Substance Abuse Case Study

Many of the children who are placed into the care of Child Protective Services are situated into hellish foster homes with people who only care about the money they receive from the government for each child that is placed under their roof; and not for the welfare of the children. Numerous amounts of children that are caught up in the system, especially

Foster care is supposed to be temporary, but for many teenage youth in foster care it is often a permanent solution. Foster care was never meant to raise children into adulthood. Even though foster care is supposed be temporary, most teenage foster youth reach their 18th birthday and become emancipated and end up living their lives without a family. Currently, 40% of foster youth in the system are between the ages of 11 and 21 (Child Welfare 3). Foster care is supposed to be a temporary arrangement in which adults provide care for children whose parents are unable to do so, due to issues within the family such as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or homeless. The earliest documentation of foster care can date back to the Bible, which

60 percent of kids who age out of foster care are dead, homeless, or in jail within a year. There needs to be more focus on the foster care system and child homelessness. Children should not be living on the streets, they need a home and a loving family so that they can grow up and live a stable, independent life.

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.

In 1980, about 500,000 children were in foster care, but a series of successful reforms began with that year 's Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act which dramatically decreased the number of children in foster care. But in the early 1990s, with the advent of crack cocaine and an economic recession numbers went back up. Child welfare advocates said that the foster care system was in need of changes so that children spend less time in foster placements and that America’s child welfare system needed an improvement. Some children in care were separated from their siblings, others transitioned from one foster care placement to another, never knowing where to call home. Too many children were being abused in systems that were supposed to protect them. Instead of being safely reunified with their families or moved quickly into adoptive homes many remained in foster homes or institutions for years.

The purpose of this paper is four-fold: 1) briefly discuss eight peer reviewed research articles outlining the challenges youth face as they age out of the foster care system; 2) identify and describe the common theories which appear throughout the studies, including any similarities or differences; 3) elaborate on which theories best relate to the issues

According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting system, in 2011 there were 104, 236 children waiting to be adopted in the United States (p. 4). Adoption is the legal process an individual or family goes through to gain legal custody of a child in foster care. This child’s parents have lost custody of their child because they have been deemed unfit to raise the child, either because of neglect or abuse. After the child is removed from the horrible situation, he or she is taken by child services and placed in a foster home or with a family member. This system is in place to protect children from further abuse, neglect and trauma. Today, children in foster care are in the system for a very short period of time; there is a

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.

Approximately 26,000 youth age-out of foster care at 18 each year. They lack a parental safety net and face significant challenges in meeting their needs for health care, education, housing, employment and emotional support. One attempt to mitigate their challenges focuses on raising the end age of foster care and continuing to provide support services. Even most any young adults rely on some parental assistance until 26, the U.S. average age of sustainable independence.

Although the federal government controls the funding that will enhance the family relationship by supplying services, this unfortunately does not always rectify the family situation. If the system in place doesn’t work and the parent isn’t ready to have the child returned, this will leave a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. The parent may become frustrated and resort to behaviors such as substance abuse, physical abuse, and verbal abuse jeopardizing the parent-child relationship. As stated in Foster Care at issue, by Debra Bloom, family reunification is less likely to occur when parents are involved in the correctional system. Reporting that 16 % of mothers with children in foster care are arrested within 18 months, with the arrest occurring after the child has been placed in foster care. Suggesting that child welfare look beyond the system when developing potential outcomes.

According to Reilly (2003), about 20,000 youth exit foster care per year in the United States. A "disturbing picture" emerges when researchers follow the individuals from foster care into their lives as independent adults; as many as 40% remain unemployed, many are homeless, and a great deal have health problems (Reilly, 2003, p. 728). Collins, Spencer & Ward (n.d.) confirm, "studies have found high rates of homelessness and incarceration, poor physical and mental health, limited educational attainment, high unemployment, and high rates of pregnancy and substance abuse," (p. 126).

Child abuse protection laws are enforced in federal, state, and local levels to ensure the physical and emotional wellbeing of children in all of the United States. When a child is harmed or their safety is at risk, social workers take physical custody of the child by placing them in foster care until the family of origin can demonstrate that the safety of the child can be guaranteed; a solution intended to be temporary. With few exceptions to the rule, the family of origin is given the opportunity and the resources to reunify with their children. Nevertheless, family members often fail to obtain essential resources and often face significant barriers towards reunification, which delays permanency for children in foster care.

Joanne’s divorce with Jorge Arantes isn’t the adversity, but it is the unofficial justification behind the divorce. Apparently, Jorge’s domestically abusive behaviours caused Joanne and himself to go their separate ways. Joanne simply surmounted this adversity by getting divorced with Jorge to escape his abusive behaviours. This is a successful strategy to solve her adversity, as she no longer experiences the abuse. However, on a sympathetic perspective, this isn’t an entirely successful approach in terms of dealing with Jorge’s abusiveness, as Joanne should have attempted to bring Jorge to a psychological institution or a counsellor. Contrastingly, there’s insufficient reputable sources to authenticate if Joanne didn’t/did attempt this action

Every year more than 23,000 children will age out of the foster care system (Gaille). This can be incredibly straining as most children who age out are still in high school and don't have time for a full-time job, and typically, they have not built up a credit score. Without any source of income or a credit score, it can be nearly impossible for these children to find an apartment or other housing. Some take up couch-hopping, spending nights on various friends’ couches for a few months, but, overall, 1/3 of foster children who age out spend their first night on the streets, and 1 in 5 are homeless within two years of aging out (Stout).

“There are 423,773 children in the U.S. foster care system; 114,556 of these children are