A child can be placed into the foster system as young as birth and as old as 16. There is no real cut off when it comes to age. Given that, the average age for a child to be placed into the foster system is 9 years-old (Santana). This possibly means that because these children are getting older they are understanding more, and they are getting harder to care for so parents are either getting caught, or they are leaving their children. Sophia and Princess Calizaire were put into the foster system at the age of 7 and 4 when they were seen wandering the streets of Southern Florida looking for their mother who’d left them at a motel (Pozo). The sisters lived with countless families, and during some of their stays, they experienced cruel and …show more content…
While at another house, Sophia, the oldest, was beat by a belt, then a hanger, and finally a heel, all the while her younger sister was standing outside the door, listening to everything (Pozo). This goes to show that the system is not doing enough to help keep children protected, and as it has been said before these kids are still very young when they enter the system. They are growing into young adults, and soon adults, but the abuse hinders them from growing into functioning citizens. Although age may not seem like a big factor with children in the system, it actually is a huge factor due to their childhood shapes their adulthood. If they are getting abused and learning bad values as a child, it is going to reflect badly on them when they are older and doing, more or less, the same things their foster parents did to them. With more than 670,00 children in the foster system every year, it is time people start really understanding and become more informed on what goes on in the system (Santana). If more people become informed these young children are given the chance to grow into a responsible young adult, and then into a kind-hearted, humble
Chronic abuse and neglect is a huge part of the foster care system. According to the Children's Rights website, “Nearly 700,000 abused and neglected children will spend time in foster care in the United States this year.” Many children find themselves being looked after by a social worker, and eventually into the arms of a new family. The authors of Foster Care Placement, Poor Parenting, and Negative Outcomes Among Homeless Young Adults state that “More than half a million American youth currently [are] in foster homes due to child abuse and neglect,” (Tyler, Kimberly A., and Lisa A. Melander). This is a very terrifying statistic. It’s hard to think that there are that many children in foster care, let alone that over half a million are in the system because of child abuse and neglect. Some have even dealt with abuse before, during, and after foster care (787). This leads me to my first point; if foster care is so great, why are children still having to deal with abuse once they’ve been placed in foster care? Why are children like Krystal Scurry being raped and killed by those who are supposed to be offering better living conditions (Ambrose, Jeanne). Why are little children like Joshua Lindsey being beaten to death by their foster parents (1)? Who is re...
When Sophia and Princess Calizaire were four and seven years old, they were taken into foster care after their mother left them stranded at a motel. However, this simple abandonment led to a series of problems. Not only were they tossed from house to house as if they were trash, but they also suffered abuse from their foster families. On several occasions, the two sisters were beaten with belts, hangars, and heels, as well as having their heads submerged in sinks until they were near death; they ate dog food, slept outside, and were raped daily. Luckily, the two girls were able to survive, so that they may share their stories in adulthood. The women now live to warn others of the dangers of foster care, as they did through their interview with
Some of the parents can only handle so many children at a time until they get so over burried they either drop out of the system, or start to send children back to find a different home to stay at. Foster parents are not allowed to get to attached to any one child, for a couple of reasons. One being they might end up adopting the child, or two they start to give more attention to that one child and start to neglect the other children. Some children ended up in foster care because of neglect in the first place and they do not what feeling to
A foster parent, as defined by the Health reference series second edition, is an individual who is licensed to provide a home for an orphaned, abused, neglected, delinquent or disabled child (Matthews, 2004). A permanent placement is one that is intended, but not guaranteed, to last forever (Barth & Berry 1988). Foster care is not for delinquents but somewhere for children go when their parents can no longer care for them. A form of foster care has always been around in early Christian churches where “worthy widows” would board children in need and were paid by church collections. Foster care started in 1562 during the time of the English poor laws, which stated the poor children were allowed to be placed in legal services until they reached of aged (nfpaonline.org). In the 1970’s, foster care increased in popularity but foster parents were seen as unfit to adopt children permanently (Barth and Berry, 1988). In 1980 the Adoption Assistance of Child Welfare Act (public law 96-272) made it clear that the most desirable permanent placement for children is with their own family. The law...
The concept of aging out of foster care is referred to those children who are within the state foster care system and who are still in the system upon reaching the age of eighteen, twenty-one or have graduated from high school (Craft, 2014). The causes of children aging out of the foster care system is usually due to the children not finding a permanent home with an adoptive family, or the state for some reason has not reunited the child with his or her birth family before turning of age. Each state has a different regulation on what the age should be when a child ages out of the system. Many children are not ready to make the transition of being out on their own, therefore, some states have moved the age up to 21 years instead of 18 years (Craft, 2014). If the foster parents or parent chooses to keep caring for the child after he or she ages out, then the child is able to stay in their foster home until he or she is ready to make that step and move out. According to Cunningham and Diversi, many of the difficulties that foster youth face during their transition are known and read about in academic literature, but those who go through the process of aging out of foster care are largely missing from the academic literature (Cunningham & Diversi, 2013). Many children who are in the foste...
Some parents in the world do not discipline their children and do not care what the children. All they care about are them selves. At that point the social workers take the child and put them in foster homes with complete and total strangers. Some companies just put kids with people who do not care about the children just what they get paid. They just let the children go off and do what they want and do not supervise the children’s activities. The social workers should do more thoroughly background checks. There should also be more supervision in foster homes instead of little supervision, and the workers should visit the home and the children more often than they actually do.
Addressing the needs of children in foster care has been an issue that has tried to be addressed in many ways. In 2001, approximately 300,000 children entered the foster care system, with the average time spent in placement equaling 33 months (Bass Shields, & Behrman, n.d.). Statistically, the longer a child is in the foster care system, the greater number of placements they will have, and instability increases each year (Bass Shields, & Behrman, n.d). I recently read a novel by a girl who was placed into the system at age two, and by age 12 she had already experienced 14 different placements (Rhodes-Courter, 2007). Stories such as this one are not uncommon in the foster care system, especially if the child is a member of a sibling group or
There’s a high rate of homelessness among the children who was been in the foster care but age out. Many children are going to the foster care because of many tragedies they already had before they even understand what is life all about. Fortunately, for them, there are some people who try to help them out and give them a second shot at life. And having a child of my own gives me a full understanding how much a parent 's guidance and love mean to their lives and I am trying to introduce adoptuskids.org to help raise awareness of homelessness and adoption to all the people and hoping that the children in the foster care system will get a lot of help, support, and love.
In todays’ society many Americans never think about our foster care system. Foster care is when a child is temporarily placed with another family. This child may have been abused, neglected, or may be a child who is dependent and can survive on their own but needs a place to stay. Normally the child parents are sick, alcohol or drug abusers, or may even be homeless themselves. We have forgotten about the thousands of children who are without families and living in foster homes. Many do not even know how foster care came about. A few of the earliest documentation of foster care can be found in the Old Testament. The Christian church put children into homes with widowers and then paid them using collection from the church congregation. The system that the church had in place was actually successful, and was continued to be used until English Poor Law eventually regulated family foster care in the U.S.
Isaiah Sais and Shawna Adams both admit that they had been verbally and physically abused; Shawna was even sexually abused. NBC Universal conducted an investigation and fount that there were more than 127 recorded abuse cases in the state of Florida within a two-month period. There are also several children that spoke to reporters about the abuse they were exposed to. Stephanie says that her mother signed her into foster care because Stephanie and the mother’s boyfriend were always fighting. The Calizaire sisters told about two instances they were abused. Sophia Calizaire, referring to her foster mother, said, “She took a belt, she started beating me with the belt, picked up a hanger, she started beating me with the hanger, picked up a heel, and started beating me with the heel.” She also says that one foster parent made the children eat dog food. Sophia tells about one incident with that foster mother and says, “She told me to eat in front of my sister while she watched and my sister was hungry.” That same foster mother also punished her by holding her head underwater until she almost drowned. Apparently, harsh punishments are quite common. Alexandria Hill was also punished for “misbehaving”. She was found in a corner of a dark room, and was not allowed to speak to anyone. She was being punished for waking up earlier than her foster mother and getting food and water from the kitchen. Not only are the parents abusive, but the other children can be extremely abusive as well. Princess Calizaire says that she once stayed in a foster home where one of the boys used to try to rape her every night before she would go to sleep, which actually made her terrified to go to sleep at night. Mez Pierre was also abused by other kids in one of his foster homes. Mez says, “I was a little kid, they knew they could take advantage of me and I couldn’t fight back. But I did tell, I did tell
Based off the attention from modern media, youth homelessness has been on an unfortunate upslope in the United States within the past decade. Various factors tie into why this issue is becoming more prominent such as low income households being unable to afford children, LGBT youth rejection, and domestic abuse leading to children leaving home. Now, vagrancy has a severely negative impact on the development of young people as it inhibits them from developing academically, socially, and mentally and can also expose them to diseases and potentially various types of abuse, such as sexual and substance abuse. This is an issue that should be addressed, for the rising generations are America’s future, and so investing in the overall well-being of the
Twenty-five percent of all participating adolescents experienced physical abuse, which is a nearly three-fold increase in risk compared to the general population. Prevalence rates in residential care, especially in secure care, were significantly higher than in foster care” (Euser, Alink, Tharner, Van IJzendoorn, Bakersman-Kranenburg, 2013). Children who are abused often act out in other forums. These are the children that become the bullies, or begin stealing from stores. They also have a decrease in grades. It is sometimes difficult for children who are abused before entering foster care, to find a home placement due to their background. Many foster families do not want to take a chance with an abused child who may begin to act out, especially with older children. Abused children many times, turn to drugs and alcohol. They become addicted to these things and when they become legal age to live on their own, they become homeless. They do not have the skills and knowledge that they need to
They need a place where they can grow and develop physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. According to The National Adoption Center, foster care is “a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birth parent is unable to care for them.” Children in this system often move from home to home and don 't have a stable, permanent place where they can call home. Many of them don 't get the chance to find a place to call home because they age out of this system and left on their own. The children put in this system are looking for love, safety, stability, happiness and feeling like they
“About two-thirds of children admitted to public care have experienced abuse and neglect, and many have potentially been exposed to domestic violence, parental mental illness and substance abuse” (Dregan and Gulliford). These children are being placed into foster care so that they can get away from home abuse, not so they can move closer towards it. The foster children’s varied outcomes of what their adult lives are is because of the different experiences they grew up with in their foster homes. The one-third of those other foster children usually has a better outcome in adult life than the other two-thirds, which is a big problem considering the high percentage of children being abused in their foster homes. Although, the foster care system has most definitely allowed children to experience the positive home atmosphere that they need there is still an existed kind of abusive system in the foster care program that is unofficial but seems to be very popular. Foster care focuses on helping children in need of a temporary stable environment; however, foster care can have negative impacts to the children and the people around them concerning the foster child going through the transition, the parents of the foster child, a new sibling relationship, and problems that arrive later influencing the foster child long-term.
According to the International Foster Care Organization “Foster care is a way of providing a family life for children who cannot live with their own parents.”(2004) Foster care is supposed to provide temporary care while parents get help dealing with problems, or to help children or young people through a difficult period in their lives. Children will return home once their parents are able to provide a safe enviorment for them. However if parent are unable to resolve the issues that cause their child in foster care their children may stay in long-term foster care, some may be adopted, and others will move on to live independently. (IFCO, 2004) Foster care has been a problem for many years and although there have been many attempts to improve it; it there still seems to be negatively impacting