Foster Care: Lost or Forgotten “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” Calvin Coolidge puts these words together to form an understanding of the effort it takes to develop children. When parents could not meet these needs, or were unable to care for their children, a system was set up to benefit them and their children. Foster Care is when a minor is placed in a group or private home, with a state-certified caregiver, these caregivers are known as foster parents. The foster care system is an opportunity for children that have no parents or those that are not accountable, to live in a stable environment. There are a great number of children with mental heath or developmental issues entering the foster care system everyday. These issues are created from their previous experiences or during their stay in the foster care system. More then 500,000 children in the United States foster system are struggling with developmental problems everyday (Cuno, 2009). With the consistency of developmental issues, this system handles many children with a variety of problems. There is a great importance in early brain development and it can depend on the home and situation. Children usually have no control of these situations and need all the help they can get. Foster Care was developed to help children out of bad circumstances with their parents. Children have a variety of situations that lead them into the system. They are generally removed from their homes to protect them from immediate physical harm. Parents that cause their children to become taken away commonly have substance abuse or are involved with drugs; these by far are the majority of... ... middle of paper ... ...0Lv2yyy45tx-WOA&bvm=bv.61965928,d.aWM Harden, B. (2014). Developmental Outcomes of Children in Foster Care. Princeton University. Retrieved from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/ article/index.xml?journalid=40&articleid=133§ionid=874 Leslie, L., &Gordon, J. (2006). Addressing the Developmental and Mental Health Needs of Young Children in Foster Care. US National library of Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1519416/ Perry, B. D., Pollard, R. A., Blakeley, T. L., Baker, W. L. and Vigilante, D. (1995). Childhood Trauma, the Neurobiology of Adaptation, and “use-dependent” Development of the Brain: How “states” become traits.” Infant Mental Health Journal. Zimmerman, G. (1982). Treating Foster Children for Psychological Issues. Kids Peace Institute. Retrieved from https://www.kidspeace.org/healing.aspx?id=1170