...Foster Care in the United States Sue King Liberty University Abstract The history of foster care in the United States started with orphan trains and the Children’s Aid Society founded by Charles Loring Brace. Recent research describes the child welfare system as an organization that provides service to helpless children in need. This paper will discuss foster care as it is relates to safety, permanency, and wellbeing of children in need The role of a foster parent and the process of loss, and grief after a child leave their biological parents will be discussed. Research suggests that Courts has the final decision whether a child will stay in foster care or return home. This paper will describe the developmental impact that foster care has on children after losing their biological family. There are several risk factors associated with poverty. This paper will discuss the significance of children reuniting with their biological parents and/or being adopted for permanency. Empirical evidence from recent research confirmed that hard times during childhood was related to health problems later in life. Foster care reform, educational outcomes, economic incentives for adoption, mentors and home visitation programs should be implemented to improve the foster care system. Keywords: foster care, developmental, health problems, orphan trains Foster Care in the United States The prevalence rate is high for foster care in the United States. The history...
Words: 4211 - Pages: 17
...Youth in the foster care system repeatedly undergo multiple transitions before they reach adulthood. These transitions often create substantial amounts of stress and can intensify emotional and behavioral problems. With more than 29,000 young people exiting the foster care system each year, research has shown that these young people are frequently unprepared for their lives after foster care through findings of high rate homelessness, incarceration, unemployment and school failure (Greenen & Powers, 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Furthermore, research also shows that less than 55% of youth who had exited foster care obtained jobs in the future that paid above the poverty line. Unfortunately, the young people aging...
Words: 1624 - Pages: 7
...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...
Words: 1327 - Pages: 6
...America was undergoing issues with the foster care system. The problem was that there was too many children in the foster care system for an extended period of time. The president at the time, Bill Clinton, signed into law The Adoption and Safe Families Act (1997) (social work). This act was created because of the dramatic increase in the number of children in the foster care system. In spite of the number of placements for the children where drastically decreasing (hard knock life pg 376). The reason for the growth in quantity for children in the system was because of the rise of abuse in home (Illinois welfare). For the reasons illustrated above, the purpose of this policy was to keep children safe. Also, to move children through foster care more quickly. This will allow them to get a permanent home. Another purpose of this act was to provide services that are more effective for children. (Hard knock life 382). There were new provisions created to insure that the purpose of the act was followed through. Some provisions are to find an adoptive family or permanent home, the termination parents’ rights for circumstances, and providing states financial incentives for escalation of the...
Words: 670 - Pages: 3
...There are approximately 670,000 children in foster care within the United states, 670, 000 kids that's the united states government is expected to feed, clothe, and provide a home for, leaving the United states economy. I propose a solution, one that will relieve the U.S. foster care system of all its burden, what if we hurdled up all the children over the age of ten, since less than twenty-three percent of children over the age of ten are wanted or are adopted within the U.S foster care system. Therefore, instead of scouring around to find decent homes and paying thousands of dollars to an individual to take care of these children who will not get adopted, but will also only be thrown into the streets on their eighteenth birthday without...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
...What affect does foster care have on children? Is it a stable and supportive environment? Foster care allows kids to have a chance to live a somewhat normal life. There are advantages and disadvantages for kids living in foster homes, but questions arise when there are foster parents that do not provide a stable environment. When we are not aware of these situations of unstable foster homes the kids placed in those foster homes will not have a good survival rate for success. Although there are parents out there that provide security for their foster children, we still need to be aware of the circumstances of kids placed in foster homes that are not safe and secure. Foster care is a great system to provide kids with families who do not...
Words: 1665 - Pages: 7
...and settle, rather then get moved around and feel worthless because we feel that no one wants us.” When people think of foster care we think of a safe place for a child to live in temporarily, but we often don't realize what is happening in a foster care system. This quote comes from a foster care child who talks about the fears of never having parents or ever being accepted because they are in foster care. Foster care systems have face many difficulties, and increasing amount of children, and the problems that the children face in and out of foster care. In our world today the economy is so badly corrupted that permanency for a foster...
Words: 1055 - Pages: 5
...Our Foster System Children are the backbone of any society. They represent what will come of that future society. Unfortunately, not all children are cared for, this can be a problem when we look at how children in the foster care system will grow up. When looking at the present time, there is major flaws in the current foster care system. The children today are not being properly taken care of. There are many reasons including: Poor funding, lack of homes, and settling issues. Overall, the flaws are making an unstable households and the issue must be fixed. The foster system of today is broken, the child inside are struggling mentally and physically; the system needs to be improved, the opposing view would be that foster care is successful...
Words: 1980 - Pages: 8
...Foster Care In the United States the homeless is on the rise. Much of this can be attributed to not only the lack of jobs, but also the improper care provided in critical developmental stages of one's life. Much of this improper care comes from our foster care system. A government run program is very corrupt not to mention inefficient. The foster care system is broken leaving 18 year olds helpless, on the streets, and drugs or prison. All of this could be prevented if these children were properly placed and if more funding went into it. Many children do not get adopted in the foster care system. In most states when a child turns 18 they are no longer able to remain in the foster care system. Some states have extended time where a child can...
Words: 985 - Pages: 4
...experience prior or during the foster care system might have an impact on children’s attachment styles as well. Getting mental health support is important but often unsupported. In a study conducted by Burns, Phillips, Wagner, Barth, Koko, Campbell, & Landsverk (2004), 47.9% of children in foster care reported behaviors in need of mental health services. Of that group, only 11.7% received the care that they needed (Burns et al., 2004). The type of foster care home they go into also may impact the type and amount of mental health support the children will receive. Swanke et al. (2016) showed that children placed in traditional care, which is a total stranger, are 14% more likely to receive mental help than children placed in kinship care, which can be a relative or family friend. Even then, if the child has been in the system for over one year, the mental health...
Words: 568 - Pages: 3
...Analysis The approach that I chose to take was that of in depth observations of ten families, these observations took place in random settings so that I would not disturb the families or their children. As mentioned in our method portion ten families and their foster children were observed . To analyze the effectiveness of my in depth observations I will take my raw notes of each child and their families and analyze how each child has been affected by being part of the foster care system. For my initial coding phase I will use the approach of structural coding in which I will analyze my notes and also incorporate three common similarities between the 10 families and their new foster children. The structural coding of my notes will lead...
Words: 469 - Pages: 2
...“Eighty percent of adolescents entering the foster care system have severe mental health problems” (Source E). Children in the foster care system have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect, and counseling is an effective non-drug solution. However the majority of these children are misdiagnosed; foster children are prescribed psychiatric drugs instead of counseling or other non-drug alternatives. These misdiagnoses are then added to a child’s medical history, which lacks consistency from constantly being transferred to different homes. Overhauling America’s foster care system will be challenging and strenuous, but is a necessary step in improving the welfare of foster children, who spend on average over two years in purported temporary placement...
Words: 980 - Pages: 4
...The published document, Aging out of foster care: The experiences of former foster youth who successfully navigated this transition by Margot Hedenstrom explains the experiences of former youth who was successful when transitioning out of foster care. She was able to study this by using participants ages 20-25 that transitioned out of foster care. Hedenstrom studied the risk and outcomes of youth who have transitioned. Some of the risks include drug abuse, early parenthood, and, as well as violence toward other individuals (Hedenstrom, 2014). Those who were unable to become self-sufficient often lack family or social support. Which supports the use of extended foster care because if some of those youth were able to stay in foster care longer...
Words: 462 - Pages: 2
...Foster care is a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birth parent is unable to care for them. Today, there are almost 428,000 children in foster care. Foster care is not a way for someone to make a little extra cash or have a kid keep you some company and if the child acts out you just get to harm them. Foster children are not toys or less of a human in any way but the sad part is, they have become looked at that way. They are uprooted from all that they had known and have a hard time adjusting to a new, strange environment. A survey from 2011 states that thirteen percent of foster children run away at least once in their time in the system and another nine percent abandon their foster homes...
Words: 1803 - Pages: 8
...Juveniles in Foster Care According to Muller-Ravett and Jacobs (2012) every year, more than 25,000 young people age out of the foster care system, upon reaching adulthood usually at the age of 18. This number is far less than the 100,000 young people, with dual involvement, leaving juvenile justice facilities each year. Many studies found that 50 percent of youth entering the detention system have experienced with child welfare especially those who have languished in foster care. The most relevant act which address juvenile delinquency dates is “Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974” which states that incarcerated juveniles should be separated from adults and the courts are responsible to provide preventive...
Words: 297 - Pages: 2
