When You’Re At A Family Gathering, Do You Sometimes Feel

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.

The word family has changed so much in the past century. A family back in the 1950’s was probably considered a husband, wife, and one or more children. Times have changed and families have become much different. The Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others book defines family as a, “Unit made up of any number of persons who live in relationship with one another over time in a common living space who are usually, but not always, united by marriage and kinship” (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 243). Families can be broken up into five different types. The first is the traditional family, which includes a mother, father, and their biological children. Next, is the blended family which includes

“ In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years” (Children’s Rights). There are simply not enough people looking to adopt or to foster individually. Many kids, especially teens, are immediately placed in group homes. These homes do not provide the same stability and support that a foster (or adoptive) family might. Group homes are actually 7 to 10 times more expensive per child than placement with a family. Not only do many children spend years waiting to be adopted, in many cases after a certain age children will be subjected to “aging out of the system.” While there are different laws in each state, for the most part this means that after a certain cut off the state no longer actively looks for adoptive families and instead waits for the child to turn 18 and therefore, become legally independent. According to TheForgottenInitiative.org, more than 30% of homeless people in the US were previously in Foster Care. An estimated more than 40% of youth who age out of the foster system won’t complete high school. Very few teens are emotionally ready to be completely independent at 17 or 18, regardless of family support. The foster system is simply not designed to fully take care of children, and it certainly

Miraculously in 2010 Florida acknowledged that the adoption ban was unconstitutional (eQuality, 2005). In previous years homosexuals interested in the adoption process would use foster care to acquire the same nurturing family that heterosexuals had acquired thus, circumventing the system. The unconstitutional ban had the ability to deter potential same sex adoptive parents because they feared automatic exclusion. With the increased pressure from the gay community to allow same sex adoptions many adoption agencies are becoming more accommodating to homosexuals. However, the obstacles that same sex couples encounter tend to minimize the whole family structure and make the family unit vulnerable (Brown, Smalling, Groza, & Ryan, 2009).

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.

In an impeccable world, all children would be loved and nurtured and live in a cozy home with a stable family. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. In the United States “over 400,000 American children are in foster care, taken away when their families are in crisis and can’t take care of them” (“Statistics on Foster Care”). Out of all those children in the foster care system about “114,556 of these children are available for adoption”, which means the biological parents’ rights have been legally terminated through the court system (“Adoption Statistics: National Adoption Month”). That is an immense number of children who end up not being able to have the same bond and love that a biological child would receive from their own parents. The foster care system in Arizona is in crisis, and “government, agencies, organization, and individuals need to collaborate and work together to help the over 17,000 children in need of a loving permanent home” (“Arizona Foster Care System- Child Crisis Center”). Typically, children are placed in foster care as a result of the abuse (physically, emotionally and/or sexually), neglect (pay no attention or too little attention to) or abandonment; on the other hand, the children also enter the system by reason of the behavioral issues or by cause of the biological parent subsequently being incarcerated or ill. Fostering a child can be over and above difficult than having a biological child; however, it is considerably more rewarding when a

In a perfect world, all children would be loved and nurtured and live in a cozy home with a stable family. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. In the United States “over 400,000 American children are in foster care, taken away when their families are in crisis and can’t take care of them” (“Statistics on Foster Care”). Out of all those children in the foster care system about “114,556 of these children are available for adoption”, which means the biological parents’ rights have been legally terminated through the court system (“Adoption Statistics: National Adoption Month”). That is an immense number of children who do not get to have the same bond and love that a biological child would get from their own parents. The foster care

To the thousands of children in foster care, adoption means being part of a family. Adoption signifies a chance to be loved, wanted, and cared for properly. Every year thousands of children enter the foster care system. In the year 2010 alone, 245,375 children entered foster care, of that number over 61,000 were black. An astounding 30,812 black children were waiting for adoption in 2010 (AFCARS). With so many children needing homes, it would seem their adoption would be open to any and all loving families, yet this is not the necessarily the case. Transracial adoption, which traditionally alludes to black children placed with white families, is riddled with difficulties. While transracial adoption can be a successful solution, many

Popcak appeals to logos by using many statistics in his article. He uses statistics from a survey of Family Growth and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. He points out about 120,000 children in the United States have been waiting to be adopted each year. However, about half of them are adopted by family members (Popcak, 2013). This means that there are about 60,000 children are still waiting to be adopted by other individuals that are not related to them. He also uses a statistic that there is among 1.2 to 2.7 married couples waiting for a child. Although, it is not a necessity to expand the adoption process to homosexual couples (Popcak, 2013).

Since the 1990’s approximately 8-10 million children in the US alone are raised in a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) household. Same-Sex Adoption is controversial because many people throughout the world are against LGBT adoption; but when faced with the number of kids who pray everyday for someone out there wanting to be the parent of a foster child, it is difficult to understand why the topic of gay adoption is controversial. Yes, there can be a bad outcome but there can also be a very good outcome of these kinds of adoptions. The LGBT Adoption situation can be fixed by allowing any adult or parent to adopt a child if they have the right living environment or the knowledge and skills that it takes to raise a kid in the proper way. But social workers have reservations on considering gay adoptive parents because they are fearful of how the parents will treat and raise the children and how they will grow up feeling. People who oppose same sex marriage, including U.S. elected officials, have argued that a child raised by a LGBT parent will need additional emotional support or will face social challenges compared to children with heterosexual parents (Borreli). Although many people believe that LGBT parents shouldn’t be allowed to adopt because it affects the child, LGBT parents should be allowed to adopt because many kids need a place to call home or someone they can call family, they need someone in a similar situation that they can talk

The few times we did get to spend time together as a family, it wouldn’t feel like it. I knew all the relationships between my family members. I was the one who they told everything to but ask me not to tell anyone. This was a lot of weight on my shoulders because I began caring for everyone else’s relationships; especially my mom’s because my brother and sister would argue

However, there is no longer a need to procreate for the sole purpose of having a biological child. There are plenty of families who will pass on their biological genes but there is a shortage of families willing to adopt a child. As of September 2003, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) reported approximately 400,540 children in foster care in the U.S. alone. It is senseless to refuse a willing family the right to adoption solely based on sexual orientation and a preconceived idea about what a family should be. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), ‘‘Research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish’’ (American Psychological Association). This is a perfect example of how homosexual orientation child nurturing is equivalent to heterosexual orientation child nurturing. Therefore, the sexual orientation is irrelevant if both parents have passed all qualifications to be considered a proper parent. A child’s biggest hope is to find a family to love, nurture, and build a foundation on which they can ‘flourish.’ Why take away that hope for a child in foster care based on ones beliefs of

     Adoption is metamorphosing into a radical new process that is both sweeping the nation and changing it. But this process is not an easy one, there are many steps to go through. Through research it is made a lot easier. Adoption is a also a highly visible example of a social institution that has benefits from and been reshaped by both the Internet and the exponential growth of alternative lifestyles, from single to transracial to gay. It is accelerating our transformation into a more multicultural society; even as it helps redefine out understanding of “family.” The process includes three main steps including a type of adoption, the techniques for location a baby for adoption, arranging

My family has always been very close. We spend a great deal of time together and express our deep feelings and emotions with one another. If one of us has an issue, every member of the family is aware of it and shares the burden. When a person in the family does not share significant information about one’s life with the rest of the members, there is hurt feelings. Also, if a member cannot attend a family event, the family feels disappointed and misses the absent member. It is evident that connectedness is held as extremely valuable.

A family can be defined in many ways, but the common denominator in all is the love and fulfillment one gets by being surrounded by family members. Families can sometimes be at odds with each other, but the strain of this type of relationship usually creates an upsetting feeling to the people involved. People want others to rely on, talk to, do things with, share, love, embrace, and be part of. No matter what the family dynamic is the qualities the word family has will remain the same, as time goes by, and life evolves once again for every person living their