Foster care

Foster care is a system by which a certified, stand-in parent, or set of parents, cares for minor children or young people who have been removed from their biological parents or other custodial adults by state authorities, or placed into the system by parents or guardians. Responsibility for the young person is assumed by the relevant governmental authority and a placement with another family is found. Foster-care involves the full-time care of a child outside of the child’s original home environment and can come in a variety of settings. Children may be placed in the care of family members, known as kin placement, non-relatives, foster care facilities, various institutions or group homes. Foster placements are designed as temporary options, some lasting for days or weeks. Others, however, may last for years. If the biological parents terminate their rights to the child, or if the rights of the biological parents to the child are severed per order of the court, a foster child may be put up for adoption. A child may be adopted by the temporary foster family in which he or she was placed, or may be placed into an adoption agreement within a new environment. Foster care is intended to operate as a temporary stage while a permanent and adequate environment is found in which the child will live. The stressfulness and uncertainty of this situation is perhaps the largest of concerns voiced by activists opposing current foster care systems worldwide.

Purpose

The aim of foster care systems is to protect and promote the well-being of the child at hand while providing foster parents and biological parents with the adequate resources and available services needed to maintain the child’s healthy development. Foster care environments are intended to be places of safety and comfort, and are monitored by numerous welfare agencies, representatives and caseworkers. Personal caseworkers assigned to a foster child by the state or county are responsible for overseeing the placement of the child into an appropriate foster care system or home. The caseworker also schedules regular visitations to the home to monitor progress. Other agents involved in a child’s placement into foster care may include private service providers, welfare agencies, insurance agents, psychologists, and substance abuse facilitators.

Types of Foster Care

Parents may voluntarily place children into foster care for various reasons. Such foster placements are monitored until the biological family can provide appropriate care for the child, or the biological parental rights are terminated and the child is adopted. A third option, known as guardianship, is sometimes utilized in certain cases where a child cannot be reunified with their birth family and adoption is not a suitable solution. This generally includes some older foster children who may be strongly bonded to their family of origin and unwilling to pursue adoption.

Voluntary foster care may be utilized in circumstances where a parent is unable or unwilling to care for a child; a child may have behavioral or psychological problems requiring specialized treatment, or the parent might have a problem which results in a temporary or permanent inability to care for the child. Involuntary foster care is implemented when a child is removed from their caregiver for his or her own personal safety. A foster parent receives monetary reimbursement from the placement agency for each foster child while the child is in his or her home to help cover the cost of meeting the child's needs.

Requirements

When a child is taken into foster care, the custody rights of his or her biological parents, adoptive parents or legal guardians are temporarily severed. A child may be placed into foster care by parental consent, or by court order. If a child is removed from his or her permanent home by the relevant authorities, the agency will first seek to place the child within a stable environment belonging to a relative or family friend. Other options include group homes where more than one foster child is cared for by a set of temporary guardians. If a foster child remains in foster care until the age of the eighteen, the child is considered to “age out” and may be released from foster care to live independently.

Foster Children

Children may be placed into foster care for a variety of reasons such as physical or sexual abuse, or general neglect. A smaller percentage of children are placed into foster care voluntarily; a parent may be unable to control a delinquent child and fear for their own personal safety as well as others. Other parents may voluntarily place a child into foster care if the parent himself is unable to care for the child due to substance abuse problems, incarceration, or mental health problems. These children may be placed into temporary custodial care until the parent’s position is improved.

Foster Parents

Requirements to be a foster parent vary by jurisdiction, as do monetary reimbursement and various other benefits that foster families may receive. Foster care is intended to be a temporary living situation for children and young people. The goal of foster care is to provide support and care for the young person in order that a reunification with parents or other family members is achieved, or another suitable permanent living arrangement can be facilitated. At times, the bond that develops during foster care will lead to the foster parents adopting the child. In some instances, children may be placed in a long-term foster placement. For older adolescents, a foster care program may offer education and resources to prepare for a transition to independent living. All foster parents must be licensed by a foster care agency and must pass a set of rigorous inspections in order to temporarily foster an at-risk child. In addition to the foster home passing both an inspection for health and safety, members of the foster family often must attend training sessions in which they are taught how to successfully manage the problems a foster child may encounter. Foster parents assume the role of general guardians and are responsible for feeding and clothing the child, transporting the child to school and appointments, and completing any general tasks that would be required by a biological or adoptive parent. Foster parents may also meet with the child’s therapist and caseworker on a regular basis. Foster parents are generally compensated for housing a foster child. This compensation is assumed to be used on behalf of the child in order to clothe, feed and transport him or her. Though legal guardianship of foster children belongs to the state, the foster parent’s responsibilities and obligations to the child for the temporary period of time are often set forth in a legal contract.

Demographics

The majority of children placed into foster care are victims of abuse. Many of these children stem from low-income communities and may be placed into foster care as a result of widespread homelessness, substance abuse problems, unemployment, incarceration, or disease that plague the streets of many poor communities. Foster children also include those with physical handicaps, mental illness or complex medical conditions; this demographic has marked the fastest-growing population of foster children in recent years. Within the United States, more than 12,000 children were placed into the foster care system to receive specific mental health services .

Children from low-income communities are most likely to be placed in foster care as their families have access to fewer resources. Problems such as illness or unemployment may render a low-income family unable to properly care for a child; these children are often more likely to spend a longer time within the foster care system.

Within the United States about one-fourth of all foster children are infants, sixty-percent are below the age of four, and one-third of all foster children are teenagers. The majority of foster children are minorities, the largest groups belonging to African Americans and American Indians. More than half of all children in foster care are placed with caregivers of no relation. One-fourth of all foster children are placed with relatives, though this number has shown steady growth within recent years. Children of parents battling substance abuse comprise more than 75% of all foster-care placements, and are at the highest risk for neglect or abuse .

Though the majority of foster children are reunited with their biological or adoptive parents, reunification rates have significantly declined within the early twenty-first century. Recent studies have also shown children to spend, on average, more time in the foster care system. In recent years, the average length of stay for a child in foster care has exceeded 33 months. More than half of all foster children are enrolled in a form of foster care for more than two years and change placements an average of three times.

Reunification rates have dropped in favor of legal adoptions; today, more children are being adopted out of foster care than in the past. Since 1997, most states throughout the U.S. doubled or nearly tripled the number of adoptions from the foster care system. This steady increase is believed to be a response to the Adoption and Safe Families Act passed in 1997 which seeks to terminate the rights of the biological parents if a child has be enrolled in the foster care system for 15 out of 22 months .

Common Problems

Foster children face a number of problems both within the foster care system and outside of it. Generally, foster children are more prone to neglect, abuse, family dysfunction, poverty and severe psychological conditions. In addition, the trauma caused to a child when removed from one’s home is also severe and may cause depression, anger and confusion. Though studies have shown the psychological conditions of abused and neglected children to improve when placed in foster care, the traumatic separation experienced by the child when taken from it’s legal guardian is often severe.

The U.S. National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children, meaning those children in the U.S. foster care system freed for adoption, had symptoms of attachment disorder. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and mistreated infants exhibited severe symptoms of attachment disorder. Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are often at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems and may be described as experiencing trauma-attachment problems. The trauma experienced may be the result of abuse or neglect, inflicted by a primary caregiver, which disrupts the normal development of secure attachment.

The effects of early chronic maltreatment can be seen in various domains; the result is often complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which requires a multi-modal psychological approach that directly addresses the underlying causative trauma. This approach also seeks to build healthy and secure relationships with permanent caregivers. These children may require specialized treatment, such as Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy.

Periodic transitions can also be traumatic for foster children as many of them move foster homes more than once throughout their entire period of enrollment. This instability and uncertainty may prove to further inhibit the child’s development and may cause him or her to withdraw, act out, become aggressive or delinquent. This may cause subsequent problems among the foster parents as caring for children with severe medical or psychological problems often proves a challenging experience. These problems may lead to the failure of a foster placement as the foster parent may not be able to handle the delinquent child. Within the United States, children found to be unable to function in a foster home may be placed in Residential Treatment Facilities. The focus of treatment in such facilities is to prepare the child for a return to a foster home, to an adoptive home, or to the biological parents when applicable.

Foster children who “age out” of the foster care system also face significant problems. Many children are unprepared to live independently as adults and find themselves battling unemployment, poverty, or lesser education. Studies have shown nearly half of foster kids throughout the United States become homeless when they turn 18 . Many of these children fall victim to influences of the street, may become involved in organized criminal activities, or may be unable to care for children of their own. Like their parent, these children often find themselves in the care of the social welfare system. Foster children also face severe financial challenges which may prove to effect their progress both emotionally and developmentally. A 2004 study performed by the Child Welfare League of America found that foster children experienced more health and developmental problems than biological children who lived in similar economic conditions with their parents .

Welfare Legislation

Though foster care presents a number of problems for both the foster child and parent, studies have shown the system to achieve significant success. Recent legislation within the United States has aimed to further solve various problems inflicting the child welfare system by making foster care operations more efficient.

On November 19, 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a new foster care law known as The Adoption and Safe Families Act. This legislation dramatically reduced the time children are allowed to remain in foster care before being available for adoption. The new law required the state child welfare agencies to identify cases where "aggravated circumstances" make permanent separation of child from biological family the best option for the safety and well-being of the child.

One of the main components of The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) is the imposition of time limits on reunification efforts. In the past, it was common for children to languish in care for years with no permanent living situation identified. Many children were moved from placement to placement with no real plan for a permanent home. ASFA requires that the state identify a permanent plan for children who enter foster care. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, also known as The Chafee Program, helps foster youth who are aging out of care to achieve self-sufficiency. In recent years the U.S. government has also funded the Education and Training Voucher Program in order to help youth who age out of care to obtain college or vocational training at a free or reduced cost. Chafee and ETV funding is administered by each state as they see fit.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1995). Finding Order in Disorganization: NY: Cambridge University Press.
• Cicchetti, D., Cummings, E.M., Greenberg, M.T., & Marvin, R.S. (1990). An Organizational Perspective on Attachment Beyond Infancy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Littlefield, Jamie (2006). Help Aged-out Foster Care Teens Become Productive Adults. Retrieved Jun. 27, 2006.
• Hurley, Kendra (2002). Almost Home. Retrieved Jun. 27, 2006.
• Charity Guide (2006). Collect Suitcases for Foster Care Children. Retrieved July 7, 2006.
• Children's Health Encyclopedia. Foster Care. Answers.com Retrieved 5 June 2007.
• Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Foster Care. Answers.com Retrieved 5 June 2007.
• Columbia University Press. Foster Care. Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 5 June 2007.

External Links

• Foster Club National Network.
• International Foster Care Organization
• Adoptioninformation.com
• Fosterparents.com Foster Parenting & Foster Care.
• Aging Out. PBS.
• The Fostering Network.
• Stepchildren of the State.
• The Center For Excellence In Child And Family Welfare.

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