For youth in foster care, ensuring healthcare coverage is of upmost importance. "…[T]he availability of accessible, affordable, quality health care services is essential for their development and well-being." (Sobel, 1). Many children enter into the foster care system as a result of abuse and neglect. For these children, health care coverage is what ensures that they will receive the resources they need to resolve the health conditions that they had as a result of their home situation prior to entering foster care. For many children entering into the foster care system, continual doctor's appointments are necessary to ensure that the child's health receives the attention it needs. With underlying health conditions, or new conditions, often …show more content…
times, one visit will not be sufficient. Foster care regulations mandate an extensive medical exam of a child within 60 days of their first placement (Sobel, 2). These regulations do not, however, require further examination of the child beyond the mandated exam. For all of the youth that have medical conditions requiring consistent appointments or check-up's, there is no law to require that DSHS provides ongoing treatment. Ensuring the ongoing treatment for youth in the foster care system requires more legislation, and advocacy for the youth who do not have a big enough voice to advocate for themselves. In addition to ensuring general healthcare coverage, ensuring the continual coverage of healthcare is also necessary. A majority of the youth in foster care experience multiple changes in placement throughout their time in the system. The changes in placement result in disruption in the healthcare coverage for the child (Lopez, 3). At times, children may move across the state during their time in foster care. This move results in a change in the primary care physician of the child. When the primary care physician changes, often times medical records are not transferred between physicians and providers. As a result, the information regarding a child's health may not always be disclosed to the new physician or sometimes even the new foster family. Often times when little information is transferred, conditions arise that the new foster parents may not be aware of. Physicians providing the education on health conditions to foster parents is key in allowing the parents and physicians to support the child. Jane Curry describes her experience taking one of her new foster children to the doctor for the first time: "I took one of my new foster kids to see a specialist and was not familiar with the condition she had. [I asked for information] and he said to go ahead and look it up in a book because she's just a foster child. His attitude toward foster children was, 'why care, nobody else does.'" (Sobel, 3). Unfortunately, this scenario is way too familiar to many foster families. When there is a change in placement and a new physician, often times, physicians may not be accommodating to the nature of the situation. Foster parents are often unaware of the health conditions that their new child may have, and are left on their own to find out more about the condition. In order for the foster children to be supported, education must be provided by physicians, so that foster parents are able to help the child cope with, and properly handle a medical condition that their foster child may have. In order to resolve this problem, the California Department of Social and Health Services created the Health and Education Passport (HEP). The HEP collects information about a child's health electronically so it can be easily transferred to different physicians or providers (Lopez, 8). Programs like the HEP are only currently in effect in the state of California. With programs similar to the HEP, other foster families may not encounter situations similar to the one the Curry family did. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is always trying to improve the foster care system. Foster Care reform is currently focused on improving the system itself, not improving the system for the children in it (Bruskas, 3). Current improvements are focused on emergency placement, investigating reports of neglect and abuse, and minimalizing the number of children in foster care. All of these focuses do help the child in the long run, but without improvements focused on supporting the children in foster care, the current focuses will not help the children. "…(B)eyond specific programs and services, ultimately, there has to be a paradigm shift, which recognizes that the current culture under which the child welfare system operates is failing a significant number of children and youth who enter." (Williams, 5). The current focus of Foster care reform doesn't offer support to children beyond when they are first placed. "…(T)here needs to be focus on long-term outcomes as well, such as what happens after placement." (Williams, 5). Focus on the long-term outcomes will create a support network for the children. Whether the support comes from social workers or foster parents will depend on the situation, but ultimately, there will be more support for the children. There are also many programs that can help to support a child who is in the foster care program. These programs can range from social skills training to mentoring to educational programs. Education for foster children about their life can help them to better understand why they are a foster child. Foster children are often looked at differently by their peers. For foster children, having a better understanding of who they are and where they come from, or why they are in foster care can allow them to answer question that their peers may have, or defend themselves when situations arise. Recent research has shown that education for children in foster care about why and how they came to be in foster care as well as what foster care is will greatly benefit foster youth in the long term. "Education that helps a child interpret their 'world' and adjust to a new environment can decrease factors such as confusion, fear, loss, anxiety, stress, and sadness associated with foster care." (Bruskas, 6). Children who are not in foster care have the privilege of knowing where they come from, children in foster care do not. Education about the situation that they are in will lead them to a greater understanding. In addition to education, social skills training and social support can also help foster youth to better cope with their situation. Social support is defined as, "(T)he emotional, psychological, physical, informational, instrumental and material assistance proved by others to either maintain well-being or promote adaptations to difficult life events." (Metzger, 2) For foster children, their past is something that many people define them by and defying their past can become a great challenge. The social support that is offered to them by foster parents, social workers, and educators is often one of the few things that will help them stay strong when put in difficult situations, like a new foster home, or a new school, or adjusting to being in the foster care system. Social skills training is a form of therapy that assists children in communicating feelings, as well as becoming more "socially competent". Social skills training leads to higher academic skills, which helps to create a "better academic outcome" for children in foster care (Williams, 4). As a whole, children in foster care tend to struggle with academics. Part of this struggle is related to changes in placement, which often lead to changes in schools. For foster youth, developing these social skills will not only help them communicate but will also keep them more on track when it comes to academics. Beyond social skills training, good examples of social skills must be set in order for children in foster care to learn these skills. Mentoring programs are also useful to youth in foster care.
Mentoring is defined as "the contribution of a trusted, nonparental adult in the life of a child or youth..." (Williams, 3). Mentoring programs help youth in foster care to create a relationship with someone that will last longer than relationships created by the system, such as a foster parent or a social worker. A child may have multiple different social workers during their time in the foster care system, as well as many different foster parents. Mentoring programs offer foster youth the opportunity to create a relationship with someone that is not a relationship forced upon them by the foster system. Children in foster care who are involved in mentoring programs are "more likely to attend college and less likely to engage in delinquent behavior." (Williams, 3). These outcomes are what have sparked mentoring programs to begin in a few states, or regions, across the country. One specific program is in Washington D.C. and is called the Family and Youth Initiative (DCFYI). This program "helps youth ages 12 to 21 years in foster care find stable adult relationships, including mentors and adoptive families, through regular teen-adult social events, host family visits, advocacy, and outreach." When a relationship is formed through one of the social events, the youth, or the adult, can reach out to the program director about the potential of creating a relationship (Ahmann, 4). The social events put on through the DCFYI give foster youth the opportunity to create a relationship outside of the foster care system. The DCFYI has had many success stories, one of which is about Robert, and his mentor, whom he met through DCFYI, Brian. Robert lived in a group home when he began attending DCFYI events, which is where he met his mentor,
Brian. "Robert recalled: When we first started hanging together, it was kind of weird because I didn’t really know who he was. I just wanted to go out to eat or something, but not because I wanted to get to know him. But then it became more of a friendship... we talked about family and school. I asked him questions. It became more personal." (Ahmann, 4). Six years later, Robert and Brian still meet frequently. Brian helped Robert to apply to colleges, choose a major, and discover what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Brian become a father figure to Robert. For many foster youth, relationships like that of Robert and Brian are only something they could dream of. Mentoring programs help foster youth in many ways. With more programs like DCFYI spread across the nation, foster youth would feel more supported and cared for. There are many different aspects of the DSHS foster care system, and the system varies from state to state. There are certain areas that need more attention than others when it comes to improving the child welfare system for the children. For instance, healthcare, education, legislation, post-care planning, and more. All of these areas of the child welfare system can be improved to better support the youth who are in foster care, the youth who struggle on a day to day basis to cope with their current situation. More support for foster youth means a better outcome for foster youth in many aspects of their life.
...t with a child in the foster care system. This paper gave me the opportunity to learn the positives and the negatives as well as more details about the little parts of the foster care system that I didn’t know existed. Even though my focus is to help the child and think about their best interest, this paper showed me that the parents, both biological and foster, are another important factor that helps the children. It made me realize that I will need to meet the parents and work with them to make a plan that fits their life. I will need to figure out what issues they feel are important to fix and how to get to those solutions. Foster care is a complex system that will challenge me daily if I enter the into this specific field but even if I work with children in a different environment I need to be aware that children come from all different types of backgrounds.
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.
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
Williams, C. (2011). Mentoring and social skills training: ensuring better outcomes for Youth in Foster Care. Child welfare, 90(1), 59-74.
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.
Scannapieco, Maria, Kelli Connell-Carrick, and Kirstin Painter. "In Their Own Words: Challenges Facing Youth Aging Out Of Foster Care." Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal 24.5 (2007): 423-435. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Jan. 2014.
Haight, Wendy L., James E. Black, Sarah Mangelsdorf, Grace Giorgio, Lakshmi tata, Sarah J. Schoppe, and Margaret Szewcyk. "Making Visits Better: The Perspective of Parents, foster Parents, and Child Welfare Workers." EBSCOhost. EBSCO, 1 Mar. 2002. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
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.
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.
Imagine waking up everyday in a home where there is nobody you can call mom or dad. Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent". The placement of the child is usually arranged through the government or a social-service agency. The institution, group home or foster parent is compensated for expenses. The state will inform through the family court and child protection agency stand in loco parentis to the minor, making all legal decisions while the foster parent is responsible for the day-to-day care of the minor throughout the time the child is in the system.
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
There are many negative aspects of foster care that result in problems later in life. Abuse is one of these negative aspects. Marcia Lowry, the executive director of the pro-foster care organization “Children’s Rights”, admitted, “I have almost never seen a child, boy or girl, who has been in foster care for any length of time who has not been sexually abused in some way” (“Foster Care vs. Family Preservation: The Track Record on Safety and Well-being”). A guardian abused many of these children she speaks of. Foster care has a very strenuous application process for foster parenthood. It involves applications, background checks, interviews, and recommendation letters, yet there are still many unfit foster parents. One third of foster children revealed to social workers and other authorities that an adult had abused them in various ways while in the system (“Foster Care vs. Family Preservation”); however, abuse by an adult is less li...
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.
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
...(as discussed previously), attentiveness for the need of such an intervention is a step in the right direction. Furthermore, Wotherspoon, Laberge, and Pirie (2008) indicate that the “… rapid increase in the number of requests for a consultation from our child welfare partners…” (p. 391) demonstrates the positive benefits of their CMHC program. This program has built a relationship with Child Welfare and included opportunities for those workers to enhance their knowledge (Wotherspoon, Laberge, & Pirie, 2008) on child development, mental health and trauma implications. As highlighted in Bass’s et al. (2004) report, the policies and practices for child welfare agencies are varied between different states, hence their contribution towards alleviating and preventing mental health problems in young foster children is unbalanced and hard to measure in terms of success.