Danielle Jackson Carlton - 5 English 11 1 March 2018 The Broken System we call Foster Care Yes foster care is an essential system used to provide loving homes to children, but unfortunately these systems have become broken and can no longer keep kids safe under their care. Everyday children are being placed in foster homes facing abuse, unloving parents, and even death. The system has only progressively gotten worse leaving behind children traumatized to a point where no amount of love or therapy can fix them.
Depending on the child’s age, they could feel out of place and not fit in with their new family. Furthermore there are laws and regulations in place to keep the children in foster care safe and well accounted for, but sometimes, these laws get in the way of regular family life. Since there are rules for foster parents or caregivers, some foster families cannot engage in particular activities. As a foster parent, Shannon Hernandez found that “even a camping trip for one night as little as 30 miles away or a weekend trip to a different city, both routine things for families to do and positive experiences for children. The rules governing this type of activity by caregivers may require the approvals of the social worker, the biological parents, the parents' attorneys, and the child's attorney” (Hernández).
I did most of my research online. My first piece of information came from a website based on Children 's Rights. This site gave me information about average ages in foster care, institutions, and group homes. This sight was very informal about the types of living foster kids can go through. The next site I visited was about What Foster Care is.
Once the foster parents feel that they can not control the child's emotional outbursts, or misbehaving, they become disconnected. “Other child welfare authors have documented the intrapsychic conflict that many foster care children experience as a result of traumatic separation from biological parents. This conflict is often manifest by expressed or observed feeling of guilt, rejection, abandonment and shame” (Gonzales). The foster parents begin to feel helpless, which can lead them to stop caring for the child, causing more emotional detachment for the
Aging out of foster care falls under the child welfare field of practice. Child welfare is a system that is designed to protect children through prevention/intervention, primarily focusing on children who have a risk of being abused or neglected. Child welfare itself overlaps with many other professions and disciplines such as doctors, law enforcement, and education professionals, etc. The well-being of a child should never solely be on the social worker as a child may see many of these professionals on a regular basis (NASW, 2013). Having connections with all the systems in a child’s life can be very beneficial for the child.
The Effects of a Broken System Foster care is a system in which a child under the age of eighteen, is placed in a temporary home away from one’s parents due to physical or mental neglect. Children from as young as a few days old to teenage years are placed in foster care every day. The amount of children in the system affect how needs are met and how high these youths are placed on a need of special care for problems that were developed before and while in the system. Most of which occur because they are abused and that is why they were taken away. Foster care is an escape for those being mistreated.
According to a Child Protective Investigation, there are approximately half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, otherwise known as congregate care (group homes and institutions). Children are placed in congregate care when they are found to be in an unsafe environment. Usually children of abuse or maltreatment are placed first (Font, 2015). Out-of-home-care causes increased problems of attachment, behavioral, and psychological disorders in the developing child. Child safety is the primary goal of out-of-home-care; however, maltreatment investigations are still reported in those institutions.
a. Foster parents can have an impact on the lives of a foster child by giving them a safe place to stay where they can feel loved and cared for. Foster parents can also provide the love and support that these children need especially if they came from an abused or neglected home. According to (Hasenecz, 2009) there have been several shocking stories about children being abused and neglected while in foster care or even worse reports of social workers who knew of the abuse and neglect and failed to report it or do anything about
Foster care is not a perfect system. Many children that are put into the foster care system are separated from their siblings and put into harmful environments. These environments are supposed to be safe and give the child a chance at a better life. However, children living in group homes are not able to develop secure attachment to the people who are supposed to take care of them. Children bounce back and forth from house to house, family to family, causing them to live in an unstable environment through most (if not all of) their child hood.
In some states in the United States, youth age out of foster care at the age of 18, however in states such as Maryland and the District of Columbia youth age out of foster care at the age of 21. It was the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, which was a part of the Foster Care Independence act of 1999, which promoted programs to assist youth in the process of making the transition from foster care. The primary goal of these programs were that youth become self sufficient. Such programs as the John H. Chafee Foster Care Impendence Program, assisted youth who have left in care but not yet reached age 21. While extending the age of emancipating from care to the age of 21, was created to form positive outcomes for emancipated youth,
For instance emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities and autism (Hill, 2009). When a social worker takes a child into custody that child has just became a child of the state or some would say basically their child and responsibility. That leaves the social worker taking that child to doctor appointments and make sure the child is in a foster home that is taking care of the child’s need. The funding for this policy comes from the federal government, state systems, and local systems (A legacy training module from NICHCY, 2014). Most children that are in the system are supplied with Medicaid, and sometimes receives a check from the government if they are physically disabled or
When children are taken from their homes at a young age and placed in a foster home they are already create a form of disconnection, yet when taking them from their siblings their familial connections are torn away ten times faster. Siblings provide leadership, care, and challenger in each other's lives, siblings are meant to guide one another and help their family in tough times. When one doesn't have their sister or brother to be their guide, the child may not join the right crowd. Then the serious issue of full disconnection from all relationships. When one is separated from so many things all at once, it is very rare for that child to form a bond, with the adults or the other foster children.
Social workers are in a unique position within the child welfare system. While some tenured social workers do work within the political realm, most social workers are consistently face-to-face with clients and their families. This is true also for caseworkers in the foster care system. When policy is enacted by a federal or state government, it is put into action by “street-level bureaucrats,” or practitioners that have direct interactions with clients (Segal, 2020). In this regard, social workers have the most influence over if and how a policy is enacted on the “street
The needs of the children, ages, keeping stability in children’s life and willingness of each parent to help the children have a good relationship with the other parent are a few of the factors judges consider when deciding custody of a child . According to Warshak, “Children who spend at least 35 percent time with each parent, rather than live with one and visit the other, have better relationships with their fathers and mothers and do better academically, socially, and psychologically… they get better grades; are less likely to smoke, get drunk, and use drugs; and are less susceptible to anxiety, depression, and stress-related illnesses”. Giving party 1 sole decision- making was a good verdict because, like you said: “Party 2 has demonstrated
They also need to pay attention to behaviours, listening to the child and building a trusting relationship. It is key that children are involved
