Mississippi's Foster Care System

When Jennings was just a kid at the age of 8 years old he was put into his first foster home. He wasn’t told anything by anyone, but his mom promised that she would “be right back”. Jennings didn’t know where he was or what to do so when he didn’t follow one of the many commands that the foster home had established, he was punished, he was abused. Jennings was waiting for his mom to pick him up that same day but she didn’t show up. He was waiting for her everyday for months until she was finally there to pick him up. The foster system didn’t care to even look for a new home for him or the other kids, they didn’t care. They didn’t even try to reconnect Jennings or any of the other kids with their families, the government

Every year in the United States, hundreds of children and adolescents are taken from their parents and primary caregivers and placed in out-of-home care situations due to issues in their homes and family lives which contribute to unsafe living conditions. These children and adolescents often face many health, behavioral, developmental, and psychological issues.

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.

When an adolescent comes into for therapy there is really never an easy task of finding out what is going on. Adolescent that come in who are part of the foster care system will add another degree of challenges. Children and adolescents that are put into the foster care system are not there because they choose to be, they are there due to some event in their life putting them there.

When children come into the custody of DCFS and are placed into Foster Care they are scared, confused, lonely, and usually conditioned not to tell when they are being mistreated. Most of the children that come into “the system” have learned to accept abuse as normal or natural and are unaware that they are even being mistreated. Therefore, when they are placed in homes where this is occurring it is not in their nature to speak up. Once they are removed from their parents, they are solely reliant on the department for their protection and it is the department’s responsibility to provide that protection which has not always been fulfilled by the department or the foster care agencies. The department should be making reasonable efforts to provide proper services

Donella H. Meadows defines a system as a “set of elements or parts that is coherently organized and interconnected in a pattern or structure that produces a characteristic set of behaviors” (Meadows, 2014, p. 188). The federal definition of foster care is a “24-hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents or guardians and for whom the State agency has placement and care responsibility” (Johnson, 2004). Therapeutic foster care is a subsystem of the suprasystem which is foster care. The Quality Foster Care Services Act defines therapeutic foster care as foster care which is highly effective in placing children with serious medical, psychological, emotional, and social needs into a home in which foster parents are specially trained to address the needs and challenges of the children (U.S. Senators Baldwin and Portman Lead Effort to Improve Foster Care Services for America’s Most Vulnerable Youth, 2014).

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.

The U.S foster care system is corrupt and the children trapped in it face the worst of it. The goal of foster care is to eventually reunite children with their parents or find the child a safe, loving home. Instead, foster kids face the harsh reality of abuse, mental illness, and temporary homes. The children and ripped from the homes they’ve known their entire lives because their parents struggle financially. The system would rather pay strangers to the child to take care of him/her rather than helping the parents of the child. This case would be called “neglect” when in reality most parents were doing all they could to take care of their children. The children’s new foster parents are paid hundreds of dollars per month. Often times, the money doesn’t go to the child and he/she is left truly neglected. The system is broken because children are taken from their homes for the wrong reasons and put into unsafe environments that will have a traumatic effect on the rest of their lives.

Nationwide, nearly 397,122 children live in foster care. In California, which has the largest foster care population than any other state, the number of foster youth has tripled in the last 20 years (Source: AFCARS Report 2013) due to certain circumstance such as; physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse or caretaker inability. Welfare workers turn over at continuing high rates, and many are underpaid, poorly trained, overworked and demoralized. Foster Care system welfare lacks providing services to prepare older youths in foster care in independent living are lacking. Many youths that exited the system discuss their experience such as, being let down, lack of role models, poor training programs, and lack of basic living skills. Foster

Ronald Kessler, an American journalist, author of the article "Effects of Enhanced Foster Care on the Long-term Physical and Mental Health of Foster Care Alumni" claims, ¨child maltreatment is a significant risk factor for adult mental disorders and physical illnesses¨ (2). Child maltreatment is not only a risk factor for children, but it is also the number one reason children are put into foster care services today. Foster care is when a child is relocated to another home because of a crisis within the biological family. The child or children may be taken out of the adults care for reasons such as abuse, neglect, or abandonment of a child, as well as if the guardian has a personal problem, much like drug addiction. One of the issues grabbing

While looking at the dangers and environment in a child’s home, advocates such as employees of the Department of Family and Protective Services of the State of Texas, have the moral obligation to take into consideration safety of children shelters and foster homes. Morally, advocates for the children should also take into consideration the psychological trauma that the child may or may not experience through being taken away from family and being placed, possibly multiple times, at new places away from everything they know.

On any given day there are 428,000 children in the foster care system (“Foster Care.”). Every single child in the foster care system is in the state’s custody and should be protected by the states. Yet, this year in Kansas, the two foster care services providers has admitted to not knowing where some of the children are. Of the seven thousand children in Kansas foster care (The Kansas City editorial staff) KVC Kansas, which is in charge of the eastern region of the state, has owned up to not knowing the whereabouts of thirty-eight children (The Kansas City editorial staff). While the service in charge of the western portion of the state, Saint Francis Community Services, also does not know the whereabouts of thirty-six children. In total that is seventy foster children who are missing (The Kansas City editorial staff). No one knows if the children ran away, if they were abducted or if they are still alive. With children being the United States future, some would think that they would be held in high regard, but with so many uncared for children in foster care they are not. The American Foster Care System is a broken system because of the children’s mental and physical health, how the children leave the system and how this system is controlled.

An adult’s psychological development depends on one’s childhood experiences with adults and their capability of providing nurturance, protection, trust, and security to the developing child. Children with current and previous ties to the foster care system were found to have behavioral, emotional, and social well-being issues. The United States averages more than 400,000 children in foster care during the year. Amongst these 400,000 children, as many as 50% have developmental disorders or psychiatric diagnoses (Hutchinson). Children placed within the foster care system are more likely to be found to have mental health issues due to the inadequacy

In an article published in the New York Times July 7, titled “Suit to Accuse New York City and State of Keeping Children in Foster Care Too Long” author Vivian Lee discuses a suit against New York filed by the city public advocate’s office. The suit accuses the system of delays, mismanagement, and incompetence, causing harm to children by keeping them in the system for months and years longer than necessary.

For years there have been an excessive number of children in and out of the foster system. Quite a few children have succeeded; however, other children have not. A few children have looked to drugs, alcohol and violence to cope with what they have gone through and/or what they are currently going through. A number of those children ended up in a juvenile detention center or prison for breaking the law. Foster parents are desperately needed to help these children succeed in life and make it through this terrible time.