The Pros And Cons Of The Foster Care System

I will be using this source from pages nine to eleven. It talks about the history of foster care, what it is like, and child welfare. It explains the past when children worked in fields and in the house. Since this was going on around the 1800’s, death was very common among young children and adults. These problems soon led to the foster care system. It was discovered in the late 1800’s. The children traveled to New York to get away from their troubles and to find a better life. Those children were later adopted and given a new life because many believed those parents were not parenting in the right way. They were given a life that would let them strive and become educated. It states that the foster care is something that is growing every day, helping those children in need. Most of the cases mentioned, the children were abused and the foster care was the only way to help them.

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).

From existing research it is proven that children have mental, physical and development issues from growing up in foster homes. These young adolescents and children do not have the proper care in fostering homes as they would in an "all average American home". These kids are open to new traumatizing experiences not usually seen if one had a stable home, and these events causes permanent damage to one 's health state. Also with the simple fact that there are hundreds of children per foster home, all with different needs, still needing the basic necessities to thrive as a human without getting the proper funding calls for malnutrition children. Now these young kids are not just getting the proper care needed but they are also doing poorly in school and with daily challenges in life generally.

“Family is forever.” Many people believe that this quote happens to be true. Everyone wants to believe that their family will always be there for them, and support the decisions that they make. For a normal family is quote would be accurate. On the other hand, there are families that will not be together forever. This is not just a choice that these certain families make, it is forced upon them. At this very moment hundreds of thousands of children around the country are spending quality time with their family. But, at the same exact moment, there are over five hundred thousand children living in the foster care system. These children do not know what it is like to spend quality time with their actual families. Instead, these children are forced to live with complete strangers, and suffer. Government officials say that foster care is for the safety of the children, but many do not share the same views. Foster care does not benefit children because of extensive developmental, social, and economic problems later in their lives.

Foster care is designed to be a temporary living situation until a permanent home is available. Although there are positives of foster care, there can be negatives as well. It is important to be cognizant of both in order to prevent the potential harmful outcomes of foster care, and to make it a more beneficial experience.

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.

The term foster care commonly refers to all out-of-home placements for children who cannot remain with their birth parents. Children may be placed with non-relative foster families, with relatives, in a therapeutic or treatment foster care home, or an institution or a group home. Nearly half of all children in foster care live with non-relative foster families, and about one quarter reside with relatives. More than 800,000 children spent some time in the foster care system in 2001, with approximately 540,000 children in foster

Along with requirements to bring a kid to family, I also researched testimonials/background stories of behind the scenes of the actual care these kids receive. For example, the story of Marcus Fiesel, Holly Schlaack wrote a book titled Invisible Kids. This book defines the foster care system through the eyes of a child. The book starts off with a little boy talking to a social worker about his mother, she threatened the 5 year old boy by saying he would end up in foster care and like the little boy in the closet if he told that her boyfriend was living with her. That refers to a little boy, named Marcus Fiesel, who was taped up and killed by his foster mother. The little boy’s mom was a drug addict and police officers had been called to her house several

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

Foster care can be a horrible experience for a child. Not knowing your parents or not being able to see them again can emotionally mess with their mind. They can be depressed and angry and think that they’re not wanted and that there’s no point in life. This can lead them bouncing from house to house just so they can find somewhere

The foster care system has been stretched too thin as the turn of the 21st century rolled around. Higher entrance into the system with new policies and lower staff has given way to a new problem-the highly abusive environment that surrounds the whole system. The mistreatment of the children and their foster families within in the system is now a prevalent issue in the Child Welfare Organization. The long-term effects of the abusive foster care system comes from the mismanagement of the system such as the instability within placement, lack of rights to foster families, ignoring culture heritage and misused policies that create detrimental health for the children in later years. The harsh foster care system under the control of the government in the U.S. can be changed with the addition of reorganization to the agency via more staff and communication and stability through more permanent placements for the children as well as the families. First I will define what I mean by abuse and address the current problems that the foster care system is facing such as instability and mismanagement. Then I will explain what the possible negative long-term effects of entrance into the foster care system. Finally I will discuss what steps could be taken to change this situation such as the creation of stable housing and uniform programs for the foster care system.

The foster care system is defined as “the raising or supervision of foster children, or orphans or delinquents, in an institution, group home, or private home, usually arranged through a government or social service agency that provide remuneration for expenses” (dictionary.com) The foster system is used when the guardian of the child is not fit to raise the child. Although it is believed that the foster care system is effective, there are many problems with it. When admitted into foster care, it is common to be moved several times. Being forced to move so frequently can lead to fear of being close to someone as well as misbehaving. While the idea of foster care is respectable, when put into action it fails to fulfill the goals and can often

Definition of Foster Care Foster care is a temporary situation in which adults care for a child or children when their birth parents are unable to. Foster care is not for “delinquents” or problem children, it is where children who cannot be taken care of by their birth parents, go to be taken care of. Sometimes the family that has fostered a child goes on to later adopt them, but that is not always the case. There are families to just chose to foster children and open up their home as a space for the children to be safe until the find their forever home, in some situations the child is almost 18 and they just need a safe place to be until that time.

Foster children are raised in unqualified foster homes The main reason for all the situations regarding the foster children have to do with the unqualified foster homes. The condition of an environment a child is raised in effects children in several different ways. According to an article called “The quiet crisis” on the Foster Care 2.0 website, “Foster care historically provides unqualified and under trained volunteers to care for and treat our most vulnerable victims of child abuse during vital times of development. This strategy has failed miserably for more than a century in America and next to nothing has been done to change it. The outcomes for the majority of these traumatized children are appalling. Research has proven over and over

Foster care is a temporary agreement in which an adult provides care for a child that cannot be taken care of by their birth parents. Foster care is usually arranged through the court or a social service agency. The intention for a child in foster care is normally reunification with their birth parents unless adoption is in the child’s best interest. The difference between foster care and adoption is that foster care is temporary while adoption is permanent. There are many other things that are different between foster care and adoption for example, parental rights. While a child is in foster care the child’s birth parents have parental rights over the child and with adoption their new parents have parental rights. In that case foster parents