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Foster care and the effects on children
Foster care and the effects on children
Essays on how foster care affects children indirectly
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Founded in 1967, United Way of Regina is dedicated to improving lives and building its community by engaging individuals and mobilizing collective action. The organization funds services and programs dealing with issues related to children, poverty and health in Regina. Its current focus is the promotion of learning and development opportunities for children. United Way of Regina raises funds primarily through the annual Community Campaign, which includes donations from company payrolls, corporations and individuals. It has a call line called 211-Saskatchewan in collaboration with the United Way of Saskatoon and Area to provide information on over 5,000 community, health, and government services in the area.
Laura Finley states, “Indeed, restoration of the family is achieved in over half the cases of foster care, according to federal statistics. Where this is not possible, permanent adoption is the goal with about twenty percent of foster children. Other children are simply waiting until emancipation…” (Jacobs and Finley). The issue with this view on the foster care system is that its completely sugar coated.
However, according to FosterClub, a non profit organization awarded Best in America by Independent Charites of America, stated that 23,439 children age out of the foster care. Indicating these children were never given a home. The majority of those foster kids do not graduate high school and less than three percent
It is our collective responsibility to choose the path of renewal and ensure a more hopeful and brighter future for all children in foster
The standard says “Social workers in child welfare shall actively engage older youths in addressing their needs while in out-of-home care and as they prepare to transition out of foster care” (NASW, 2013, p. 22). Meaning that there is great preparation done with the child who is exiting the foster care, planning for their new future as well as focusing on basic life skills that are necessary as an adult. It is the child’s social worker who ensures that there is a plan in place and the child has the skills to live on their own. The National Association of Social Work has not taken a position on aging out of foster care specifically.
The foster care system has decreased entry of children and increased the permanent placement of the child in a long term foster home. Research by Davis and O’Brien, (2012, p1918) supports that strategies used in the permanency planning lead to a high success rate of legal permanency for the child in care. That child who is placed in a legal permanency has a better chance in becoming an active member of society. From 2011-2012, which a year later showed entry of children being placed in foster care showed a slight increase, in foster care, but the outcome of legal permanency was still at a higher rate. Another factor that Davis and O’Brien (2013, p 2130) found was that age was a key factor in legal permanency placement.
Note: I speak from experience as a hosting Foster family who have adopted two of the six residing minors we have received from the system. How many times have we heard the term 'Foster Care' in a positive way? Or maybe you've heard of the lion's den of 'Social Services' or the oh-so-ominous 'System' we most likely heard about in the movies? We may see this system as cruel and unfathomable, yet this system is meant to be founded on the actions of the public. Foster 'parents' are to be licensed after many courses of training.
Every child in the Foster Care System has their own reason and their own story for being there, but who will listen? Every child has a voice that matters, no matter how small. Children in the system are pulled, moved, rejected, adopted, and transferred throughout the FCS without being consulted about the who, what, wheres, and whys of the situation. Most of them just get in the car waiting to see where the system will put them next. Each year the amount of children in the system continues to grow every year; however, nothing that those working for the system do can put an end to its exponential growth.
Every foster child deserves a chance to be dealt with the right way, and be given a responsible and well educated case
I believe that foster children should be treated better. I believe this because foster children all over the world foster kids are getting beaten, being forced to do stuff they do not want to do. Furthermore, I am going to ask people what they think about foster children and how they are treated. Although, some people may not agree with me I’m going still going to fight for what I believe. Some cases that happen sometimes do not get recorded and those kids that went through that knowing that it happened and no one did anything about it.
In 2014 there were 650,000 kids in foster care, that’s almost twice as much as Kansas City’s population of 467,007. Roughly 58,000 of these children were placed in an institution or group home instead of a traditional foster home. While these children will age out of the system 40% of them will find themselves homeless, 50% will have substance addiction, 25% will have not received a diploma or GED, only 3% will have received any college degrees and 17% of the young women will be pregnant. Even before they are blessed with their so called “independence” the average child in foster care will have an IQ 20 points lower than a child not in foster care and 33% of them will have moved elementary schools more than 5 times. The foster care system in
The foster care systems has and will always be a part of society. The idea of a foster care system has always been around, even if it was not properly attained in the past. There has also been other methods to try to find placement for children with no or bad homes, for example the orphanage train, living with widows or living house to house in a community. Now in today’s time, we have an organized system of foster care with two different types of homes for children. For example we have group homes, which is a care facility that houses six or more children at a time.
The foster care system has been around since the 1900s and has impacted millions of children’s lives. Since its creation, the system has rapidly grown and has had to receive outside aid to support the increasing number of children entering foster care. Although the foster care system has positive intentions, it has negatively impacted hundreds of children's lives, broken apart families, and has proven to have discrimination factors. There are over 500,000 children in foster care in the United States, most of whom have been victims of abuse and neglect. The circumstances have not let these children experience a stable and supportive environment during their early years of life.
Foster care is something that America has put a lot of time and effort into to get right. Foster care will be defined as any place where a child is taken from their family of residence or who has no able guardian at birth. These are included but not limited to foster parents, group homes, residentials, and emergency shelters (5). Though we have put time, effort, and money into getting things right, foster care is still a dangerous and traumatizing place for children. Foster care has long been considered a “National Disgrace” due to the influx of missing children, complaints of maltreatment, and even deaths (5).
Is what the foster care system is doing really helping these children or are they just setting them up for failure? Although many people feel that the foster care system is the best solution, many nationwide organizations feel that family preservation efforts are more necessary for today’s society. The foster system began in England during the 17th century and was created to help the rich adopt the poor orphans within their community and give them the help they needed. Within months, the laws set in place with the creation of the system had been bent and broken.
