...For my Political Advocacy Project I worked with Uplift Family Services. They are an organization that helps foster children find parents. The topic I was concerned about and that made me choose to work for this organization is why there are more foster children then foster families willing to take them in. This is most likely due to the negative connotation foster children recieve in the media, and the long list of requirements that are needed for someone to become a foster parent. According to the the website findlaw.com some of the requirements needed are that a person has to be over 21, they need to have sufficient housing arrangements and sufficient income. They must attend all foster care parent training sessions...
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...Every year over 20,000 foster kids are aging out and are being thrown into the world. Some either become successful or some become homeless. The Foster Care system has its imperfections when it comes to finding children their “Forever Home.” The system creates “false advertisement”, the kids are unprepared, but it is logical. When I say false advertisement I mean that they portraying the kids the wrong way. They create little biographies trying to make the children seem more appealing to the eyes of potential foster parents just so they can be able to let the kids go faster. When they are creating commercials and showing just these eye appealing photographs and bios they are giving people false information. Some information of course can be right but they fail to mention some real concerns about the child that potential foster parents should know, and with this happening most of the time the chances of those kids being returned back over to the system are higher. From my own...
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...to drugs, are unable to care for their infant daughter. She is taken from them by court order and placed in a foster home. The years pass. She comes to regard her foster parents as her real parents. They love her as they would their own daughter. When the child is 9 years old, the natural parents, rehabilitated from drugs, begin court action to regain custody. The case is decided in their favor. The child is returned to them, against her will. The courts in this case used the rule-based theory of the Three Primary Schools of Ethics to solve the problem. However, in my case I would have chosen the Care-based and Consequentialist theories. In the following paragraphs I will explain how to solve the dilemma using the care-based and consequentialist theory, explain the similarities and differences in both solutions, state whether the two schools of ethics are worthy of use in real life, and if Aristotle would have approved. The care-based theory is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. In this case this is what all adults need to do in order to understand all parties’ perspectives. The adult parties need to compromise. If that’s not possible, putting the love of the child first and allow the child to make the decision. Most likely the child would want to be with the foster parents and possibly have a relationship with the biological parents. All adults should look at the situation through her eyes and make a decision. The biological and foster parents should understand...
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...How many things do you take for granted? Things like college, American rights, and schools are often taken for granted. In America people live in a cushion where we assume we deserve these rights, like the right to go to college or the right to have free speech or the right to vote. And perhaps we do deserve these rights but many people take them for granted when they shouldn’t. A well-known aphorism by Thomas Paine says, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly, ’tis’ dearness only that gives everything it’s value” and that can refer to many things. But one thing people take for granted all to often is their parents. What if you didn’t have parents? What if you spent your childhood bouncing from foster home to foster home never knowing...
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...Institute Psychology PY3150 Stephanie Robinson November 17, 2015 Project Part 1 I chose to do my paper on Marilyn Monroe who overcame a difficult childhood and became one of the biggest and most enduring sex symbols. She born June 1st, 1926 in Los Angeles, never met her father and has one half-sister who she only met a couple times. Her father was not a part of her life and her mother was mentally ill making Monroe an orphan and in foster care. She was in and out of homes until family friends were paid $25 a week to take care of Monroe. While living with them she was not allowed to go to movies or have much of a social life. The home was short-lived due to the couple having to relocate for a job. Returning to the life of foster care at age 7 caused Monroe to be sexually assaulted on multiple occasions until getting married at age 16. Having no high school diploma Monroe started work in a factory until being discovered as a model which later caused her get a divorce. Her career took off as she changed her image to be the model she always dreamt of being. Starting out as a small part in The Asphalt Jungle jumped started her acting career as well. She then stared in many musicals, plays and movies such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall and The Seven Year Itch (Bibliography, n.d.). After many failed marriages her personal life was still a mess and sadly at age 36 Monroe was found dead at her Los Angeles home with an empty...
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...In California, which has the largest foster care population than any other state, the number of foster youth has tripled in the last 20 years” (Foster Care Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web). In my interview I spoke with Dena Price a long time foster parent in California. She talked about the different kinds of care they provided and the numerous children that have been taken into their home. We discussed the challenges in the foster care system and how it accounts for the instability to a child’s life. When I asked Dena about the training she received she stated, “I had to have 32 hours of training, fingerprinted for background check, TB test, physical, and yearly we need 8 hours of continuing training.” (Price, personal interview 2015). When I asked if she felt that was adequate training for what she has to deal with she said, “Yes we have more training/ongoing classes than we had as new parents with our biological sons” (Price, personal interview 2015). During the interview I found out that some of the negatives to being a foster parent is that the children often show up with just the clothes on their backs, sometimes just in a shirt and diaper. They usually have no other personal belongings so it falls on the foster family to provide clothes, personal care items, and toys. The final question I ended the interview with was what she felt needed to be changed about the foster care system. Her reply was “Communication...
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...experiences and childhood tragedies is no excuse to not push to succeed in life. In “The Priviliege of Youth: A Teenager’s Story of Longing for Acceptance and Friendship,” by Dave Pelzer, Pelzer proves that past tragedies are no excuse to not work hard to succeed, but they are proof that anything can be overcome. This story is about a boy, Dave Pelzer, who used his tragic childhood as an encouragement when going through tough situations. Pelzer believed that if he was able to survive his childhood, he could survive almost anything. Pelzer did not let his childhood get in the way of having a successful future. As a young child, Dave Pelzer lived in an unsafe and unproductive home. Pelzer lived with alcoholic parents that abused him in every way. His mother would turn the rest of his family against him and blamed him for all of their troubles and misfortunes. Pelzer would be locked in the basement and treated as an animal until one day he was taken away from his family and entered into the foster system. Unlike many other children, Pelzer saw that foster system as a positive thing, he felt that it was a chance to get away from his family and to start new but as years went on he realized it was a very difficult experience as well....
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...sources “Some experts estimate that 45 percent of those leaving foster care become homeless within a year.” –www.liftingtheveil.org “In a new phenomenon compared with past surveys, almost 11 percent of the youths said they were homeless and living on the streets before coming to shelters.”-www.liftingtheveil.org Interview I have known Daniel Simmons since I was a first year student in high school, in the town of Corona, CA. He’s a tall (about 6’3”, he revealed), slightly overweight, Mexican-American wearing black, horn-rimmed glasses, jeans, and a red and blue Aeropostale shirt, with his washed out, green Army style jacket strung across the back of his chair. Diet Coke and crepe sitting on the table, I sat across from him, laptop at hand. I sat down with Danny and we discussed what it was like to grow up in a foster home. Now, something you must understand is that Danny was not a foster child, but he lived in a home which was always accumulating more children. Having to meet and entertain new children all the time, I would think, would have a drastic impact on the way Danny was raised and the certain parental aspects that arise from growing up in a foster home. It’s a brisk, Tuesday morning in the Crossroads, chilly outside, but warmer inside by the heat the bodies are releasing. Questions 1. Do you remember the first child that came and stayed with your family, when your home first started as a foster home? -“Not really. It’s been so long, ya know? To really know...
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...The individual I chose to do my life span development and personality paper on is Marilyn Monroe. She was born June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. She is an American icon but did not lead the life of glam and glory that she led people to believe. Inside she was a very troubled, sad and insecure woman. She died on August 5, 1962 at the age of 36 in Brentwood California. Her cause of death was Barbiturate overdose. In this paper I am going to explore the personality and background of Marilyn Monroe from the viewpoint of developmental psychology. In my exploration of Marilyn Monroe’s’ background and how I can point out what impacted the young stars life from the viewpoint of developmental psychology I will focus on the influences of her heredity and environment. As well as what family and social support systems influenced Marilyn Monroe’s’ developmental growth and adjustments. I will also address two different theories of personality I have tied with Marilyn Monroe and lastly I will explain which theoretical approach I believe best explains Marilyn’s’ achievements and behaviors. I believe that the early childhood development, or should I say lack of played a key role in Marilyn Monroe’s’ life and her unhappiness. Marilyn Monroe, who was actually born Norma Jeane Baker was born into a family that had a long line of mental illness. Marilyn’s’ great grandfather committed suicide, her uncle went on a run for errands one day...
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...guardianship or placement, state wardship, or foster care, these are fancy legal terms for cases for children whose care has been placed in the care of a determining agency, whether CPS or the Courts. These minors, maybe removed due to some type of abuse; sexual or neglect. The texts also refers to the adoption process,...
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...There are many events in my personal developmental history that are significant. One in particular from the past that comes to mind is when I started my sophomore year of high school. Many things in this year shaped who I am today. I became more independent and met a couple people that changed my life. As a sophomore in high school I grew up a lot. For one I began to drive. This makes young people independent and it definitely did for me too. I began hanging out with my friends a lot more simply because it was easy and my parents didn’t have to take me everywhere. When my parents stopped driving me around I was able to make choices of where I went, good or bad. I made decisions and I learned a lot about consequences this year. The next things...
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...On September 9, 2016, PCRMC employee Ronnie Daniel’s life changed forever when he received the call telling him that his uncle, Clifford Valley and Valley’s fiancé Carla Doss along with Valley’s four children were in a car accident on I-44 W near St. James. Valley was driving back from St. Louis early that morning when he fell asleep at the wheel. Valley overcorrected his vehicle and went off the right side of the highway. His SUV overturned and ejected Valley from the vehicle. Doss passed away at the accident and Valley was taken to Phelps Regional Medical Center where he later passed away. The four remaining passengers, Valley’s children Dakota, age 15, Patrick, age 13, Leighlahna, age 12, and Montana, age 9 all survived, but were left without...
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...carry the same gene, but it is how they raise the child/children and they love and treat you like the child/children is their own. I was blessed with both kind of parents, and they have a variation in many ways because of the life styles, the support, and the home environment. It is hard growing up thinking that the adopted parents are your birth parents, and then later find out in life that they are not. That was confusing for me who was only ten years old to understand, but Matt and Martha, my adopted parents who I will be calling dad and mom, answered any questions I had about anything, and they were completely honest with me. Unlike Sonny and Mary, my biological parents, and will be called them by name because they are not the ones who raised me and taught me everything I know in life. I was two years old when I got adopted, but then I was in seven fosters homes from the age of six weeks to two, and that is because the government kept giving us, my brother, Richard, and I back to them thinking that they had changed their ways but they never did and that is why there was so many foster homes. Until one day they decided to adopt us because they could not have kids of their own, and that changed my life after I got adopted, and also for the better, and would not want it any other way at all, but let us break up the three things about why dad and mom and Sonny and Mary do not have factors in common. Sonny and Mary because of their life styles compared to dad and mom...
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...formed in my mind since the pieces were coming from actual teenagers. From the website, I selected “Melissa’s Diary, Part 1: Teen Mom” and “Melissa’s Diary, Part 2: Raising Isaaiah.” Melissa recorded each one herself. She talked about some of the struggles she had both during her pregnancy and after having Isaaiah for one year. In her first radio diary, Melissa states that she is 18 years old and about eight and a half months pregnant. She never meant to get pregnant, but after growing up in multiple foster families, she sounded excited to have someone of her own and who would love her no matter what. Melissa admitted that she considered abortion when she first realized she was pregnant. I paused the diary to reflect on what has been said. After hearing that, my impression of Melissa changed. When I hear the word “abortion,” I think of killing an innocent life. I began listening again and she says exactly what I was thinking. She does not agree with abortion or adoption. If I were in her shoes, I definitely would not consider abortion, but maybe adoption if I was not in a good enough state to raise a baby. Melissa said that all of her friends had children except for one. This made me think that her group of friends thought having a baby was some sort of accessory or trend. That is usually what I think when I see girls my age carrying their child around. I began to assume the same about Melissa even though she had said she did not plan for it to happen. If all of my friends were...
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...Abortion How would you feel if someone decided that you could never get a chance at life? What if you were never born? Imagine a nervous young female at a Doctor’s office about to make a decision that will not only change her life forever, but change the life of the child growing inside of her. People say they don’t want others making a decision about their lives but they are more than willing to make a choice about someone else’s life. No matter what your views are on the subject of abortion, you have to admit that abortions are just a display of selfishness. A child is a living being regardless of whether or not it has yet to be conceived. Someone’s financial circumstances, level of maturity, or any other factor, doesn’t not change the fact that the “thing” inside a woman’s womb is a living person. Abortion should be banned because of the effects it has psychologically, medically and socially. Abortion has become the most common procedure in unwanted pregnancies. Over 1.3 million abortions are done yearly in the USA. According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, “Approximately one-fifth (19%) of the 6.4 million pregnancies that occur in the U.S. end in abortion. About 19% of women having abortions in the U.S. are teens; 33% are between the ages of 20 and 24; and 48% are ages 25 and older” (1). One can agree that murdering innocent people is wrong. However, legalizing abortion gives someone the right to end the life of another person...
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