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Foster Care Abuse

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Our foster care system was developed in the 19 century, and it all started with Charles Loring Brace taking in homeless children. The system has come a long way since it started by passing laws, such as the child abuse prevention and treatment act, that protect children, and among another things, however, it still has problems. Some of the major issues they have are children placements, preparing them for adulthood, the rules and regulations with the foster parents, and drug abuse among teens in foster care. Child welfare promises these kids a place to call home, to be loved, supported and cherished, as every child should. Some of these kids go from foster home to another one, which affects them in their development. These kids have to …show more content…

For instance, in many cases, the social work does not inform the foster parent about medical conditions and fail to prepare them for the child’s medical needs. In one of the cases in young children and foster care, the child had many risk factors associated with exposure to human immunodeficiency virus, however, this was not mentioned till the day the foster parents took him to the doctor. This is dangerous for the people around the child and the child because both are at risk of getting a virus. If the social worker had taken the time to tell the parents about the child’s medical condition, it would have been better. Additionally, the foster parent cannot take foster kids to another pediatrician to get a second opinion. In another case, the foster parent who had some experience in the medical field thought that the foster kid had allergies and she took him to the child’s pediatrician, and he told her that it was something else, therefore, she could not see an allergist. She called the social worker, and he told her that she had no choice other than to do what the pediatrician said. As a result, she had to give chest physical therapy every night so the kid could sleep. Also, foster parents are responsible for the child’s well-being, but often situation comes up where it is required foster parents to stand by helplessly. In cases such as …show more content…

Neglected children are more likely to have medical problems than children who have been physically or sexually abusing. For instance, in young children and foster care, there is a case where the police raid on a crack house which the adults fled and abandoned two children. They were placed in an emergency children’s shelter, and two weeks later they identified them. After the pediatrician had read their medical records, they learn that both of the children have been exposing to cocaine, hepatitis B exposure, and congenital syphilis which was treated in the newborn nursery. Many teens in the system abuse substances to cope with their trauma especially alcohol and cannabis. Many use it for to cope with been sexually and physically abuse and other use it for depression among other things. Since they abuse drugs, they also have unsafe sexual relations, which puts them at a higher risk of getting pregnant and getting STDs such as HIV, hepatitis,

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