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The foster care system and its effects
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The foster care system and its effects
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Many potential adopted parents have experienced heartbreak, anguish and other problems that can be associated with adoption. There is an imbalance in the Nations foster care system and the system needs to be strengthening and the quality of services improved. 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”. The goal of Juvenile Courts and the Child Welfare Agencies is to protect and make decision in the best interest of children. The ASFA law was signed by President Bill Clinton. On November 19, 1997 after it was approved by the United States Congress earlier in the month. The law was the most significant piece of legislation dealing with child welfare in twenty years. States decided to interpret the law as requiring biological families to be kept together no matter what, but the law shifted emphasis towards children health and safety concerns and away from a policy of reuniting children with their birth parents without regards to their prior abuse. ASFA lead sponsor, Republican Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island said, “We will not continue the current system of always putting the needs and rights of biological parents first … It’s time we recognize that some families simply cannot and should not be kept together.” This phil... ... middle of paper ... ...dicated and possess the ability to problem solve. References: DeCataldo, K., & Carroll, K. (2007). Adoption Now: A joint initiative of New York's Courts and Child Welfare System. Child Welfare, 86(2), 31-48. Retrieved from professional Development Collection database. Copyright (c) 1999 West Virginia Law Review West Virgina Law Review, Winter, 1999, 102 W. Va. L. Rev. 477, 13457 words, STUDENT WORK: Changing the Law in Child Abuse and Neglect Proceedings: An Improvement on Improvement Periods?, Morgan E. Persinger Copyright (c) 2005 Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, 2005, 12 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 371, 13986 words, SYMPOSIUM: THE STATE CONSTRUCTION OF FAMILIES: FOSTER CARE, TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS, AND ADOPTION: FROM ANTICIPATION TO EVIDENCE: RESEARCH ON THE ADOPTION
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.
This paper will contain research done about foster care, including a brief history and progressing along to the system today. This research interested me because it is a professional career option after graduation. I found both positives and negatives about the foster care system that children and foster parents go through on a daily basis. As the paper progresses I will be explaining these positives and negatives in more detail. Throughout the paper I will be referencing different scholarly sources that explain foster care in different ways. Overall, this paper will show different aspects that the general public may never know about foster care.
In Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court held that “Parent and children enjoy a fundamental, constitutionally-protected right to family integrity.” And in Custody of a Minor, 377 Mass. 876 (1979), the SJC held that “Loss of a child custody may be as onerous a penalty as the deprivation of the parent’s freedom.” Most importantly, it is the public policy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that a child’s welfare is best served in the care and custody of her parent. See Petition of Department of Public Welfare to Dispense with Consent to Adoption, 383 Mass. 573, 587 (1981). Moreover, in a Care and Protection case, the ‘integrity of the family is threatened by government intervention’; in order to protect the rights at issue, the requirements of due process must be throughout the proceedings. See Department of Public Welfare v. J.K.B., 379 Mass. 1, 3 (1979). Based on these mentioned rationale, reasons and decision, DCF has created rules and regulations to guide its conducts operation and above all, its decision to protection children in need.
With foster care, foster parents get paid monthly by the state to ensure the children are taken care of. Each child gets an allowance every month to have for spending money. The Department of Children Services (DCS) gives the foster families that adopt money for the children until they turn eighteen, and even before adoption the state sends money for helping take care of foster children. According to the Tennessee Department of Children Services. “When children are not able to stay safely in their own homes and there isn’t a relative who can care for them, they often have to come into state custody. The department’s first goal for children is to work toward a safe return home to their families” (1 Foster care and Adoption). Another form of adoption can be through private agencies. Private agencies allow a person to adopt and choose if it is open or closed. Open adoption is when the child can still see his or her birth parents. Closed adoption is when the parents decided they do not want to see the children. In both cases of open and closed adoption most of the time the child or children are infants and straight from birth go to a family, in some of these cases the parents are young and cannot afford to take care of the child so they choose to let him or her be better off with people that can give them everything they will ever want or need. According to Sally Allphin in the scholarly journal article, “President Clinton’s Adoption 2002 Initiative, which intends to double the number of children who move into adoption or legal guardianship between 1986 and 2002. Each year, states will receive four thousand or six thousand dollars for each adoption that they complete above their projected baselines” (1). Getting attached to foster children is an uncommon thing, but in rare cases the children either go back to their parents or a relative chooses to take the
In the Iowa case, there was no act or event that had the effect of terminating parental rights. In the New York case, there was such an event as Baby Lenore surrendering for adoption through an agency. To better safeguard the interests of the child in such cases, it is recommended that the child be independently represented by counsel. Gill, M. The foster care/adoptive family: Adoption for children not legally free Child Welfare 54:712-720, December 1975. This article describes a program in which children not legally free for adoption are placed with foster families committed to eventually adopting them, although they are aware that the children may not become legally free.
Second parent adoption is an important tool utilized by same-sex couples in an effort to protect their parental rights in states where same sex marriage is not recognized. Although gay and lesbian paren...
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.
Imagine meeting for the first time your mother and father. This surprise encounter is a reality for children in adoption agencies. Adoption is the legal process of permanently placing a child into the care of parents (or a parent) who are not the child's biological parents. In the adoption process, the biological parents agree to give up all parental rights and responsibilities, which then transfer to the adoptive parents. (Sheposh, 2017) The adoption process back then in the mid-century was seen as a thing to stop child welfare. Many people viewed adoption as unacceptable and not a good idea. “Children and youth go into adoption care for a variety of reasons: A parent may be unable to provide a safe, stable home or unable to provide the type
Several barriers are discussed throughout the readings and all share common philosophies on the inconsistencies regarding the healthcare of children in foster care. In McGill’s interview with pediatrician, Annalisa Behnken, change in placements and location of children is a barrier as it can lead to missed appointments and a lapse in medical information. (McGill, 2016). Presented by Deutsch and Fortin (2015), are barriers including a lack of medical data to include: past medical history of a child, circumstances when biological parents retain the right to make decisions on the behalf of the medical care of the child, when children change placements or cases cross counties or jurisdictions, and a lack of coordination and communication between
Social agency and the court authorizing the placement, and caregivers are responsible for the continuing monitoring to ensure that the child in placement receives adequate care and supervision (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009, p.275). Services for children in foster care are a teamwork effort of the different parties involved (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009). Unfortunately in Antowne’s situation the agency and the court system failed him because although he was removed from his mother, the abuse and neglect continued. The systems involved did not provide the safety net Antwone needed.
Many people grow up in loving families and cannot imagine not having their parents and siblings around, but each year, 18,000 or more American born babies are put up for adoption (Newlin Carney). That means at least 18,000 children face the harsh truth of maybe not having a family to grow up in. Childhood is a very important part of one’s life and helps shape who one is. These children that are eligible to be adopted just need loving parents, good homes, and stability. And who is to say the high price of adopting is not ho...
Since the 1990s the U.S. has been working on policy changes to improve adoption permanency. “The US Adoption and Safe Family Act of 1997 (P.L. 105–89) continued to promote the theme of timely permanence for foster children through the reduction of birth parent reunification time
Though foster care was originally established to help children who were orphaned, abandoned, neglected or abused, it has also caused problems for children. Agencies often have difficulty providing adequate, accessible, and appropriate services for the families in their care. (Chipungu and Goodley, pp. 76, 2004) This paper will examine the negative impact of foster care on children as a social problem and how it is viewed and understood. Also this paper would point out the key figures and groups that are affected by problem. This paper would analyze past attempts to better the foster care system and current policies that exist to face this problem. Throughout this paper the goals and objectives of the current polices would be addressed.
After having a steady growth in adoption, the number of international adoptions has dropped nearly 50% since 2004. Currently, there are many adoptive parents who seek to help this issue, however, adoption trends show that a large percentage of parents prefer to adopt within the 0-5 age bracket. Adoption is an act of adopting a child, so why doesn’t anyone adopt any child who is in need of a home? The lack of adoption to older children in the foster care system have been negatively affected because most of these families and/or couples adopting are parents who are childless and have the desire to have a baby or at least a young child. Once children become 6-17, adoption becomes far less likely. These families do not want to deal with older children
The topic of the Adoption and Safe Families Act has been in effect for some time now, but as November, 19, 1997 President Bill Clinton made some changes and revised the law to make the ruling better for the children as well as the families involved in the case. “The Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-89) was signed into law by President Clinton on November 19, 1997. The new law, which amends the 1980 Child Welfare Act (P.L. 96-272), clarifies that the health and safety of children served by child welfare agencies must be their paramount concern and aims to move children in foster care more quickly into permanent homes”. (Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997 (H.R. 867), 1997 )These laws have changed the way children are treated