Foster Care Challenges

For many teenagers, their 18th birthday is an exciting time in their lives. They are finally becoming a legal adult, and are free from the rules and restrictions created under their parents. But not all teens feel the same joy about this coming of age. For the hundreds of thousands of children living in foster care in the United States, this new found freedom brings anxiety and fear. Where will they live after turning 18? How will they get the medications they may need? How will they find a job with little to no experience? How will they put themselves through school? Aging out of foster care is a serious issue among America’s youth. Every year, 20,000 children will age out with nowhere to go, being expected to be able to survive on their

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, every year close to 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system and are faced with cold hard realities of adulthood. This does not include the youth who leave the system, which is estimated to be another 30,000. Most adolescents anticipate their eighteenth birthday, as it brings on a new found sense of independence and most importantly a time of celebration. However when foster children reach eighteen, they begin facing the challenges of transitioning to adulthood. These children disproportionately join the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed. These youth are unprepared for the independent life they are forced to take on. The average age that young adults who have never experienced foster care leave their family home for good is 24, and 40% return home again at least once afterwards (Margolin, 2008). With these facts being stated, we yet expect youth who has dealt with rejection after rejection to leave “home” of the state custody permanently and fin for themselves. These youth sometimes have fewer than $250 in cash, only one-third have drivers licenses, and fewer than one-quarter have the basic tools to set up a household, let alone the skills to know what to do with the tools (Krinsky, 2010). Youth exit care with no more than a garbage bag of their belongings, finding themselves alone at the age of eighteen, with little reason to celebrate what is supposed to be an exciting milestone

year (2014). Most of these youth struggle finding permanent housing that can afford, and some

When a child is endangered in one’s own home, child protective services interfere to ensure the safety of the child. In some cases, when conditions at home are unfit regarding the safety of a child, foster placement occurs. Over a half million children within the United States reside in foster care. Out of these children, approximately 20,000 of them continue through their lives within the foster care system until the age of 18. This is referred to “aging out”. Once a child within the foster care system turns 18, they are no longer cared for by state or government agencies and must provide for themselves. For those who do age out of the foster care system, it is often that they find themselves lacking the necessary skills needed to make it on their own, which is often due to the lack of having a stable support system such as a family.

Every year, teenagers in foster care are “aging out” of the social system ill prepared for what lies ahead of them. Currently, there are about 400,000 foster youth in the U.S. and 13,461 (3.4 %) of these youth live in Arizona (The AFCARS report, 2012, p. 1 ). In 2012, it was estimated that 23,000 youth emancipated out of the foster system in the United States (The AFCARS report, 2012, p. 3). These foster youth are become legal adults with little or no family support. Overwhelmed by this life transition, they feel defeated and frightened by

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

Most of the time when children get put into the foster care system their attitudes change and it may seem like they become a whole different person. Through extensive research proof has been found that this occurs and has found ways to help a child transition back into how they were before foster care, but for those that were born into foster care they may find it normal and not revolt because it is all they have ever known. Many kids will end up dropping out of high school after turning sixteen. Some will not drop out but “for those who choose to stay enrolled, the path is not a traditional one, some foster children complete high school after five years or choose [an] alternative like a GED transcription or diploma.” (Ideastream, 2017). There

There is a dramatic increase in the amount of “aged out foster youth” within the state of Delaware. Programs have been developed with this in mind; one that stands above the rest is the Elizabeth Murphy School. Though the Elizabeth Murphy school has developed a program for the youth who have aged out of foster care changes needs to be made to their program regarding the lack follow up care of aged out foster care youth after completing their Independent Living program. The Elizabeth Murphy’s mission statement follows as “It is my desire that this institution shall be a fostering home where children, who would otherwise be neglected, may have a happy childhood; and where they may have the fullest opportunity to develop toward useful and efficient

Youth placed in the foster care system will likely drop out of high school and become unemployed (Barnow, et al., 2015). Osterling and Hines (2006) results suggest that mentoring programs prevention strategies help prevent negative outcomes. Context of Youth in Foster Care Youth in foster care are generally burdened by their life experiences. Youth in foster care are exposed to various types of trauma, higher levels of mental health disorder, and the lack of social development.

Abrams, Laura, and Susanna Curry. "Housing and Social Support for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: State of the Research Literature and Directions for Future Inquiry. ." EBSCO Academic Search. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal Apr2015, Vol. 32 Issue 2, P143-153. 11p. ., Apr. 2015. Web. 20 June 2016. This article is very informative. The author writes about housing and support for youth who have aged out of foster care. Meaning when a child turns eighteen they are just put out on their own. The author works in the social work field and has firsthand experience in the area. The author wants to focus more on the topic of building programs for these youth. The audience would be anyone who has an interest in the foster system. This source

“The mental and emotional challenges, the lack of stability and attachments, and the violence and abuse foster youth experience translate into disproportionately high rates of homelessness, incarceration, unemployment, poor academic achievement and reliance on public assistance. Simply put, foster youth leave care unprepared for self-sufficiency. The figures speak for themselves”

Youth who were removed from their families are not only exposed to being separated from caregivers, but there also can be issues concerning physical and emotional trauma, as well as genetic factors that could alter a person’s mood and behavior (Rutter, 2000). Elevated behavioral issues amongst youth receiving residential care are extremely common and there are multiple studies that identify behavioral difficulties as a primary characteristic (James, Roesch, & Zhang, 2011). The behavioral concerns that this population presents with could hinder them from actually being placed, and interfere with successfully discharging from the group home. It should be noted that being of an older age group during admission into the foster care setting, and having history of juvenile delinquency and behavioral disturbances within the first couple of months of living in a residential setting, automatically correlates with unsuccessful discharges (Piotrkowski & Baker, 2004).

The concept of providing a service like Maximum Potential to assist foster parents with positioning their youth for academic success is vital to our community. The transition to adulthood is often difficult for youth in foster care and those who have aged-out of care. The many challenges seem insurmountable and the costs to society are tremendous. The costs of intervening early and with the right kinds of support those that build and strengthen families, are developmentally appropriate for children and youth, and ensure that their education, employment, and family connections goals are met seem small by comparison. The likelihood of reaching educational milestones is slim and are less likely to be employed, and more likely to rely on public benefit programs. Much can be done to prevent the hardships that aging out of foster care often brings, so that all are “connected by 25” and achieve their educational objectives, establish connections to employment, and have strong family relationships, stable housing, with the goal that every young person in foster care will develop and reach their full potential. These youth can be helped with effective programs that take a comprehensive approach, using a strategic combination of services, job training, and employment, along with alternative education options and skills training. Such programs exist, but there are not enough of them, and they lack funding, even though they demonstrate success and represent significant saving over the

“Emancipated foster youth” or “aged-out youth” are people who aged out of the foster care system (Curry and Laura). Foster care children make up about forty percent of the “1.4 million children that do not live with their parents or grandparents” (Scannapieco et al). Maria Scannapieco and her colleagues, Kelli Connell-Carrick and Kirstin Painter, researched what the challenges that foster children still faced and what were some ways to help make it easier in Texas. Since Texas in 2004 had a diverse range of foster children with over 20,000 in foster care. 4,974 of those children were eligible for this study as they were between 14-20 years of age (Scannapieco et al). They did this by asking foster children, their social workers, and foster parents. “A foster parent said, ‘Youth are not informed of the resources available to them to get money for a GED” (Scannapieco et. al). This is due to lack of communication with foster students and most

There are many youths who are in foster care around the globe and previous research has shown that youths in foster care are subjected to various forms of abuse or neglect and comprise one of the most endangered groups (Zetlin, Weinberg and Kimm, 2004; cited in Benbenishty et al., 2017; Osei, Gorey & Jozefowicz, 2016). In the US and Canada alone, the number of youths in foster care is more than half a million. Given that many of the youths are being placed under foster care following parental neglect, there is need to establish how resulting consequences of neglect affect various aspects of development of the youth under foster care.