The Struggles of a Gifted Student in "And Still We Rise," Miles Corwin

“I just knew the phone would ring some day and Joshua would be dead,” stated social worker Ann Kemmeter regarding Joshua DeShaney and the ongoing abuse he endured from his father. Joshua’s father brutally and repeatedly abused his four-year-old son Joshua (Wichenbach). The State of Wisconsin was aware of this abuse, but still did nothing to intervene and stop the mistreatment of this child (Wichenbach). The State’s inaction led to the Supreme Court case DeShaney v. Winnebago Department of Social Services, in which Joshua’s mother, Melody, sued the Winnebago Department of Social Services claiming, “the social worker deprived Joshua of his liberty without due process of law” (Alexander). In order to fully understand the DeShaney case, one must conduct thorough background research, delve into the court case itself, and analyze the impact the case has yet today.

Many children prefer to live with their parents, so they always think the foster care system is the bad guy. Living with strangers is bad enough for them but to add on some foster homes are abusive. Foster Care goes all the way back to the Old Testament, which the churches require widows to care for orphaned children (“Care” 1). It would be a miracle that someone would treat the children like their own. Many foster homes are abusive just like the one Ashley had. Year after year, the increase of foster families is due to drugs, abuse, economy, financial, and psychological problems (“Care” 1). In this society, there are many problems that lead children to have the feeling of worthlessness. It is really sad how many children are in families of irresponsible parents. Child abuse occurs when a parent or caretaker physically, emotionally, or sexually mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, sexual harm, exploitation, or imminent risk (“Care” 1). It is disgusting how people would do this stuff to kids. These people have no heart and should be punished. Not everyone gets punished, but when the time comes, they will get what they deserve. Ashley’s book shows how her difficulties in foster homes were troubling. Many professional readers enjoy reading about her hard times.

The article is stimulating to know that others states take action quickly to shield children from further abuse in their homes. The Indiana's Child Protective Services (CPS), offers a service to prevent out-home placement, and assistance to rejoin children with their families in situations where the children can return home (Indiana, 2015). This service is good, if the parents are able to resume the responsibility of taking care of their children.

The main idea of this book is to show everyone what child abuse and what living in different foster homes is like because most of the time people don’t usually talk about this topic due to sensitivity and this book helped everyone realize in a subtle way. I learned that this story isn’t just imagined, but it does indeed happen in real life. Children do live in households where the mother or father or whoever treats them unfair and that is what opened up my eyes.

Children that are living with their parents might be in an unstable home and are better off in a foster home. The article, “Nonprofit program fosters "can do" attitude for foster kids in high school,” demonstrates how some people are better off in a foster home than with their family. It says, “Robinson was the youngest child by 27 years. Even though she grew up with both her parents in the Central District of Seattle, hers was hardly an ideal childhood. Her mother, who has been clean for several months, struggled with alcoholism, and the house they lived in was a classic hoarder’s home, which Robinson called ‘unlivable’,” (Staff, 2015). Although some kids might be living in an unstable household the foster system isn’t better because kids are going through the same thing in foster homes. The government doesn’t regulate the foster system so the kids are in lack of food and supplies in a foster home. They are struggling to survive in foster homes too. Foster homes need to be better regulated in order for it to be a better environment for these kids. They might be getting abused in some type of way in their household and shouldn’t live there anymore. In the article, “California teen's long road from foster care to Olympic pentathlon dreams,” Staff is showing how much pain and abuse kids endure when they are at home. It states,

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.

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.

“ The major role of the Child Welfare System in the twenty- first century is to insure the safety, permanency, and well being of

Establishing the relationship between achievements and struggles, Francis Bacon once said, “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” In this instance, the relationship is revealed through Miles Corwin’s narrative, And Still We Rise, in which he spends an entire school year with twelve high school students, who not only seek an alternative future away from their current lifestyle, but also attempt to break stereotypical labels. The narrative is set in South-Central Los Angeles, known for its constant gang violence and impoverished neighborhood with limited opportunities for the residents. Specifically, Corwin concentrates on the local Crenshaw high school and its gifted student program, which is portrayed as

When children come into the custody of DCFS and are placed into Foster Care they are scared, confused, lonely, and usually conditioned not to tell when they are being mistreated. Most of the children that come into “the system” have learned to accept abuse as normal or natural and are unaware that they are even being mistreated. Therefore, when they are placed in homes where this is occurring it is not in their nature to speak up. Once they are removed from their parents, they are solely reliant on the department for their protection and it is the department’s responsibility to provide that protection which has not always been fulfilled by the department or the foster care agencies. The department should be making reasonable efforts to provide proper services

Many children can have social problems, identity problems, and many other difficulties. Many studies have been observing that the established structure of foster care can diminish the status of a foster child, and the view of the foster child has been stereotyped bringing many consequences and negative effects on the child. Throughout being in foster care, adolescents experienced low self-esteem and depression. The long term consequences of these conditions are slurred self-identity, social isolation, lack of a true family connection, low self-confidence, and lack of future goals. Also, they are more likely to separate themselves and experience depression and many other disorders, asking themselves what did they do wrong for their biological parents to leave them, or why doesn’t anyone truly want to take care and love them. If Jeannette and the other siblings would have been sent to foster care, Lori, Jeannette, and Brian would not have been motivated to move out on their own and pursue their dreams. If they would have been sent to foster care they also would not have each other, and as one can see, the Walls children were close to each other, often relying on one another for

In A Foster Child of the Opioid Epidemic, written by Lisa Marie Basile, we read about her difficult childhood and upbringing. At the beginning of the story, Basile is facing her first day at her second foster home, after being separated from her 10 year old brother. Taken away from not only her brother but her parents too, who were opioid users, Basile is challenged with new life in the foster care system. Basile, throughout the story, focuses on how her life is affected and how growing up with different people in her life has impacted her. As Basile gets older, she recognizes how grateful she is for the compassion showed to her from the strangers who entered into her life, such as her teachers and her different foster parents and argues that

Riley explains that to cope with this tragedy foster children may act out in classrooms, because they are unable to express what they are truly feeling (Hasencez). A close friend of mine was removed from her home at the age of nine due to her parents’ drug addiction and was placed into the foster care system. According to her, Riley’s

Child welfare agencies nation wide received approximately 2.8 million reports of child abuse or neglect in 2000. From those reports, the Urban Institute determined that states spent at least 20 billion dollars on child welfare services that year alone. Tropman (1984) debated the benefits and limitations concerning a licenseship that a parent would need to acquire before having children. With these astonishing statistics, should more laws or regulations similar to a parent’s licenseship be implicated by the government to cure this epidemic?

From the beatings her mother gave her to going AWOL after hating foster homes, Olivia’s life was far from perfect. When Olivia was a teenager she was a ward of the county, hopping from one group home to another. Other girls would steal her clothes and chase her around with a hot iron. She went AWOL shortly after that, living in her own apartment, having a crazy work schedule, that was just her life. Whenever she had financial issues she would return to her social worker and yet again be put into a foster home. One time she went AWOL though and couldn’t afford rent anymore, she