Mission Statement, Goals and Purpose Mission Statement The organization’s mission is to create a secure home for foster children. It aims at ensuring that kids live in a nurturing environment. Goals The goal of “A Kid’s Place” is to formulate, carry out and monitor programs that improve residential nurturing for foster kids. Purpose The purpose of “A Kid’s Place” is to give residential facilities to youngsters that the social service moves away from their homes for the reason that their parents have abused or neglected them. These children range between zero and seventeen years old. The services being provided in the residential homes should improve the social, learning and psychological requirements of the foster child. The organization’s purpose is also to make sure that children from the same family are kept in one home as they look for a permanent home for them. The requirements of a new home are stability, safety and comfort. Interview During my time in the volunteer program at “A Kid’s Place”, I cross-examined Susan Stagon. Susan is the program’s director of the organization. She is a licensed clinical social worker. Through the interview, she told me that there were stringent requirements one had to meet before getting this LCSW license. One requirement is that one has to hold a Master’s Degree in a relevant field. She told me that she had a Master’s Degree in Social Work and had ten years experience in the sector. An addition, she took short courses in human sexuality, substance abuse and dependency, child abuse assessment and reporting, spousal assessment and long-term care. Susan had vast work experience both in supervision and supervised work. Susan told me that LCSW license also requires one to go through a standard... ... middle of paper ... ...e culture. It greatly improved my communication skills. Although I spent a lot of with children, I had regular interactions with foster parents, child support officials and house parents. I learnt to communicate properly with children and with adults. Mrs. Stagon also taught me to manage budgets. She taught me how to get funds and then channel them to the most productive projects. The volunteer program also helped me to get valuable contacts and network extensively. These contacts helped me understand the benefits of social work and the rewards it brings. They gave me information about the opportunities available in similar organizations. I am now certain that I will secure a job before even graduating. This is a great achievement. Voluntary work helped give me insight on my career. I have decided to enroll for a Masters Degree in Social Work in the next two years.
High Sky Children’s Ranch first opened their doors in 1963, when a woman named Joan Nobles was concerned about girls who had no absolutely no place to go. She was the president of the PTA when she heard a young juvenile probation officer speak about the need for a home for those girls that had no where to go. She, along with many others, worked for three years to open the first home. In 1963 the first home was opened and housed five girls (High Sky Children’s Ranch, 2011). In 1985 High Sky changed their license to accept both boys and girls, which enabled them to keep sibling groups together. In 1987 High Sky was relicensed as a treatment facility to work with kids who were more traumatized or needed a higher level of care and was later licensed as a Therapeutic Foster Care. These programs help i...
...ices, the medical field, teachers, and administrators could all benefit from reading about Kathy and her family. People who are considering taking part in fostering certification should definitely read Another Place at the Table. The events she walks the reader through are not common events taking place in the traditional family. It would help any professional who may be exposed to the Social Service System to understand the systematic process that a child in foster care experience, the good, and bad. So many professionals are mandatory reports and they know nothing about the system as it relates to the child’s experience. Hearing how these children and the foster homes they occupy could benefit from quality assistance and support would provide improvement to the system.
I felt as if I was able to make a change even though it wasn't a major change. I also loved working with kids of all ages ranging from kindergarten to 8th grade. They all brought a different personality which I enjoyed. Overall, volunteering anywhere helps someone make a change in someones life and their own even though they may not notice it. There are many people who are in need of volunteers all the time and not many people get the opportunity to volunteer during their lifetime.
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
1. First Place Fund for Youths is a California based organization whose objectives are to ensure that youths who have emerged from foster care are able to start a new life with a lot of ease. These objectives include ensuring that these youths obtain discounted housing and assistance in life skills, employment assistance and financial assistance. This financial assistance is via micro-credit system. The other objective of this organization is to ensure that the youths are able to obtain or access education. This education is meant to prepare them for their futures once the support of the organization is withdrawn. 2. The organization has a vast capability to meet its objectives as stated above. The firm has been in existence for quite some time thus helping it to gain much experience on how to handle issues pertaining youths coming from the foster program. One of the strengths of this firm that will enable it to achieve its objectives is the kind of organization structure that it has adopted. There are various programs that will engage youths from various spheres to ensure that they benefit from the activities of the organization. The variety of the programs will enable the beneficiaries to become all round citizens who will be prepared and determined to take their lives to the next level. The organization has the financial resources that will enable it to fund programs like housing and micro-credit. The housing program will see these youths benefiting for a period of two years. The micro-credit shall enable the youths to access loans that will enable them to carry out their activities properly since they will have an opportunity of investing in various businesses. These investments may end up making them productive and he...
Foster care is an agency that takes in more than 250,000 children EVERY year. With this many children entering the system every year; the amount of problems on finding the right caregiver for the child increases tremendously. When these problems are created there are many effects that can happen to the child that can last short-term and unfortunately long-term. Fortunately, there are multiple solutions for these problems that everyone can do so that everyone's position is improved. Foster care agencies can create negative situations due to the selection of the caregiver and the plethora, deluge, profusion, surplus, vast, prodigious, immense of problems that are created; however, there are several pathways that either party can take to improve the unpleasant situation and its effects.
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
Foster homes are a type of non-secure confinement that may or may not be associated with an offense. If a court finds that a youth's parent or guardian is unfit that youth may be placed into a temporary household. Not all youths placed in foster care are criminals, some are orphaned or in need of supervision. Foster homes do prove useful in helping children that have mental, developmental, and emotional disabilities. The foster parents before placement have already been carefully screened. The goal of foster care is not to create a permanent home for these youths, but rather a nourishing temporary setting focused on rehabilitation. The main difference between group homes and foster homes it the level of supervision. Foster homes use foster parents as a means of structure and supervision; whereas group homes are a community based facility where supervision is minimal while providing a home-like setting. Both foster homes and group ...
Becoming a social worker is dependent on numerous factors, one of which being education. “A bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW) degree is the most common minimum requirement to qualify for a job as a social worker, however, majors in psychology, sociology, and related fields may be sufficient to qualify for some entry-level job” (Chao & Orr, 162). Many people when pursuing the goals of being a social worker, however, are most interested in jobs in public agencies and/or having their own practices. “A master’s degree in social work (MSW) is necessary for positions in health and mental health settings and typically is required for certification for clinical work” (Chao & Orr, 162). One’s level of school is not the only thing employers are focusing on when looking to hire social workers. Along with one’s education, a social worker must have “a broad liberal arts base which includes a knowledge of the social sciences (sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, political science, and economics) to provide explanations about the nature of human society and the human condition” (Johnson, 48). There are many more skills that are just as essential, if not more beneficial, to the employer as well as client.
They need a place where they can grow and develop physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. According to The National Adoption Center, foster care is “a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birth parent is unable to care for them.” Children in this system often move from home to home and don 't have a stable, permanent place where they can call home. Many of them don 't get the chance to find a place to call home because they age out of this system and left on their own. The children put in this system are looking for love, safety, stability, happiness and feeling like they
“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.
Another obstacle Olivia and Sabreen encounter is the lack of adult support in the foster care system. Family support is a crucial variable mediating the influence of neighborhood on a child’s development (Burton & Jarrett, 2000); nonetheless, Olivia and Sabreen receive little support and guidance and must quickly survive on their own.
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.
Out of all of the volunteering I’ve done over the past four years, coaching for the Groton Mystic Falcon cheerleading program has been the most significant and has changed me the most. I joined the volunteering program after my high school cheerleading coach told me about it. She felt that I could be an excellent fit. I really liked the idea of teaching young girls to love cheerleading like I do and giving them the skills necessary to continue cheering in high school. So I checked out the program. and later that week, I signed up. Volunteering has changed me immensely. Through this experience, I have become a more compassionate, caring, and understanding person. I can honestly say, being around kids almost every day made me realise how impactful
A reflection of my volunteering experience can be summarized in two words: Life-changing. It is hard to explain the feelings that occur when you involve yourself in selfless acts for your community, such as volunteering. There is a feeling in your heart that you cannot ignore, maybe it is the happiness you feel or the overflow of emotions in helping others. In other words, it is a feeling in which you want to share with others. Maybe with a friend, maybe a classmate, maybe a family member, or maybe even a stranger. Either way, spreading how life-changing volunteering can be is a great start to making a positive change in your community by simply by involving others.