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The Outlook For Children In Foster Care In The U.S. Is

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The outlook for children in foster care in the U.S. is cause for alarm (Zetlin, MacLeod, & Kimm, 2012). Disruptive school changes, social stigma and isolation, lack of educational supports, disproportionately high rates of special education services, and exclusionary disciplinary actions have led this population to becoming one of the most at risk populations in areas such as physical and emotional health, juvenile delinquencies and dropping out of school (Gallegos & White, 2013). Foster youth experts (FYEs) recognize these risks. As a result, interventions have been developed to alleviate some of the difficulties that inhibit foster youth from reaching their education goal. One such program is the Gaurdian Scholars Program (GSP) at Los …show more content…

According to Phillips et al., 54% of youth who had recently exited foster care had a diagnosed mental health condition. Of those youth, 25% were experiencing PTSD and 20% were experiencing major depression. They also found that 33% of Midwest evaluation study participants had social anxiety, 25% had depression, 60% had PTSD, and 14.5% were taking psychotropic medications (2015). One study found that not only are adolescents in foster care more at risk for chronic illness and mental health issues, but that those with chronic illness reported greater internalizing and externalizing problems, a greater number of delinquent acts and heightened overall delinquency. One key finding was that depression, which is very prevalent among this group, significantly mediated the effects of overall health on delinquency (Woods, Farineau, & Mcwey, 2013).
Legal stuff. Foster youth are at a higher risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system as youth and as adults. There is a disproportionate percentage of foster youth in the juvenile justice system, and more are at deeper levels of the system [arrest, detention, incarceration etc.] (Lee, Courtney, Harachi, & Tajima, 2015). According to Herz, Ryan, and Bilchik, youth who experienced abuse and neglect were more likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system than others. It was found that 29% of youth in child welfare engage in

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