The article, "Emotional And Behavioral Problems Of Foster Youth: Early Findings Of A Longitudinal Study" by Mark Courtney and Sherri Terao goes over three years of data that define health problems for former foster youth and access to care that they had. The total number of participants in this study was 732. About 59.3% were seven-teen years old, with the rest of the participants reaching their eighteenth birthday by the time interviews were being conducted for this study. The gender of the participants was very nearly split in half with 48.8% being male and 51.2% being female. African Americans made up the bulk of participants at 56.8%, Caucasians made up about 31.1%, participants who were of mixed racial heritage made up about 9.7% of the …show more content…
These measures found that for the child welfare workers perception, “85%” of the children had been maltreated in some form before their placement, about “61%” of the children were neglected, and found that “57%” of the children had been physically abused and “52%” had been sexually abused (Holland & Gorey 127). The article also spoke about the problems and challenges that children would face in their day-to-day lives stating that “they went on to have problems in school [74%], problems with their peers [poor social skills, 70%], problems with society [delinquent, 61%], and then ultimately with themselves [threatened or attempted suicide, 30%], like many of the children in this foster care sample had” (Holland & Gorey 127). The study concluded that almost all of the children that were in the studies bad been maltreated before their placement, there was a history of these problems as substance abuse and violence was predominant amongst their parents, and the majority of these children then later on experience challenges that included problems in school, their communities, with peers and with themselves as indicated by different mental health and behavioral …show more content…
These under-researched problems include attachment-related difficulties, anxiety and dissociative responses to trauma, age-inappropriate sexual behavior and self-harm. The Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC) was developed to measure such problems in a prospective epidemiological study of children in long-term care. The ACC is a 120-item career-report psychiatric rating instrument, measuring behaviors, emotional states, traits, and manners of relating to others, as manifested by children in care. Content was developed systematically, with a view to measuring all clinically significant problems experienced by children in alternate care that are not adequately measured by standard parent-report checklists. Ten clinical and two low self-esteem scales were empirically derived via factor analysis, and labeled: Sexual behavior; pseudo mature interpersonal behavior; non-reciprocal interpersonal behavior; indiscriminate interpersonal behavior; insecure interpersonal behavior; anxious–distrustful; abnormal pain response; food maintenance; self-injury; suicide discourse; negative self-image; and low confidence. Initial data indicate that the instrument has good content, construct and criterion-related
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...
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
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 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...
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
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...
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
The combine result of all these barriers resulted in foster youth being an at-risk vulnerable population. A multitude of negative factors contribute to understanding why foster youth underperform when
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...
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...
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.
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
“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.
Child abuse and neglect are “social” issues that were addressed by the author. While children are in foster care, they may become victims of maltreatment: child neglect, child emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The terms neglect refers to when parents fail to provide a child’s basic needs and provide satisfactory level of care (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009). An example of a child being neglected is when parents or c...
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