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The foster care system essays
Solution-focused therapy goals
Solution-focused therapy goals
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The article “The Implementation of Solution-Focused Therapy to Increase Foster Care Placement Stability” was written in 2010 by Jeffrey J. Koob and Susan M. Love. Entering the foster care system and being placed in a new environment can be challenging transition for both children and adolescents. As a result, “one to two-thirds will have disruptions in their placements” with most being adolescents (Koob and Love, 2010, p.1346). In order to reduce the number of disruptions, Koob and Love focused on promoting stability for adolescents in foster care through the use of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Rather than using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the article proposed that through the use of short term treatment with SFBT adolescents …show more content…
Participants were followed for one year to determine if they endured or failed their foster care placements (Koob & Love, 2010). According to Koob & Love (2010), when participants were placed into foster home they either were stable to remain in the home or they returned back to the residential facility as a result of a failed placement. The length of stay within the residential center ranged from two to six weeks and were then placed into another foster home (Koob & Love, 2010). However, if the placement was unsuccessful again the adolescent would return back to the center (Koob & Love, 2010). This was a continuous cycle and each participant never returned to the same home (Koob & Love, …show more content…
I agree with some of the limitations of the study such as their small number of participants, ethnic representation and use of one location. Due to this, the results of the study was not generalizable to other populations. In addition, the length of time that the study was conducted was also relatively short. Some children are typically in foster care for more than a year therefore, providing a longer time period to see results could indicate if there were changes in placement after the one year time period. This indicates a limitation to using SFBT because it may be too brief and not provide enough time for the client to identify ways to improve their situation. Furthermore, the article did not directly indicate how SFBT proved to be effective. According to Koob and Love (2010), “it could have been the change of focus from individual to family that lead to increased placement stability, rather than from cognitive behavioral to solution focused” (p.1349). Therefore, I agree with Koob and Love’s statement that “there is no evidence that the treatment had a direct effect” (2010, p.1349). Furthermore, although SFBT has been utilized with other client populations, I do believe that it would be difficult to utilize this intervention with those who have severe mental health issues because they may be unable to identify attainable goals and effective ways improve their areas of need. Furthermore, the therapist
The concept of aging out of foster care is referred to those children who are within the state foster care system and who are still in the system upon reaching the age of eighteen, twenty-one or have graduated from high school (Craft, 2014). The causes of children aging out of the foster care system is usually due to the children not finding a permanent home with an adoptive family, or the state for some reason has not reunited the child with his or her birth family before turning of age. Each state has a different regulation on what the age should be when a child ages out of the system. Many children are not ready to make the transition of being out on their own, therefore, some states have moved the age up to 21 years instead of 18 years (Craft, 2014). If the foster parents or parent chooses to keep caring for the child after he or she ages out, then the child is able to stay in their foster home until he or she is ready to make that step and move out. According to Cunningham and Diversi, many of the difficulties that foster youth face during their transition are known and read about in academic literature, but those who go through the process of aging out of foster care are largely missing from the academic literature (Cunningham & Diversi, 2013). Many children who are in the foste...
There is nearly 400,000 children in out-of-home care in the United States right now (Children’s Right). Just about every day children are being shipped in and out of foster homes and group homes. Most people want the best for children in foster care and decide to take care of them until their parents can possibly recover. The foster care system can have both a negative or positive effect on children, foster parents, and biological parents because of the gaps in the system. Foster cannot not be avoided but the some aspects of the foster care system can be avoided if the missing gaps were filled.
Addressing the needs of children in foster care has been an issue that has tried to be addressed in many ways. In 2001, approximately 300,000 children entered the foster care system, with the average time spent in placement equaling 33 months (Bass Shields, & Behrman, n.d.). Statistically, the longer a child is in the foster care system, the greater number of placements they will have, and instability increases each year (Bass Shields, & Behrman, n.d). I recently read a novel by a girl who was placed into the system at age two, and by age 12 she had already experienced 14 different placements (Rhodes-Courter, 2007). Stories such as this one are not uncommon in the foster care system, especially if the child is a member of a sibling group or
The importance of family partnership meetings (FPM) or sometimes called family team meetings, is well established. Studies about FPM as an engagement tool in the foster care system indicates that engagement is an important component to achieving permanency for foster children (Crampton, Usher, Wildfire, Webster, & Cuccaro-Alamin, 2011; Boldis, & Tomlinson, 2014). It has been demonstrated that FPM increases biological family members’ participation in permanency planning (Crampton, Usher, Wildfire, Webster, & Cuccaro-Alamin, 2011; Gladstone et al., 2012; Montserrat, López, Bravo, & del Valle, 2013). Permanency is more likely to be long term when biological families are active members of the FPM (Boldis, & Tomlinson,
Stott, Tonia. "Placement Instability And Risky Behaviors Of Youth Aging Out Of Foster Care." Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal 29.1 (2012): 61-83. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Jan. 2014.
The theory that I chose to analyze in this paper is the constructivist approach with a dual use of both the Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) and Narrative Therapy. In my worldview change happens when an individual is motivated to persist and accomplish their goals. In my own personal philosophy, I am optimistic that every student is capable of discovering a solution that best fits in solving their problem and that everything we do in life is interconnected to helping us accomplish our ideal goals. I plan to work with first generation college students after completing the Educational Counseling program at USC and see the Constructivist approach to best accommodate the needs of first generation college student population. I see every
(2011) The research study analyzed SFBT’s effectiveness at both the individual therapy level and the group therapy level. (Cepukiene and Pakrosnis, 2011) This study concluded that SFBT is effective and reliable and elicited significant change in thirty-one percent of the participants. Data collected showed that utilizing SFBT with this demographic resulted in improved behaviors. (Cepukiene and Pakrosnis, 2011) Furthermore, their result’s showed that after SFBT intervention, adolescents were less likely to be taken out of a foster home and placed in a group home due to negative behaviors. (Cepukiene and Pakrosnis, 2011) Researchers report that approximately half of the adolescents achieved what they considered to be ‘significant change’. (Cepukiene and Pakrosnis,
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.
As of 2014, there were over 415,000 children in the foster care system. Foster care is the raising and supervision of children in a private home, group home, or institution, by individuals engaged and paid by a social service agency (Legal Dictionary, 2016). Care givers can be of kin relationship to the child, or may not know the child at all. Group homes are run by a social worker and can house multiple children at a time. These homes are usually regulated by the state and/or government. Children of all ages go through many emotions when their lives revolve in foster care. This paper will discuss the emotions children deal with regarding separation from birth family, the effects of abuse, and the possibility of having to transition out of
“About two-thirds of children admitted to public care have experienced abuse and neglect, and many have potentially been exposed to domestic violence, parental mental illness and substance abuse” (Dregan and Gulliford). These children are being placed into foster care so that they can get away from home abuse, not so they can move closer towards it. The foster children’s varied outcomes of what their adult lives are is because of the different experiences they grew up with in their foster homes. The one-third of those other foster children usually has a better outcome in adult life than the other two-thirds, which is a big problem considering the high percentage of children being abused in their foster homes. Although, the foster care system has most definitely allowed children to experience the positive home atmosphere that they need there is still an existed kind of abusive system in the foster care program that is unofficial but seems to be very popular. Foster care focuses on helping children in need of a temporary stable environment; however, foster care can have negative impacts to the children and the people around them concerning the foster child going through the transition, the parents of the foster child, a new sibling relationship, and problems that arrive later influencing the foster child long-term.
Pabustan-Claar, J. (2007). Achieving permanence in foster care for young children: a comparison of kinship and non-kinship placements. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 16, 61-94.
174). Shea and Jackson (2015) research goal was to elicit the Family Mosaic Project (FMP) youths’ thoughts and feelings of their experience with this type of intervention (pg. 175). The FMP is a program that refers troubled youth to the Occupational Therapy Training Program (OTTP) from clinicians that work in schools, in communities or in detention facilities who are practitioners of the client-centered occupation-based therapy (Shea, Jackson, 2015, pg.174). FMP focus on changing behaviors of youth between the ages of 11 and 18 who are socially disadvantaged, by providing services such as intensive case management (Shea, Jackson, 2015, pg. 174). OTTP is a community-based program within FMP, that offers social activities that are pleasurable and meaningful to occupy severely troubled kids who are at risk for foster care (Shea, Jackson, 2015, pg. 174). Furthermore, the sample consisted of five participants of the FMP program and the demographics were gender, age, ethnicity, level of education and length in OTTP (Shea, Jackson, 2015, pg. 175). Qualitative research method was used to gather and analyze the verbal data of the research design (Shea, Jackson, 2015, pg. 174). Five semi-structured interviews were
Developed in the 1980s, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a relatively new therapeutic approach that changes how the client looks at their situation. (Corey, 2012) SFBT is considered an optimistic-based therapeutic approach. SFBT is goal-oriented and future-focused that concentrates on solutions to the problems the individual is facing rather than the problem itself. (Corey, 2012) This positive approach assumes that each individual is competent and possesses and ingenuity necessary for solving their problems with the resources they already have. (Corey, 2012) Therapists that utilize this approach assist their clients in identifying and utilizing strengths and resources that they already possess, instead of trying reinvent the wheel, so to speak. (Corey, 2012) These therapists dialog with their clients about future accomplishments they would like to make happen. Iveson admits that the hardest part of utilizing the SFBT therapeutic approach is switching one’s viewpoint from concentrating on their problems in life to focusing on their strengths and goals for their future. (2002)
Solution Focused Brief Therapy is a unique approach to therapy that neither focuses on the past nor the future but on what is possible now. SFBT is a post modern approach to therapy that became popular in the 1960's and 70s based on the theory that posits small progress can lead to long term change. This approach was created by...creatorsThe clients and the counselor collaborate to establish realistic goals that can be reached in a relatively short period of time. The counselor works to create an environment where clients can be honest. SFBT believe that analyzing problems is not needed in the process of change. Behavior change is seen as an integral part of change in clients therapeutic process. Both the counselor and the client come together to create goals to incite a change in behavior.
Barth, R., Crea, T., John, K., Thoburn, J. & Quinton, D. (2005). Beyond attachment theory and therapy: Towards sensitive and evidence-based interventions with foster and adoptive families in distress. Child and Family Social Work, 10, 257-268.