In a compilation of seven studies, a range of experiments were completed to see what kind of effects prolonged foster care had on a child, effects from adoption had on a child, and a comparison to between the two. Some studies also compared both to the norm population to give a better understanding of the effects. The studies that will be explored also go into finding differences between the children as well as why those differences may have occurred if any existed. It can be hypothesized that those differences are significant, and while. Effected areas ranged from educational outcomes, behaviors, brain activity, and even birth issues later in life, while reasons for those effects ranged from environmental, biological, and in between. A good majority of researchers focus on negative outcomes, while some look for more positive outcomes. Other researchers looked at the likelihood of a child being adopted or staying in prolonged care for varying reasons.
A few of these articles focused on the effects of adoption and foster care on cognitive behavior, emotions, education, and etcetera. One particular article concentrated on the whole of development. In 2011, Lloyd and Barth completed a study on developmental outcomes. The study was based on a comparison between 353 children who spent five years in foster care, and after those five years, returned home from care, were adopted, or stayed in the foster home. The children were less than 13 months old at the beginning of the study,
Many children are suffering due to various complications in their life. Children of all ages end up in the foster care system year after year. Their hardships influence them to feel really depressed and stoic. Many people do not read autobiographies, but the book, Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter teaches people about the complications of a first-hand foster child, how the foster care system is, and book reviews of famous authors and well-known magazines, as well. The story gives hope to people who believe there is no way out anymore, and it influences upon the world’s culture greatly.
There can be cultural, ethical, and legal concerns associated with this theory are somewhat intertwined. The possible assumption that if a child is born poor, of ethnic minority, raised in a violent setting, and neglected by parents – foster care placement may lead to disruption within the child’s chronosystem. This can lead to attachment issues related to trauma, increased fight or flight reactions that may lead to legal issues, academic challenges, and poor social skills. There is a possible ripple effect from life events and socioeconomic status that could lead to changes with behavior in association with the child’s environment. Understanding this theory can help with application in a school setting
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.
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.
Foster Care and Adoption are the most multi-faceted areas of child welfare. Foster care consists of placing children outside of the custody of their parents or legal guardians. This out-of-home placement can be temporary or long-term. Adoption on the other hand, consists of the legal and permanent process that establishes a parent/child relationship between individuals not related biologically (Downs, Moore, & McFadden, 2009). These two areas of child welfare are constantly evolving and the decisions made on a child’s behalf can affect many areas of their biological, spiritual, social, and emotional wellbeing.
Notably, children placed with a foster care family have better outcomes than children who are institutionalized. For instance, research conducted by Bos et al., (2011), shows children sheltered with a foster family are more likely to develop a secure attachment than those placed in institutional care. Also, according to Cashmere and Paxman (2006), children who experience stability in a foster care setting are more likely to have improved academic achievements and cognitive abilities. So, “a stable foster care placement can have positive effects on a vulnerable youth population compared to the alternatives of living in institutional or group care or in a home with neglect or maltreatment” (Lockwood, Friedman, & Christian, p. 310, 2015).
No two children in foster care have the same background. The youths can vary by the age when placed into care, the number of times they were put into care, the quality of the home and family they lived with, and the youths own emotional outlooks (Zlotnick 539). They can develop abandonment issues due to being separated from their biological parents, and stunted emotional growth due to the trauma that foster care puts on a young child. Children need to be raised in a stable and safe environment, and while plenty of foster care parents are loving and nurturing to the child, they may still be affected by being raised by multiple families in a negative way. Every year, over 1 million children experience maltreatment, and about half of these children enter foster care (Greeson et al. 92). Those who enter foster care have usually encountered multiple traumatic events, from either their parents or another caregiver in their lives.
Children in foster care are more likely to have mental, physical, and developmental problems, but are also less likely to receive the health care they need for those problems (Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent
One of this disadvantages of foster care, is there is an instability in the system. At times social workers are unaware that the placement of the child was ruled in court for the return of the child to their parents. Another disadvantage is that the transitory environment of the foster placements has been a problematic component in the child welfare system (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 316). Some children already experience attachment issues prior to removal from their home. These issues will further advance and creating more problems with the child. Since foster care is a temporary environment for the child, children may adjust to this temporary placement only to be removed and either return home or be placed with another temporary family. These transitions effect the child’s behaviors and emotions. The goal is to provide the child permanency. However, the foster care system is not meant to
Everywhere across the world, more and more children are being placed into foster care or a welfare type system. Foster care can benefit children or harm them; the effects of foster care differ for every individual. These types of systems often have a major effect on young children’s physiological state. Children entering in foster care are often malnourished and have untreated health problems. A high percentage of children who are placed in these types of systems have mental health, physical health, and/or developmental issue which often originates while the individuals are still in the custody of the biological parents. Children in foster care should be provided with a healthy and nurturing environment which often provides positive long term results. The age of children in a foster care varies across the world, but it is often seen that majority of these children are young (George para. 1). There are more young children in the system because younger children require more adequate care than older children that are already in the system. Placing these children in welfare systems is supposed to be a healing process for them. Although this is supposed to be a healing process, statistics say these children have a negative experience while being in these systems, but this is not always the case. A number of children in foster care fall sucker to continuous neglect and recurrent abuse with the lack of nurturing and an unstable environment. These same children often have unmet
According to this article, foster care is associated with a lot of serious risk for children that are placed in that environment. Sometimes they are maltreated and must cope with the effects of abuse on their development. So, I noticed in this reading that children in foster care suffer a loss of parent, family, and a familiar environment as they face problems of adaptation. Since, the child welfare system often does not provide treatment for risk foster children and typically responds to problems of adaptation by moving the child to another foster home (Molin, 1988; Folman, 1995).
McGill’s article titled, “Making Health a Priority for Children in Foster Care System,” states that according to the Administration for Children and Families and the United States Department of Health and Human Services there were 415,000 U.S. children in foster care as of September 2014. Furthermore the AAP released a statement declaring that health issues are prevalent and at least one-third of children in foster care have a chronic health issue (McGill, 2016). Deutsch and Fortin present (2015), the nature of various health concerns of children in foster care in, “Physical Health Problems and Barriers to Optimal Health Care among Children in Foster care.” According to Deutsch and Fortin (2015), children in foster care often have a lapse in
My interested in foster care has increased because of the show “The Fosters” and reading the “A chance in the world” by Steve Pemberton. He talks about how he taken away from his mother at a young age, and how to he travel from foster homes and had to deal with cruel and a lot of abuse. But he was able to deal with it and find a home that took care of him. Reading this book and watching a show that has to do with foster care really open my eyes about foster care problems and what kids had to go through. Foster kids are barely getting adopted if you were to stay 12 to 18 months in foster home you’re chance of you leaving the foster home will decrease, and after the 36 to 42 months you’re most likely not being adopted and that’s bad. Because
It is well know that foster Children have a very hard time finding a permanent home and adjusting to their new home. The majority of foster children go through this process of finding a home at a very young age. For most of these children it occurs during very young age which is the most important time for develop mental processes. Therefore foster children are at risk of cognitive and social- emotional development delays. (Jacobson et. al 2013). As mentioned in the article “research has underscored the importance of early, nurturing caregiver environments on brain development, and the importance of positive brain-environment interaction during the first 2 years of life has also been documented by research on foster care and adoption”(Jacobson et. al 2013). The article currently looks at, specifically the issue of foster children’s cognitive development and social- emotional functioning specifically of children ages between 2 to 3 years of age. There has been previous research done on this article. A research done to look at this issue was one done in Romanian were 136 institutionalized children were randomly selected. These children were selected to continue to be institutionalized or placed in foster care. In this study, the foster parents were selected and trained,
There was a marked catch-up in psychological functioning for these children in the first few years after adoption, however, significant problems continued in a substantial minority of the children placed after the age of 6 months (Rutter, Colvert, Kreppner, Beckett, Groothues, Hawkins, O’Connor, Stevens, Sonuga-Burke, 2007a). At age 11 quasi-autistic patterns were seen in over 1 in 10 of the children who experienced profound institutional deprivation (Rutter, Kreppner, Croft, Murin, Colvert, Beckett, Castle, Sonuga-Burke, 2007b).