Last time I remember my family being bright and happy as a whole was probably seven years ago. My family members were my perseverance, my strength, and most importantly my friends who always supported me. When I fell down, it was their hands and smiles that gave me strength to get back on my feet, when I felt like giving up, it was their arms that opened widely to embrace and receive me. As joyful as we can be, I thought my family, was the most beautiful and most pure thing that lived in my life. Lived, sad truth that can’t be forgotten even through numerous of years of facing the same old reality of what happened; where was the breakdown? I wondered. I knew it was useless to attempt to cover up the wound that was deeply implanted in me but in hopes of making the memories of this disaster disappear, I , a young child, was allowed time to cover up those memories as best I could. I often told myself, “at least I have a family… I shouldn’t be sad” and thought of those who were adopted and how they felt. However, the scar deepened by seconds and the spaces to fill were rapidly widening. If I had to be hurt, I would just endure the pain even if I wanted to lean on someone; I kept it all to myself and believed in patience. The impact on which family separation have had on children has been a major problem throughout the world for centuries. Yet, parents fail to acknowledge the effect of how their own irresponsibility can sway their children’s educations, their future, and their body image as their children struggle to continue their life assuming they were abandoned. Papers are papers. There is probably someone writing about foster children at this moment explaining how children all over the world need our support. Yet, we often realiz... ... middle of paper ... ... the case in education whether teaching an ordinary kid or not. This way they keep the motivation of learning burning. For stereotypical issues, if news such as CNN and FoxNews showed information about the statistics of how many foster children are being educated along with possible obstacles in the future and how it can be prevented, maybe more parents will adopt a child to share their wealth and love. Staying away from the primary issues such as the heavy storm that hit few days ago, the CNN news is currently talking about Johnny Depp and Seth Rogen that has no importance in the environment and the world we live in. Imagine the number of foster child being brought into their new loving family and the happiness and hope they find when they are embraced! As the old saying goes, “Money can’t buy happiness” so parenting abused and neglected children is PRICELESS!
Problems in the society such as poverty, homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, unequal education, family and community violence, and racism all can affect families and impact child welfare and the system itself (Chipungu and Goodley, pp. 76, 2004) There is often a incongruity between the services being offered to children and families in foster care and what they actually need. One example that Chipungu and Goodley (2004) made was birth parents being offered training and counseling when services such as housing assistance and childcare are more critically needed but not available (pp. 79).
Despite attempts in the foster care system agencies under the guidelines of the “Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997” (ASFA) to locate suitable homes and families for foster children, many remain in foster care. “Too often, Child Welfare policy and the agencies responsible for it – offices that respond to child abuse and neglect, oversee foster care placements, and seek to reunite children with their parents to find adoptive families- are out of sight and out of mind except for fleeting moments of tragedy, such as a child’s death”.
One of the biggest misconceptions that we have in our country is that foster care is a great thing; well, it’s not. There are so many flaws in our foster care system to even consider it a good idea. With constant reports of abuse, depression, lack of stability, to even the terrible after effects of the foster care system, like homelessness and incarceration; the foster care system hurts more than it helps. Our foster care system is bad for America, but most of all, our children.
Adopt US Kids is a project that raises public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families. “This project started in 2002 in their efforts to find families for children in foster care, which becomes the most challenging when trying to place older youth” (Adoption Exchanged Association 2002). The PSA takes place in the kitchen where two females, an older and a younger, seem to have burnt a pie. The burnt pie, however, is not the focus of the image; the focus is the obvious, genuine relationship between the adoptive mother and teen daughter. Without a doubt, the Public Service Announcement (PSA) titled “Adoption from Foster Care” (see Figure 1) from the organization Adopt US Kids is effective at convincing adults who are hesitant to adopt of their potential through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos.
...t with a child in the foster care system. This paper gave me the opportunity to learn the positives and the negatives as well as more details about the little parts of the foster care system that I didn’t know existed. Even though my focus is to help the child and think about their best interest, this paper showed me that the parents, both biological and foster, are another important factor that helps the children. It made me realize that I will need to meet the parents and work with them to make a plan that fits their life. I will need to figure out what issues they feel are important to fix and how to get to those solutions. Foster care is a complex system that will challenge me daily if I enter the into this specific field but even if I work with children in a different environment I need to be aware that children come from all different types of backgrounds.
This paper will explore the behavior issues and emotional issues associated with children in foster care and the foster care system, as well as touching base on the mental health problems these children can possibly deal with. This paper will explain the different issues kids deal with, explaining how being in the foster care system affects the kids and their behavior. The examples used in this paper will be based off research, as well as a true life story, written by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, who was in the foster care system. There will also be examples based off of experience interning in the foster care system.
Child welfare services should create a better environment in foster care homes. Children face mental and physical trauma every day in foster care homes like emotional distress, unstable mental health and surroundings, developmental delays etc. High trauma rates in children who currently reside in foster care or did, amounting to “one-half to two-thirds,” raises everyday (Dorsey, Burns, Southerland, Cox, Wagner, and Farmer 871). A nationwide social services policy on how to become a foster care parent or child should focus on the mental, emotional and physical state of the individual to decrease foster care abuse.
“I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.” these are the words of the 27th governor of nevada (Kenny Guin). The world we now resign in is the outcome of the decisions man has made. A system in which were made to help those in need is now the obstacle preventing their success. In the article “American foster care system needs work” the authors state “On any given day, there are nearly 397,000 American children in foster care, according to a report conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That's enough to fill Tiger Stadium
Many reasons exist as to why the foster system is failing and a major one is the number of children in the program. Although the number of children in the foster care system has decreased about 11% since 2002, “…experts worry that the trend might now go into reverse” (Protecting 47). “In 2008 there were 463,000 children in the foster care system” (47), due to the actions of parents such as abuse, neglect and the use of drugs and/or alcohol can cause a child to be placed in foster care. These actions cause the number of children in the system to increase. In order for this number to decrease dramatically programs must be put in place to help find enough, stable homes for foster children. As a result of the economy, many states have “considered cutting down on child-welfare services, such as benefits for foster parents and the number of social workers they employ” (47). If there is a lack of social workers, it is less likely that a child will be placed in a home quickly. Wi...
Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, a group home, or a private home of a state certified caregiver. It offers children in need of a place to live a safe environment. Although this helps out the child tremendously, it takes so much more to be a foster family, or someone who provides housing for the child in need. I began to learn this myself when my family volunteered to take in children and become a foster home.
“Every year more than 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system” (Jansson, 2014, p.62). “As youth in foster care mature into adulthood, they face enormous challenges, including lack of family support; educational deficiencies; employment and income problems; inadequate or inappropriate living arrangements;
In order for a possible successful future to take place, an appropriate selection of the caregiver must take place (Blythe et. al 88). Whenever an inappropriate foster parent is given responsibility over a child, all sorts of issues for the parent and child are created that could have been easily avoided. Foster care agencies must select foster parents that are completely capable to care for the health and safety of their new kids (Blythe et. al 88). This means that the foster parents must be able to supply all of the child’s essential needs so that they may be a valuable citizen in society one day. Research has discovered that foster parents will experience more anxiety and stress when compared to adults in their surrounding communities (Blythe et al. 88). This is directly because the foster parent was incapable of being a sufficient parent for the foster child. Since every child is special and unique in their own way it makes sense that the foster p...
To many outsiders, the foster care system may appear to be a safe haven for those children that are abused or abandoned by their birth family. This is correct, but the system with which it is based, has many flaws. A background check is mandatory for all foster parents, but a test to see if a child 's temperament matches that caregiver 's parenting style, is not. Now, this is seen as a minor issue, but there is not enough evidence to support this. Plus, there are many other, much worse reasons, why the system is not perfect. Altogether, the foster care system and a multitude of its rules are flawed and may actually be negatively affecting foster children.
Foster care has become an important topic to researchers today. Studies by various sources like Children and Youth Services Review, Child Welfare, Child Abuse and Neglect, Pediatrics, Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, and Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, show that foster children are more likely to fail out of high school and end up in jail than non-foster children. The researchers say that the majority of foster kids are not prepared for the world after foster care. Researchers point out that children outside of the foster care system have their parents for housing, money, and overall care, well past their 18th birthday. Foster children on the other hand, are dropped by the system and left to fend for themselves
Kids are suffering due to complications in their lives. Children of all ages are being put into foster care system year after year. Foster Care is a social program that helps children who have been abused or neglected by their parents. Abused and neglected children are removed from the care of their parents, and become a ward of the state. They are placed with a foster parent, a relative, a treatment center, or a group home. Foster care is meant to be short-term and most children are expected to return to their birth parents, a relative or a family who is looking to adopt them. There is a big problem where children aren't finding permanent homes and are not being prepared for life on their own once they become eighteen. The foster care system helps plenty of children escape abuse and neglect from their birth parents, but there are also a lot of problems with the foster care system. Yes, this is the twenty-first century & yes, some would say we have come a long