Single Parents Left In Foster Care

may become unable or unwilling to adequately care for their children . Children often times experience a loss of parental availability and as a result, feel lonely and Isolated. More often

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.

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

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.

The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-169) was enacted into law in December 14, 1999. The primary purpose of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 is to reform and expand the Independent Living program. Under this new legislation, named in honor of the late Senator John H. Chafee, the federal allotment for Title IV-E independent living programs has doubled from $70 million per year to $140 million (although currently only appropriated at $105 million). This program is authorized under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act and is designed to help children in foster care prepare to become independent once they transition out of foster care at age 18. In California, the Foster Care Independence Act funds county Independent Living

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 foster care system has been a public policy issue for some time. Advocates say there are six problems that hinder foster care in the U.S. The first problem hindering foster care is that too often group homes are the go-to. Because there are rarely enough foster families, there are more than 56,000 children that live in a group setting. Advocates argue that children who are placed in family settings from the beginning have more success than those that were defaulted to group settings. Group homes are also lacking in sufficient support and do not make financial sense since group homes cost seven to ten times more than if the child was placed with a family.

having a husband. In August of 2013 Telaunda, my close neighbor and friend, put me in contact with a

“More than half a million children are in foster care in the United States today—roughly double the number who were in foster care in the mid-1980s, according to the Child Welfare League of America” (Nakyanzi). Children placed in foster care have been abused and neglected by their loved ones, and instead of helping the kids mend the broken family, foster care services pull them apart by sending the kids to foster home after foster home. Foster care was meant to help and protect children from abuse and neglect that they were receiving at home, yet there are problems with the foster care system. By placing children in family preservation programs instead of foster homes, past studies have shown that the kids end up having a better life because

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.

Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (AFSA) clearly and unequivocally establishes three national goals for children in foster care: safety, permanency, and well-being. ASFA was in part “a response to the fact that more children were entering the foster care system than were exiting.” Five principles underlie the ASFA and apply to professionals working with families through public and private agencies as well as state courts. These principles are:

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.

More than 5,000 minor children of deportees live in foster homes in the country and the number is increasing, so experts urge parents prone to deportation to appoint legal guardians so that children do not enter a system of which it is not known when they will be able to leave. According to a national study conducted by the Applied Research Center (ARC), the number of children in foster care (Foster Care) can reach 15,000 in five years. An example of this is the state of Arizona where temporary households are 29% more likely to have a father in detention centers or deported. Nearly 6 million US citizen children live with at least one family member as undocumented, according to the 2009-2013 Census. Between 2010 and 2012, the Immigration and

They see that it is the wrong thing to do to make the parents separate from their kids and let a complete stranger to take care of them. If they go with their parents to their home country they would go to a country that everything will be new to them and it would be somewhere they don't belong because they already started their life here in the U.S.. Separating immigrant families would make the kids suffer not knowing who is going to take care of them as well as not knowing where their parents are, as well as having the chance of never being able seeing them again. According to The Atlantic “The mental toll and isolation on both parents and children who remain in the U.S. can be devastating, which is often compounded by a reluctance or inability to access mental-health care that might bring some relief.” (Emily Deruy ). The separation of the parents and kids have led to the kids having a mental toll on them since they no longer will see their parents as well as not having the chance to get any type of help to get through this crisis that them and their parents are going through. The deportation of illgela immigrant families leave a mental scar to not only the kids but also the