has been stretched too thin as the turn of the 21st century rolled around. Higher entrance into the system with new policies and lower staff has given way to a new problem-the highly abusive environment that surrounds the whole system. The mistreatment of the children and their foster families within in the system is now a prevalent issue in the Child Welfare Organization. The long-term effects of the abusive foster care system comes from the mismanagement of the system such as the instability within placement, lack of rights to foster families, ignoring culture heritage and misused policies that create detrimental health for the children in later years. The harsh foster care system under the control of the government in the U.S. can be changed with the addition of reorganization to the agency via more staff and communication and stability through more permanent placements for the children as well as the families. First I will define what I mean by abuse and address the current problems that the foster care system is facing such as instability and mismanagement. Then I will explain what the possible negative long-term effects of entrance into the foster care system. Finally I will discuss what steps could be taken to change this situation such as the creation of stable housing and uniform programs for the foster care system.

The outlook for children in foster care in the U.S. is cause for alarm (Zetlin, MacLeod, & Kimm, 2012). Foster youth, otherwise known as youth who are ward of the court, are one of the most at risk populations in areas such as physical and emotional health, juvenile delinquencies and educational achievement. This is primarily due to factors such as disruptive a history of abuse, school changes, social stigma and isolation, lack of educational supports, disproportionately high rates of special education services, and exclusionary disciplinary actions (Gallegos & White, 2013). Specific to education, foster youth are twice as likely to be suspended and almost four times as likely to be expelled on a national scale (Courtney, Terao, & Bost, 2004). Additionally, approximately 30-50% of children in care qualify for special education compared with 11.5% children not in foster care (Zetlin, MacLeod, & Kimm, 2012).

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).

Placement breakdown of foster children is not a new phenomenon and there have been numerous studies on the topic. The majority of the studies have focused on the impact the foster children’s behaviors have on placement stability (Khoo & Skoog, 2014, & Cox, Cherry, & Orme, 2011). Virginia Department of Social Services’ uses several foster parent pre-services training curriculum, but all of them do not contain a component on professional collaboration. The topic for this study is a “quantitative research on the impact of foster parent pre-services training with a component on professional collaboration compares to those without on foster children’s placement stability”.

The study consisted of 12 parents who foster children ages 2-8 years old. The high levels of conduct problems among children in the foster care system and the added cost to families, society and services, there is a pressing need to support foster parents. Providing foster care to children with increased emotional, behavioral, and medical needs requires not only time, but patience in dealing with the child’s demands. Foster parents often voice they are unprepared to meet demand of children with increased behavioral and emotional needs and adolescents in their care. This situation can result in placement disruption, which further strains foster care resources and has negative impacts on foster children and youth. The incidence of conduct disorder