Children in Foster Care “One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is to have a happy childhood and a loving home”. This quote by Agatha Christie comprises one of the most powerful realities for a child to successfully develop to his optimal potential. The main influence a child has is through stable and reliable caregivers. A child should find in a loving, caring, and responsible environment a place where his physical, intellectual, social, and emotional needs are fulfilled. However, these important needs in a child’s development are at stake when parents or caretakers are unable or unwilling to take care of their child or when parents fall into an abusive behavior towards their children. When a child is found in this situation, he should be placed in a new home. Foster care is the system that states, including Texas and its counties, rely on to place children that are experiencing difficult or dangerous conditions. However, even though foster care is the most common solution to provide physical protection to children living in an abusive atmosphere, the instability because of …show more content…
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway (2013) website, the minimum criteria to remove a child from his biological parents or other caregivers and place him in a new home, is largely based on the requirements the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) specifies. Under CAPTA, child abuse and neglect means “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Likewise, CAPTA defines “child” as a “person who is younger than 18 or who is not an emancipated