The Negative Effects Of Adopting Older Children

736 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of foster care on children

Adoption is permanent; foster care is temporary. Children that aren’t adopted by the age of eight-teen from foster care age out of the system, and once they leave they are thrown into the world with no support to cling to. The lack of adoption of older children inside the foster care system stems from adopter’s personal concerns and the adoptees psychological issues. However, encouraging parents to adopt older youth is a positive effect because it will stimulate stability and decrease behavioral and mental problems within the child’s life. Initially, the original platform to convey foster care principles was created in “The Placing Out System of the New York Children’s Aid Society,” which launched the purpose to take care of unsettled and
“Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 youth leave the foster care system each year with no permanent, stable family to support them as they negotiate the challenges of early adulthood” (Diehl 81). Additionally, according to the most recent “Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System” from 2013, 296,833 children between the ages of four to eighteen, considered of older youth to adoptee parents (Waterman 18), lived in the foster care system. The highest amount of children placed was at 16 or 17 years old. This totaled to be 53,990, and came to be about 20 percent of the children residing in this lifestyle (AFCARS Report #21). Yet, even while these numbers exist, the problem remains. Older children without a definite family are not being adopted. Statistics display numbers well, but the one thing statistics do not display is perspective. When a people look at these numbers, they shouldn’t see just numbers but children in need of a
Despite the lack of adoption shown in the numbers of older youth, it doesn’t dismiss that people adopting have not considered it. Nevertheless, children are still left homeless in a sense; without the stability of a loved one. Parents adopt younger children because they want to have the similar familiarity that a biological parent would have with their own child (Brind 323). These parents normally are not capable to conceive on their own; however, although this is a positive outcome for younger children in the system because they are provided with loving homes, it negatively affects older ones. The fantasy would stand that foster care wouldn’t have to exist because parents would willingly invite a child with every odd against them into their home so that in return the odds could be in their favor. Then again, for this type of effect to take place people have to be aware of the issue at hand, and they have to be able to lend a

Show More
Related

  • The Need for Change: The Harmful Effects of the Foster Care System

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the biggest misconceptions that we have in our country is that foster care is a great thing; well, it’s not. There are so many flaws in our foster care system to even consider it a good idea. With constant reports of abuse, depression, lack of stability, to even the terrible after effects of the foster care system, like homelessness and incarceration; the foster care system hurts more than it helps. Our foster care system is bad for America, but most of all, our children.

    Read More

  • History and Overview of Foster Care in America

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    Foster care has been around for many years and has evolved greatly throughout the years. America’s first foster child happened to be Benjamin Eaton in 1636 at the age of seven years old (NFPA 2012). This opened the nation’s eyes on an occurring issue with children. A minister, Charles Loring Brace started the free foster care home movement in 1856. Brace was a minister and directed the New York Children’s Aid Society (NFPA 2012). This was going toward the right direction with foster care and providing homes for these children. In the 1900s the first laws to prevent child abuse and neglect was issued. For example, the Social Security Act of 1935 was the first approved grants from the government for child welfare services (Facts on Kids in South Dakota 2007). In this following article it continues to explain various history about foster care in America. In the 1970s CAPTA--Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act became clear as far as what was expected and for investigations involving abuse or neglect. “CAPTA provides federal funding to states in support of prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treat...

    Read More

  • Essay On Foster Care Ethical Dilemma

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • A Career as an Adoption Counselor

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Adoption is a process where by a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the biological parent or parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Adoption has changed considerably over the centuries with its focus shifting from adult adoption and inheritance issues toward children and family creation; its structure moving from recognition of continuity between the adopted and kin toward allowing relationships of lessened intensity. In modern times, adoption is a primary vehicle serving the needs of homeless, neglected, abused and runaway children (Wikipedia, “Adoption”).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Adoption And Safe Families Act

    2801 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was as a response to growing concerns about “foster care drift”; that is, children experiencing multiple, unstable foster care placements over extended periods, children virtually lost within the child welfare system (Rockhill, 2007). The ASFA has become a very important and much needed policy that helped with placement and safet...

    Read More

  • Aging Out of Foster Care

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    One challenge young adult’s face after aging out of foster care is being provided the health care that they need. According to Paula K Jaudes and the American Academy of Pediatrics, children in foster care suffer from various health issues such as “developmental delays, mental retardation, emotional adjustment problems, chronic medical problems, birth defects, substance abuse, and pregnancy” (1170). It is unknown why children in care are at a higher risk for these problems, but numerous medical professionals believe it is caused by the circumstances that led them being put into foster care, and the experiences they had while in care (Jaudes 1170). Despite being inclined to face more medical problems than teenagers who grew up in nuclear families, there is a lack of support to help take care of these teens. One study conducted by...

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Privatizing The Foster Care System

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    The foster system intends to place children in homes where they will remain until they can find permanent residence with an adoptive family. Sadly, this is often not the case with children placed privatized homes and they end up bouncing from home to home until they eventually age out of the system forced to enter into adulthood with no permanent family ties. Over the past decade the number of teenagers aging out of the system without a permanent family has risen from 19,000 to 23,000 per year. These teenages enter into the world without emotional, relational, or financial support and therefore possess a greater risk of poverty as well as low academic achievement. This causes many of these teenagers to rely on government benefits during their adult lives which places a heavier burden on taxpayers. The National Council for Adoption reported that the 29,000 teenagers that aged out of the system in 2007 will cost over one billion dollars per year in public assistance and support. These teenagers who age out are also found to be at greater risk of concerning behaviors, such as: creating disciplinary problems in school, dropping out of school, becoming unemployed and homeless, becoming teenage parents, abusing alcohol and drugs, and committing crimes. The privatized system does not have the best interest of the children in mind and

    Read More

  • Foster Care

    2804 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Foster Youth Essay

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    Low educational achievement for foster youth was a pressing concern. A study completed by Ehrle and Geen (2002) using a phone survey of 44,000 foster care providers across the United States found that 55% of voluntary kinship care providers did not have a high school degree, this indicated that may care providers lack the knowledge and understanding to help foster youth be prepared academically. After studying over 1000 foster youth Pecora et al (2006) found, about one third of all foster youth repeated a grade in school. In addition, Vacca (2007) identified reasons that foster youth struggled in the school setting. “Foster youth will typically not have any consistent parent advocacy or representative in the creation and implementation of the educational plan for graduation” (p. 67). With primary and secondary education a struggle for foster youth, it was no surprise that higher education was not something foster youth had been prepared for. In a combination survey and interview study titled “Pathways to College for Former Foster Youth: Understanding Factors That Contribute to Educational Success” Merdinger, Hines, Osterling, and Wyatt (2005) studied more than 200 former foster youth and found that “overall 63.8 percent [of former foster youth] reported that the foster care system did not prepare them very well for college” (p.

    Read More

  • Foster Care Uncovered

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order for a possible successful future to take place, an appropriate selection of the caregiver must take place (Blythe et. al 88). Whenever an inappropriate foster parent is given responsibility over a child, all sorts of issues for the parent and child are created that could have been easily avoided. Foster care agencies must select foster parents that are completely capable to care for the health and safety of their new kids (Blythe et. al 88). This means that the foster parents must be able to supply all of the child’s essential needs so that they may be a valuable citizen in society one day. Research has discovered that foster parents will experience more anxiety and stress when compared to adults in their surrounding communities (Blythe et al. 88). This is directly because the foster parent was incapable of being a sufficient parent for the foster child. Since every child is special and unique in their own way it makes sense that the foster p...

    Read More

  • Foster Care

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    As of 2014, there were over 415,000 children in the foster care system. Foster care is the raising and supervision of children in a private home, group home, or institution, by individuals engaged and paid by a social service agency (Legal Dictionary, 2016). Care givers can be of kin relationship to the child, or may not know the child at all. Group homes are run by a social worker and can house multiple children at a time. These homes are usually regulated by the state and/or government. Children of all ages go through many emotions when their lives revolve in foster care. This paper will discuss the emotions children deal with regarding separation from birth family, the effects of abuse, and the possibility of having to transition out of

    Read More

  • Adopt More Teens Campaign

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    I chose to make flyers for the non-profit organization Youth Villages because I wanted to encourage adults to adopt older teens before they age out of the foster care system with the help of foster care and adopted teenagers. The teenagers will give prospective adoptive parents a positive insight on how teenagers can easily get accustomed to a new environment. Many prospective adoptive parents get discouraged from adopting teens because they wereinformed about the complicated ordeals many foster care teens experience while transitioning from an ordinary life to a foster care life. To get a large percentage of college students to attend this informative meeting, the flyers will be hung in the Hodges Library and the Office of the Provost, which is in Andy Holt Tower. To get a large percentage of thirty to forty-year olds to show up to the informative meeting, posters will be hung in work settings that work with different family services, cafes, and YMCA. I chose YMCA because many older people go there to work out, but a lot of community service with foster care teenagers takes place there as well. The primary audience for the yellow, purple, and brown poster is for college students who either aged out of the foster care system or was adopted. The primary audience for the red, brown, and crème poster is adults who are between the ages 30 and 40.

    Read More

  • Abuse in Foster Care

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The High Price of Adoption

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people grow up in loving families and cannot imagine not having their parents and siblings around, but each year, 18,000 or more American born babies are put up for adoption (Newlin Carney). That means at least 18,000 children face the harsh truth of maybe not having a family to grow up in. Childhood is a very important part of one’s life and helps shape who one is. These children that are eligible to be adopted just need loving parents, good homes, and stability. And who is to say the high price of adopting is not ho...

    Read More

  • The Negative Impact Of Foster Care On Children As A Social Problem

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though foster care was originally established to help children who were orphaned, abandoned, neglected or abused, it has also caused problems for children. Agencies often have difficulty providing adequate, accessible, and appropriate services for the families in their care. (Chipungu and Goodley, pp. 76, 2004) This paper will examine the negative impact of foster care on children as a social problem and how it is viewed and understood. Also this paper would point out the key figures and groups that are affected by problem. This paper would analyze past attempts to better the foster care system and current policies that exist to face this problem. Throughout this paper the goals and objectives of the current polices would be addressed.

    Read More

More about The Negative Effects Of Adopting Older Children

Open Document