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Foster Care Observation

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As of 2014, more than 650,000 children were involved in foster care. More than half of these children were non-white (Foster Care - Children's Rights). The numbers continue to rise as years go by and we are seeing these children become products of their environment. Once they age out of foster care nearly a quarter are homeless, sixty percent of males have been convicted of a crime, and more than two-thirds of women have a child (Fessler). With all of these children under the care of the states, these children will soon age out and become members of our society. With almost forty-seven percent of former foster children being unemployed (CR Staff) they are contributing nothing to society, thus making this a huge societal problem. So, what happens …show more content…
The problem with doing an observation is the fact that it would be incredibly difficult to do an accurate one. If someone is observing, the people they are observing are likely to change their behavior. In a household where a child is being abused the abuser will most likely not abuse the child in front of the observer. Or, a child might subdue their reactions to things and how they feel just so the observer will not have reason to think the child is in harms way just to avoid being relocated in the foster system. The best way to see how a child is feeling is to give them a survey. Children thrive on honesty and will not feel like you are trying to trick them into things if you just present questions them. Ask questions such as, “Have you ever felt like you were not wanted in a foster house?” “Have you ever felt the need to ignore your emotions just to keep peace within a foster house?” “Non-exclusive, have you ever been inappropriately touched or hit at a foster house?”. You would get more honest answers from the children this way and they would not feel compelled to lie being as you would give it away from their foster parents. It would completely anonymous and you would promise to say anything to the parents. It would also be nice to allow a space at the bottom to reflect on their current housing and if they like where they’re stay or if there are any problems of any type occurring in …show more content…
It is evident that these issues are constantly negatively influencing our children and damning them to a life of hardships. Out of all of the information and statics I have seen, I believe our biggest problem is the state. If we continue to allow these broken children to be put in bad, if not worse, homes then we are doing nothing for these children. I think that our abuse rates will continue to rise because no one is doing anything for these children. No one is listening to our children. These children need to be able to speak to an adult who does not look at them like a problem or take pity on them. Another large issue is just that. We do not listen to these children. We assume we are helping them by removing them from toxic situations only to be putting them in harms way due to not enough checkups, not enough psychological treatment, and even less care. These children are the future of America and need to be treated like they matter. Too many times we see these children be pushed around into different foster homes just because they are “too hard” to deal with. The foster system needs more compassion and better outlets for these children to express how they feel. Our biggest problem is

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