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Effects of foster care on children research papers
The foster care system and its effects
Effects of foster care on children research papers
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The Failures of the Foster Care System
To many outsiders, the foster care system may appear to be a safe haven for those children that are abused or abandoned by their birth family. This is correct, but the system with which it is based, has many flaws. A background check is mandatory for all foster parents, but a test to see if a child 's temperament matches that caregiver 's parenting style, is not. Now, this is seen as a minor issue, but there is not enough evidence to support this. Plus, there are many other, much worse reasons, why the system is not perfect. Altogether, the foster care system and a multitude of its rules are flawed and may actually be negatively affecting foster children.
Research has been conducted to help back up the
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One article about the harms of aging out states, "Each year, about 30,000 foster care youth age out of the system. Many of them exit without finding a stable, affordable, permanent living arrangement" (Richards 2). After aging out, former foster children also face problems going off to post-secondary school and finding jobs. This is because to apply for a job, one must provide proof of a home address. If someone is homeless, that makes getting a job so much harder. Nevertheless, the system does try its hardest to prevent issues like this from arising. There are programs like Section 8 Housing, Family Unification Programs (FUP), and Continuum of Care services, which help foster care children and teenagers after they have aged out. This being said, not many foster care youth know about these programs. It should be the job of the caseworker involved with the child to inform them of these programs. Furthermore, there is a stigma against children in foster care and those who have aged out. This may be a factor in why some do not apply for such programs. Foster care and adopted children are a part of almost every community, so society should try its best to include them and not blame …show more content…
During a foster parents training, they are taught to parent children with mental illness. This is good training, no doubt about that. Even so, this training needs to include how to treat race issues, sexuality, and gender. Not all foster parents are equipped with the knowledge on how to parent a transgender child. One article by Cassandra Chaney and Meghan Spell says, "African American children are more likely than Caucasian, Hispanic, and children of other racial/ethnic groups to be poor and thus be reported to public child welfare agencies at twice the rate of Caucasian children" (2). This proves that foster parents with no background in race relations, should take a class. This would overall help the quality of life of foster children who already feel ostracized because they are in foster
This paper will contain research done about foster care, including a brief history and progressing along to the system today. This research interested me because it is a professional career option after graduation. I found both positives and negatives about the foster care system that children and foster parents go through on a daily basis. As the paper progresses I will be explaining these positives and negatives in more detail. Throughout the paper I will be referencing different scholarly sources that explain foster care in different ways. Overall, this paper will show different aspects that the general public may never know about foster care.
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
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...
There is nearly 400,000 children in out-of-home care in the United States right now (Children’s Right). Just about every day children are being shipped in and out of foster homes and group homes. Most people want the best for children in foster care and decide to take care of them until their parents can possibly recover. The foster care system can have both a negative or positive effect on children, foster parents, and biological parents because of the gaps in the system. Foster cannot not be avoided but the some aspects of the foster care system can be avoided if the missing gaps were filled.
The foster care workers should investigate foster parents more thoroughly than they have before. These parents that just get handed kids and get given rules does not mean that every foster parents follow them. They can prevent giving children to the wrong people by doing more thorough background checks. They could also run more on their names and find out everything that they can before putting someone’s life in their hands. There could be more thorough interviews
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Foster care needs to be reformed, especially when it comes to private agencies. Many people seem to overlook the issues embedded within the foster care system; all it does is take care of children, right? Wrong. Private agencies pervert the system with the nightmares they create. Foster children already feel unwanted and neglected because of the abandonment from their birth parents; private agencies provide them with conditions that further solidify their disbelief of care and love. Money comes first in the eyes of these agencies, followed by the need of control. This “control” can easily become abuse. It would only be sensible for a higher authority to intervene and put an end to these profound
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
Foster Children who are emancipated out of foster care are in danger of becoming homeless because Foster Homes are allowing many unfit parents to adopt, they are emancipated before they can find a job that can support them, and they are not being taught the skills to avoid homelessness.
So this leads me to ask if the foster care system is effective and if so, why are children slipping through its cracks? Also, what is currently being done or available for homeless youth that are not in the program? As of right now, I know of a few potential solutions for youth homelessness; I believe continuing with the foster care system and improving the infrastructure of the system and its reputation to the community would be a right way to go. If the adults who come out of the program were successful individuals in the eyes of society, that would greatly help to remove the bad reputation that foster care possesses, and children wouldn’t be so fearful of being there. As far as prevention goes, working on spreading the message of Planned Parenthood and, with it, birth control could help because if a couple is not financially stable or just not ready to have a kid in general, then having knowledge on how to avoid or abort one would help in the long run. If an unprepared person does not have a kid in the first place, then there is a 0% chance of the child ending up
Foster parents play a pivotal role for children in the child welfare system. Primarily the role of the foster parent is to provide for the child’s safety and welfare while the circumstances around the removal or home disruption are addressed. There are factors that affect foster parent involvement in a child’s educational health, and these factors include multiple placements of the child, which then impacts the opportunities a foster parent may have to address educational concerns. Foster parents also experience having multiple children placed in their homes as well as have foster children removed from their homes mostly due to their inability to handle the child’s behavioral and emotional challenges. Children being reunited with their biological families also impacts how involved a foster parent will be in the child’s education. All these factors can play a role in whether a foster parent becomes involved in the child’s education. Further, because children in foster care face multiple placements, school records and information are often incomplete or unavailable to help a foster parent understand the educational needs of the child placed in their home (Pears, K.C., Fisher, P.A., Bruce, J., Kim, H., & Yoeger, K., 2010). Additionally, individual personal factors can also impact the level of educational involvement in a child’s life from the foster parent perspective. Many foster parents see their role as that of a providing a temporary solution with its main function to provide an immediate safe environment for the child. Foster parents’ perspectives on the child’s education can vary based on their own beliefs about education and how far they feel their influence can carry when advocating for the child’s educational needs. After conducting an exploration study on caregiver involvement for youth in foster care, Beisse & Tyre (2013)
Many children each year wait in foster care to find a family. According to the Child Welfare Gateway, on any day in the U.S. there are about 415,000 children in foster care, and in the year 2014, more than 22,000 young adults aged out of foster care, going out into the world without a true, permanent family. Even if they had someone providing for them, they didn’t have what other kids have: parents. Having someone to call their parents, someone to love them and someone who really cared about their future is what could truly impact a child. Research has shown that adults that grew up in foster care and never had a permanent family are more likely to experience homelessness or unemployment, which just goes to show that children and teenagers