South Carolina Appleseed Case Analysis

“I just knew the phone would ring some day and Joshua would be dead,” stated social worker Ann Kemmeter regarding Joshua DeShaney and the ongoing abuse he endured from his father. Joshua’s father brutally and repeatedly abused his four-year-old son Joshua (Wichenbach). The State of Wisconsin was aware of this abuse, but still did nothing to intervene and stop the mistreatment of this child (Wichenbach). The State’s inaction led to the Supreme Court case DeShaney v. Winnebago Department of Social Services, in which Joshua’s mother, Melody, sued the Winnebago Department of Social Services claiming, “the social worker deprived Joshua of his liberty without due process of law” (Alexander). In order to fully understand the DeShaney case, one must conduct thorough background research, delve into the court case itself, and analyze the impact the case has yet today.

The Foster Care System with the kids who are in it is a massive social issue that America is facing today. There are more than 640,000 foster children in the United States every year. There are 23,000 foster children living in group homes at one time. There are 32,000 who live in institutions, and twenty-seven states do not meet federal abuse and neglect standards. (Attention) Personally, I am a foster sister, because my family currently fosters. Therefore, we see the issues and needs of fostering, daily. (Rapport and Credibility) This speech will discuss the importance of the nature of foster care, the catastrophic problems of foster care, and the proposed solution for the foster care system in America. (Preview)

Exceptional Child Center alleged that by failing to alter the reimbursement rates for the in home care, the Idaho’s department of health violated the state Equal access provision. The district court decided that in order to satisfy the requirement of the equal access provision, the state must take into account the costs of care when setting reimbursement rates. After the plaintiff filed a complaint, the Idaho district court granted summary judgement in favor of the plaintiff, stating that the department of Health and

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 past few decades there has be an increasing amount of children placed in the foster care system. With the amount of rising teen pregnancies and maternal drug abuse means increasing numbers of infants abandoned at birth. There have been many cases of child abuse or neglect that have been on the rise. State and local agencies are unable to suitably supervise foster homes or arrange adoptions. Statistics show that many children will spend most of their childhood and teenage years in the foster care system, which has shown to leave emotional scars on the child. Today, Child Welfare groups are looking for federal funding and legislation to increase programs and services aimed at keeping families together.

The chosen population of interest for the course project is children who are placed in foster care. Children in foster care are considered vulnerable due to a variety of reasons for which they are taken away from home and placed in the child welfare system. Foster care children are often removed from their home due to physical abuse, drug exposure, or in some cases due to parental inability to fulfill the child basic necessities. Foster care children are at greater risk of mental, health, and behavioral problems (Lovie, Beadnell, & Pecora, 2015). Case management is an essential part of the care plan to improve the outcomes of the population of interest. Foster care children face additional problems when the health care system is inadequate.

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

For many years, foster care has been a difficult subject throughout our society. When the idea of foster care comes to mind, many immediately think of screaming children, distressed parenting and uphill battles. Before foster care existed in the United States, orphaned children were sent to orphanages. While these institutions were often the best option available to children with nowhere else to go, they often lacked the necessary staff, structure and resources to adequately care for all of the children in need. As a result, some orphanages were overcrowded, and children lived in poor conditions. Some children even died due to the lack of sufficient care (Adoptions, 2017). In order to give children better living situations, the United

“Number in foster care on September 30, 2015, of the Fy was...427,910” (“The AFCARS report”). The federal government spends $4.4 billion each year on the Foster care system for all youths so, as the youth's population in foster care is increasing. It is affecting the budget of a federal government so, that's why foster care became the social issue. The children in foster care were about equally split between Male (52%) and Female (48%). Most of the foster children that were in care September 2015 lived with nonrelative foster families (45%), followed by relative foster home (30%). The remaining children were placed in an institution (8%), a group home (6%), or a pre-adoptive home (4%). Some were on a trial home visit with their parents (5%). One percent were the runaway, and 1% were in supervised independent living. “Time in care (Months)...1-5 months...22%...95,999” (“The AFCARS report”). The more long children live in foster care, and the more federal government has to spend on foster care so — this can cause money to go over the budget of HHS and affect US economy. If parents or anyone else didn’t stop abusing the children, the day will come when all parents are in jail, and all children are in foster

The lawsuit transpired against Department of Human Services in Mississippi because the system deserted the children. In this case, a young girl named Olivia Y was abused by her mother and the foster home. While taking her out the home at the age of three, the system continually neglected her. Department of Family Children Service failed to present Olivia with adequate medical and health support. “This case is alleged that Mississippi’s foster care system was failing adequately to protect children in its custody and provide necessary services in violation of their federal constitutional rights (www.mdhs.state.ms/olivia-y-lawsuit/”).

Violations of the agreement will lead to an internal staffing to consider the needs of the foster children remaining in your foster home.”

The department is using privatization to address longstanding foster care issues, such as the concern for children’s safety in their foster placements (Texas State Legislature 2011). However, Texas’ foster care privatization is not maximizing its effectiveness—in terms of addressing the issues that the bill sought to resolve—due to a lack of investment in contract monitoring and not factoring in contract monitoring costs. Furthermore, DFPS is currently transitioning from its previous single-source, contracting system to a new multi-source system, Foster Care Redesign (Sunset Advisory Commission 2014, 46). Since there is no set timeline for when the transition is supposed to be complete, the challenge is two-fold: ensuring that children in the process of transitioning from one system to another are not overlooked during the transition and ensuring that contract monitoring of both of these systems occurs simultaneously (Sunset Advisory Commission 2014,

Due to the lack of adequate training for Children’s Division workers, in addition to a lack of qualified workers to complete paperwork in a timely manner and the legal structure being hard to follow in all 50 states, the CAPTA bill received fast support (40 Years, 2014). It was recognized that in society there were many cases of child abuse and neglect happening and yet these cases seemed to be slipping through the cracks (40 Years, 2014). The large amount of support given was due to the media attention and general humanity. In life it is common for people to ignore issues that light has not been shined on, however, when forced to recognize a problem one would hope that individuals in power would act quickly; just as was done with the passing

As an intake (investigation) worker in New Jersey’s child protection agency I always think about the act of placing children in foster care. Placing a child in foster care is one of the tasks under my job description that at times seems robotic and disconnecting. When I contemplate the impact that placement has on my children I become emotional. Granted every child has the right to a safe environment free from abuse or neglect and when a caregiver causes serious injury to a child and there are no relatives or fit of kin that can ensure protection of the children then placement in foster care is inevitable. My major concern is the numerous placements a child has to endure during their history with the division. As an adult, when I was involuntarily identified to relocate offices I was very frustrated as I was use to my structured routine and never expressed interests in relocating. Therefore I cannot begin to imagine how our children feel when they can be uprooted at any point in time because someone makes a decision on their behalf. There needs to be a major reform in the manner in which children are placed but this cannot be done with the assistance from the community. Foster parents need to be more dedicated and

In the article “Should More Be Done to Protect Children”, Judith W. Meltzer, deputy director for the Center for Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C., clarifies that “New Jersey spent around one billion dollars between 2003 and 2008 to hire and train social workers, updating its computer tracking system, recruiting more foster parents and expanding services for families” (Lyons 3). Indeed, Meltzer is determined to improve the child welfare systems in her area. In similarity, Mark Testa, co-director of the University of Illinois’ Children and Family Research Center, concluded the same compromise as Judith W. Meltzer. For example, Testa writes in the article “Will Recent Changes Make At-Risk Children Safer?” that “Illinois has been transformed