The Child Welfare System In The United States

The history of LGBTQ+ rights in the United States is long and complicated. LGBTQ+ identities that are accepted by people outside that community change with time, as some identities establish themselves as commonplace while others are just being introduced to non-LGBTQ+ people. However, rights and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community are nearly always tied to legal recognition. Lawrence v. Texas questions whether or not a Texas statute that bans homosexual sodomy is constitutional. Although LGBTQ+ rights issues are controversial, everyone deserves to be equally protected under law regardless of sexual orientation. Likewise, the Fourteenth Amendment’s

Since the beginning of their existence and in today’s society, the community of LGBT workers are not being treated fairly or getting their fair share that they deserve in the workplace. They are victims to high rates of workplace discrimination. Instead of being judged as workers and what they bring to their jobs and how they work, they are being judged by their sexual preferences and appearance. Being a gay or transgender worker causes them to be mistreated, not judged for the actual workers they are, and most importantly, halts a majority of them in better career and job opportunities. Although under federal law it is illegal to fire someone who is either gay or transgender, they are still either being denied employment or being terminated from their jobs because of their gender category or sexual orientation.

The controversial issue of whether or not Child Protective Services are doing their jobs properly, has grabbed nationwide attention. Child Protective Services is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States whose mission is to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Some of these cases may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse (Wikipedia). The child welfare system is corrupted. The parents and guardians who are accused of abuse are automatically labeled as guilty and will have to prove their innocence; instead of being innocent until proven guilty.

The history of LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is long and complicated. The identities within the LGBTQIA+ community that are accepted have shifted over the years as the majority of the population comes to understand some identities to be commonplace and struggles to understand others. However, the gaining of rights and acceptance by the LGBTQIA+ community has nearly always been tied to legal recognition. Lawrence v. Texas questions whether or not a Texas statute that bans homosexual sodomy is constitutional. Although LGBTQIA+ rights issues are controversial, the statute that convicted John Lawrence and Tyson Garner for having private, consensual gay sex as well as the means of conviction are clearly unconstitutional on several grounds,

Today, in America, a child enters foster care every two minutes (“Statistics on Foster Care”). Thousands of children enter and exit the foster care system each year with some being adopted, some returning to their homes, and others being emancipated and set to be on their own (Statistics on Foster Care”). The foster care system was first put in place to take children out of overcrowded and underfunded orphanages. It was later transformed to help children from abusive, deceased or negligent families be put into a safer, non-permanent home (“Statistics on Foster Care”). With the thousands of kids put into foster care each year, many are sent to loving homes, however, some children are sent to neglectful and abusive homes that can be equal to or worse than their original living conditions. The current foster care system in place in the United States provides insufficient and unsafe care as well as causing short and long-term negative effects on the children placed in their care.

Due to the history of the United States, there are inherent biases within a myriad of institutions. One of these institutions which have policies which negatively affect minorities is the criminal justice system. There is an overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos within prisons. Discrimination and prejudice have morphed throughout time to continue to keep individual without power. There are more African American adults in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850 (Alexander. New Jim Crow.) Through the history of this country, this trend has developed to continue the disfranchisement of minorities. Legally it is acceptable to discriminate against criminals and Africans Americans and Latinos are viewed as criminals (Alexander). “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal” (Alexander). The United States prison population has quintupled in the last 30 years; now having the highest rate of incarceration in the whole world. This is mainly due to the unproportionate incarceration of minorities.

In the United States, there are programs designed to protect children. There are foster care, group homes, and other services for children safety. The Child Protective Services in Alabama has the sole purpose of helping children in cases of neglect and abuse (Child Protective Services). These services include foster care programs where children who are at risk of harm from birth family, or who suffers from mental, emotional, or physical issues. These services provide care to all children who meet the state qualifications and removed from their current home (Introduction of Foster Care). The foster care system is where children who can no

Imagine feeling unsafe wherever you go, fearing that you’re going to be the next victim of a hate crime. Being terrified that your family is going to get a call saying that your body was found lifeless, bloody, and nearly unidentifiable on the side of the road. Gay and trans youth are constantly fearing that they are going to be killed, beaten, , kicked out, or unaccepted for something they cannot control. LGBT+ people are twice as likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other minority. Despite these statistics, the media hardly covers their deaths or beatings. Justice should not be taken away from an individual due to their sexual orientation, preference, or gender because we are all equal, regardless of circumstances.

The second account of a changing stance toward children’s rights was evolution alongside women’s rights. Before this time, women and children were seen as unimportant under the law, whereas a father was given almost total control over all matters regarding his wife and children. If a father was violent or neglectful, society simply turned their shoulder to it. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, laws pertaining to the family system began to change. A new law recognized the equal rights of fathers and mothers with the mother’s rights reigning over the fathers in regards to the children. Also, the legal system began viewing children as important to the future of society, therefore “appropriate objects of the court’s

Many services are available that can positively impact protective factors, however, barriers to these services exist for LGBTQ youth; particularly transgender youth (Mathematica Policy Research, 2014). The barriers to providing services to LGBTQ homeless youth are twofold. First, LGBTQ youth are not always open to accepting services for a variety of reasons. Stigma, discrimination, and victimization are factors that impact the willingness of LGBT homeless youth to utilize services, especially homeless shelters; as is prior rejection at home and school (Hunter, 2008; Whitbeck, Chen, Hoyt, Tyler & Johnson, 2004). It is important to consider that many LGBT homeless youth have previously been in the foster care system and have reported that abuse

In 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act demanded all states assure that all children and foster care are being cared for, kept safe, and found permanency (Jacobs, 2006). This includes all children, but recently there has been an issue with helping the LGBT youth, and giving them the needs that necessary for their safety. The Legal Services for Children and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in 2002 developed a program (Model Standards Project) that would focus on the needs of LGBT youth in foster care (Wilber, 2006). The Model Standards Project is designed to help and bring awareness to the needs that LGBT youth need in the foster care system, and also it was direct response to the immense request for support on

The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) states that there are 427,910 children in the foster care system as of September 30, 2015. This report focuses on number of those that are in foster care system, it shows statistics on race, gender, reason for placement, and age; yet it lacks to include those foster children that are from the LGBT community. Therefore, this paper is going to demonstrate the historical aspect of LBGT youth in foster care, the prevalence of the issues that the foster care system has, current services that are available, and a personal analysis on this topic.

LGBT has been national attention since legalizing same sex marriage throughout the country. Hate crimes, according to Collica & Furst (2012) is “motivated by bias leading to the level of evidence.” Unfortunately, the evidence resulting in lives lost, property damage,

Our nation is one that is constantly changing and accepting new social norms for what we believe is right or wrong. Most notably in 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States declared Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Although same-sex couples now have the privilege of marriage in the United States, LGBT Americans are still far from being treated equally compared to the rest of our country's population. The Civil Rights Act should protect sexual orientation and identity. LGBT citizens struggle to find and keep employment. They face issues obtaining healthcare and acceptable plans. LGBT citizens are commonly denied equal education opportunities. Finally, they do not receive equal use of public accommodations and facilities

Michelle Sumner called me today. She wanted to let us know that the caseworker, and supervisors are aware of the potential risk of the child and they are working closely with DCSO to find the child Maximus.