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 …show more content…
Unfortunately, “foster children who have moved multiple times often develop detachment disorder: they become unable to attach to others as a defense mechanism” (Babbel). Due to this, children are taught to keep to themselves. They fear that if they open up to people, then they will become more distraught when the time comes for them leave. Consequently, their outside persona becomes a shell, while their true emotions become trapped inside. As a result, they have trouble forming strong relationships later on in life. This can especially prove to be troublesome in marriages, where these ex-foster children act upon their training to build walls against others. Thus, this psychological damage can haunt foster care children for the rest of their …show more content…
As of 2005, 16.6% of children experience physical abuse and 9.3% experience sexual abuse (USDHHS, 2007). Besides bruises and scars, the effects of physical abuse are long lasting. Children are physically taught to be submissive to others, so they often become more reserved socially. In relation to sexual abuse, children often say that being raped causes them to feel “dirty,” meaning that they are, from that point on, corrupted. Unfortunately, very few realize that this abuse is not their fault. Since all children are taught that punishment is given because they did something wrong, foster children often believe that they deserve to be beaten or raped. Due to Sheets 3 this, they are unaware that it is the fault of the foster parents, rather than their own faults. One other problem with foster care is that there are not enough homes available in the system. In America, there are roughly 400,000 kids in foster care, but only 3,000 foster homes (Rath). Thus, foster parents are often overrun by their children. This can also cause psychological problems for the parents, who must deal with dozens of kids—48% of whom have behavioral and emotional disorders (Heiger). As a result, foster parents are prone to accumulate aggression, which is what can lead to the common cases of abuse and
When Cris Bean was writing the book, he mentioned a couple of times the fact of how traumatizing it can be for kids who end up in foster care. When a kid is placed into the foster care system, it can be very stressful and disorientating the first few days. Probably the hardest part is wrapping your head around the fact that now a child is in the foster care system and why are they there. Many kids that are older probably did not have to follow many rules since the biological parents where perhaps on drugs, alcohol, or not even being there at all. So, living in a new house with rules can be a very difficult thing to follow, or even if the child has reasoning for right and wrong.
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.
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.
...ren. The system cannot wash its hands off and shed its responsibility after they provide foster care. Consistent and strict follow up is vital for their survival.
As family structure changes children pay the biggest price. They may lose the luxury of a stable home or school to call their own, when parent are no longer in the picture either. This is an issue that is largely ignored by society and most importantly the government. Without the foster system, children would be left abandoned and forgotten by all. The foster system provides thousands of homes for foster children each year, with parents that can give them what they need. But, foster care in America is inadequate for all American foster children and needs to be improved. Improvements are critical in bettering American foster systems, these improvements include, creating programs, finding more stable homes, and starting mentoring programs for all foster children.
An ideal environment for the social, emotional, and developmental growth of children does not always exist in today’s society. Family units that have become separated due to family or behavior problems often contribute to delays in these areas. In order to promote continuity in the social, emotional, and developmental growth of children who have been victims of family disruption, children are often removed from the home and placed in foster care. Placement in the foster care system affects children in a unique, individual fashion. The affects of child-care by non-parental custodians, though subjective in nature, have common parameters that must be addressed and examined.
“Every year more than 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system” (Jansson, 2014, p.62). “As youth in foster care mature into adulthood, they face enormous challenges, including lack of family support; educational deficiencies; employment and income problems; inadequate or inappropriate living arrangements;
Imagine you have just turned 9 years old and in a whirlwind of uncertainty you have just been removed by Child Protective Services from the only home you have ever known. You have been subjected to trauma; physically abused, verbally abused, and to some extent neglected as well. You now live in a temporary shelter where you are housed with 8 other children your age being taken care of by various staff; you are scared and lost, unsure about your future. You are forced to leave the only school you have ever attended in order to attend a school closer to your new “placement.” You have been torn from your family and friends making you feel all the more alone and frightened. This process of movement in school and placement will occur several times over the next few years placing you in a continual state of chaos. Each school transition moves you further behind in a perpetual state of academic catch up. Although this story was hypothetical, this is the long-standing reality for many foster youth. The actual implications of real life experiences for foster youth encompass personal, emotional, and educational problems. This
Furthermore, the lack of emotional connection and the sense of being cared about is one of the hardest aspects to handle aging out the system. Children placed in foster care never stay in one place. Gradually being
Like Newton, Litrowinik, & Landsverk’s study, the children between the age ranges of three and nine, but extended to the age of fifteen as well. The results of all the experiments lead to the same idea: the placement of children into the foster care system has a negative affect on their behavioral, mental, and emotional development, however each study suggests different ways to go about fixing this negative effect. Harden (2004) states that, “In order to create ‘harm-free, effective environments’ for foster children, child welfare systems must provide support and training to foster parents, establish a well-specified model of care to promote child well-being, focus on the positive behaviors of caregivers and children, and create consumer-oriented services that respond specifically to child and family needs.” (p 44) Similarly, Newton, Litrowinik, &Landsverk (2000) explain that these children should be identified and managed via treatment in foster care or therapeutic settings, and that placement workers need to continue to make concerted efforts on behalf of these children. Yet in contrast, Doyle (2007) suggests that children, especially older, on the margin of placement tend to have better outcomes when they remain at home as opposed to being placed in
As stated before, because of all the hardships they go through on living this lifestyle, they use these negative behaviors to cope. In the article, it states that “Some also have ‘‘unsuccessful’’ exits from care including running away from placement, incarceration, and psychiatric hospital placement.” They run away from these places because they do not help them. These places just act as a reminder of the thoughts of themselves being the ones who have the problem. Placement, incarceration, and a psychiatric hospital will not help a foster child think differently and behave differently. They’ve already lived this lifestyle and they cannot change it, so instead of trying to restrain them and trying to fix them, they just need a different outlet or another way to cope instead of the negative ways they have grown accustomed to. To prepare them for the real world, they should instead send them to a rehabilitation center as opposed to a psychiatric hospital. The definition of rehabilitation according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is to bring something back to normal. A psychiatric hospital treats mental illness and that’s what these foster kids do not have. They simply do not understand the lifestyle that most people have the luxury
Their mentality isn’t as it should be for their age. According to Sheryl Faber, foster care children have to “deal with the unknown, are torn from the surroundings they’re familiar with, are cared for by strangers, and have to cope with the uncertainty of whether they will ever be reunited with their families.” Going through anything big like that will give anyone- child or otherwise- trust “issues.” Failure to be able to attach to other caregivers or their foster families, lower academic achievement and lack of educational resources, and lack of preparation for adulthood- these are just a broad view of the many things that won’t make these kids grow up to be “normal” adults. Foster children are often taught by “their circumstances not to speak up and are conditioned to think abuse is normal.” Children in the foster care system generally “lack the childhood experiences that teach other children to trust authority figures.” Foster kid facts explain that foster kids who experience more placements are nearly “15% less likely to complete high school when compared to their peers.” Fifty percent of foster children will receive a high school diploma, only ten percent of former foster youth will attend college, and three percent of those will
The safety of children is a major goal throughout the United States and in other countries. When children are exposed to care and safety they tend to become stronger individuals in the community. Children exposed to harm and abuse tend to struggle with a lot more difficulties in their life. Those children tend to go into foster care to make sure they are safe. Foster care is not just meant for abuse but other causes can be illness, death in the family or abuse of drugs. The change the child goes through moving from their home and into foster care can cause stress on them. Those children have a difficult time adapting to so much change. They need to be exposed to the same routine to make them feel safe. Sometimes they are capable of going back
The word “foster” means to nurture or encourage. When a child gets put into foster care it is because a parent or caregiver is unwilling or not able to properly care for their child by providing them food, shelter, and safety (Libal 17). This might look like a parent not being at home with their kid(s). Kids get put into foster care for reasons like abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse. There are about 428,000 children in foster care by 2016 ( Libal 19). The kids are the ones who have the most impact in this situation. People need to take a stand by helping the kids because when kids are in foster care it is not a easy transition for kids especially when they are a teenager and they know their parent(s).
The effectiveness of foster care can be inhibited as it can be seen as something that is not as important. If the separation between a children is forced the parents might have a difficult time accepting it. Separation is dramatic for children in which can make them to see help as hurting them instead of helping them. Jee, S. H., Salter, M. B., Gonka, J., & Chin, N. P. (2014).states that “Sensitivity to cultural interpretation for this high-needs population is vital to enhancing communication between families and health providers caring for children in foster care. Clearly stating that is important for different cultures to learn about the foster care system .See it as a helping hand instead of seeing it as an enemy system.