Addressing many of the determinants such as income and housing (Mikkonen, & Raphael, 2010) are effective ways to deal with prevention of mental health problems in younger children. These determinants are linked (based on class discussion) and form the underlying grounds for maltreatment and neglect leading to increased mental health problems in young children and ensuing foster care placement. Although this is significant, this paper has emphasized the growing number of young children already residing in foster care with increasing mental health needs. Early childhood development directly influences young children, especially ones in foster care. The current initiatives being implemented attempt organizational change yet occur at the interpersonal level and fail to address the gaps identified earlier. As with my experience at the Children’s Cottage, interventions were at the interpersonal level. While the caregivers had early childhood training, many were lacking in how to provide proper mental health care to the foster children that frequented the facility. In depth training on the complex issues that foster children face, such as maltreatment and neglect was overlooked. Therefore, in my opinion, building upon these interventions and applying them to an organizational level allows for the reduction and or resolution of those gaps. The organizational level has the ability to promote health on a wider scale (K. Raine, personal communication, November 15, 2013). Many families use organizations such as the Cottage thus, becoming prime opportunity for collectively changing/improving mental health for all young foster children.
A strategy with the potential to achieve this is through a collaborative approach focused early ...
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...ed by the speech therapist could yield numerous beneficial results (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). Furthermore, “An “a-ha” moment for us was realizing that the strategies I promote as a speech therapist (e.g., observing, waiting, listening, modeling, expanding) also promote stronger relationships because they encourage interacting with the infant” (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008, p. 14). Reshaping mental health problems in terms of development, as discerned by the speech therapist, helped in the communication and relationship between parents and children (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). This proves that organizational change, through collaboration on early childhood development, has the ability to help young foster children prevent exacerbations of mental health problems and achieve mental wellbeing.
Haight, Wendy L., James E. Black, Sarah Mangelsdorf, Grace Giorgio, Lakshmi tata, Sarah J. Schoppe, and Margaret Szewcyk. "Making Visits Better: The Perspective of Parents, foster Parents, and Child Welfare Workers." EBSCOhost. EBSCO, 1 Mar. 2002. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Jeune, G.P, McCall, S., and Hamilton, L. (2007) Understanding Looked after Children: An Introduction to Psychology for Foster Care. London: Jessica Kingsley Pub.
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).
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
One challenge young adult’s face after aging out of foster care is being provided the health care that they need. According to Paula K Jaudes and the American Academy of Pediatrics, children in foster care suffer from various health issues such as “developmental delays, mental retardation, emotional adjustment problems, chronic medical problems, birth defects, substance abuse, and pregnancy” (1170). It is unknown why children in care are at a higher risk for these problems, but numerous medical professionals believe it is caused by the circumstances that led them being put into foster care, and the experiences they had while in care (Jaudes 1170). Despite being inclined to face more medical problems than teenagers who grew up in nuclear families, there is a lack of support to help take care of these teens. One study conducted by...
As family structure changes children pay the biggest price. They may lose the luxury of a stable home or school to call their own, when parent are no longer in the picture either. This is an issue that is largely ignored by society and most importantly the government. Without the foster system, children would be left abandoned and forgotten by all. The foster system provides thousands of homes for foster children each year, with parents that can give them what they need. But, foster care in America is inadequate for all American foster children and needs to be improved. Improvements are critical in bettering American foster systems, these improvements include, creating programs, finding more stable homes, and starting mentoring programs for all foster children.
Culture has a huge influence on how people view and deal with psychological disorders. Being able to successfully treat someone for a mental illness has largely to do with what they view as normal in their own culture. In Western cultures we think that going to a counselor to talk about our emotions or our individual problems and/or getting some type of drug to help with our mental illness is the best way to overcome and treat it, but in other cultures that may not be the case. In particular Western and Asian cultures vary in the way they deal with psychological disorders. In this paper I am going to discuss how Asian cultures and Western cultures are similar and different in the way they view psychological disorders, the treatments and likelihood of getting treatment, culture bound disorders, and how to overcome the differences in the cultures for optimal treatments.
There are multiple criteria that come into play when determining a psychological disorder. One reason is because, it is hard to know for sure if an action is abnormal or not. Something could be abnormal in our country, but a custom in another.
Mental illness can negatively affect the chances for successful reentry. According to Mallik-Kane and Visher (2008) study ex-offenders with mental health conditions have more housing difficulties compared to other returning prisoners, had poor employment outcomes, and received less support from families. Thus, ex-offenders with mental health issues may experience greater difficulty in successful reintegration and higher chances of recidivism, especially if services are not provided for their illness. Consequently, G’s borderline personality disorder (BPD) can affect her chances of recidivism therefore, an approach for cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended for a year at Central City Community Health Care.
“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...
The name The name of my book is Mental Illness by Gilda Berger. Mental illness is a disorder characterized by disturbances in a person’s thoughts, emotions, or behavior. The term mental illness can refer to a wide variety of disorders, ranging from those that cause mild distress to those that severely impair a person’s ability to function. Today, mental illness is considered to range from such ideas as eating disorders to personality disorders.
In a country based around free will, the United States contains a vast variety of personalities and behaviors. Plenty of people, probably more than we know, exert abnormal behavior. Abnormal behavior is patterns of emotion, thought, and action that are considered pathological. Historically, people blame witchcraft for this eccentric type of behavior and tended to perform exorcisms in hopes of abolishing such actions. Anxiety disorders and personality disorders, two forms of abnormal behavior, can alter a person’s personality as a result of life experiences.
The goal of foster care is to provide everyday care, support and normalcy to meet the child’s ongoing developmental needs. It is an unfortunate fact that many foster children change placements a few times a year or even monthly. This occurs when certain children have severe behavioral problems, such as running away, harming other children or engaging in unsafe and illegal activities. However, many foster parents strive to help the foster child deal with the pain and loss of living with their parents through incorporating them into their family
This semester I plan to study how different illness’s can affect someone psychologically so I can better understand the affects physical disorders impact the lives of others. Mental health is a sensitive topic to talk about, about 18.2% of adults suffer from it, so approaching it with sensitivity to others that may have suffered from a physical illness leading to a mental health disorder, who may be reading will be taken into consideration. It’s a goal for readers to better understand that someone suffering from a physical disorder could also be suffering from a mental health disorder too. It is important for people to understand the impact of mental health on physical health recovery, the way the mental health disorders can lead to