Foster Care System

Analytical Outline

EQ: ​To what extent do mental health issues play a role in the well-being of foster care children in the U.S., and how can support facilities, such as schools, better support these children?

Intro Paragraph

Can you believe a human being can be overlooked? Because Zymere Perkins was, the boy… had been smacked as many as 20 times in a row in front of witnesses, beaten with a belt, placed under cold showers, and denied food as a punishment. In addition to bruises and broken bones, he was missing all of his front teeth. But apparently, all his mother had to do was tell the city social workers that he had fallen--down the stairs, off a scooter, whatever--and they would close the case.

The foster care system has been around for over a century. The decision to create the foster care system in the U.S. started in New York City when Benjamin Eaton was considered to be the first child in need of a home. There are many children who are in and out of the foster care system, and although it's only a few of these children who are abused and neglected, it still isn't humane for them to experience this treatment. ​Although the foster care system signifies that these children are well treated and noticed by the system, there are many children who suffer from mental health issues that go unnoticed. Children being able to have a school single to go to during their time in foster care can improve their overall well-being. Which can put their well-being on the line

The foster care system’s main objective is to find permanent homes for the children in the system with the government leading this effort and each year the number of children in the system fluctuates. The foster care system has more than 500,000 children who are in their care, most have been victims of some sort of abuse. This causes the children in foster care to be at risk for long-term problems later in life. This is significant because enduring these traumatic events during their early years of development can ultimately set the child up for future issues. Knowing that the system has over 500,000 children, one can only imagine that not all of these children get a forever home, many of them age out of the system. For children going through the process of the system, it can take months and sometimes years for their adopter to get approved, and by then they are losing valuable time that could help them get their life on track.

The system’s job is to inform the child's relatives when the child is placed in foster care, and if the child has siblings, it is mandatory to keep them all together. Many relatives don't have the income and means to raise these children, fortunately, the state is willing to help out families and provide them with money. The aid that the state provides is not nearly enough to raise a child. Although it is important that there is an aid for these children if needed, it's more important that the home they are currently being put in is safe for their well-being.

Foster Care Placement: What goes on in the placement process, and what are some obstacles these children go through when getting home?

​The placement process can take many different turns because every child in the system is different and has their own background.

A. Placement issues due to children's age, race, or ethnicity, or even children who are handicapped. ​Evidence: Racial inequality is a big part of the foster care system. 1 in 10 African American children spends approximately twice the rate of white children. Children with special needs are overlooked in the system. For children who reach the age of 6 or older, it is twice as hard for them to get adopted and grow and an attachment towards a new family, school, and home.

B. Parental neglect. ​Evidence: A 7-year-old child in Brooklyn has a couple of incidents at home and social services were well aware but didn't do anything to step in until she was dead. She weighed less than 45 pounds at her death.

Undertrained Social Workers: Are social workers getting the right amount of education and evaluations throughout their time in the workforce, and are they keeping up with the changing foster care system over the years?

​Social workers' strategies to keep these students safe aren’t always going to stay the same if the foster care system is always changing.

A. Social workers aren't thoroughly investing in the cases. ​Evidence: There are patterns being shown in recent data; social workers should being to study math and statistics to make the pattern solving in the data of the system easier.

B. Children go back to their unfit parents or get placed with foster parents. Evidence: Many children are taken from their parents for no deeper reason, while other children in other homes are overlooked multiple times and still don't get pulled out of their homes. This is why New York is taking the action of publicizing and expanding its child abuse hotline to be available to children who are in need.

Health Issues/Well-being: What health issues do foster care children deal with on a daily basis and what helps them overcome them?

The health issues that affect the children in the foster care system can be very broad due to the many recurring events in these children's lives.

A. Child development throughout time in foster care. ​Evidence: It is found to be that the more time these children spend in foster care because of them being exposed to violence, child maltreatment, and other mainstream childhood experiences can cause they to have PTSD. This puts these children who are abused and neglected at high risk of not forming a nurturing, protective, and trustworthy relationship with anyone that comes into their life.

B. Physical health issues if the child is handicapped. ​Evidence: Some of these children face life-threatening handicaps when they are in and out of the system which makes their current well-being unstable.

Mental health issues: Why do mental health issues play a huge role in foster care children's lives?​

Mental health issues is the main source for holding these children back from moving forward because they are so damaged by all the trauma they have undergone.

A. It's mentally draining for these children to feel unwanted because these children aren't getting a forever home. ​Evidence:

B. Not being able to live a normal life with their birth parents and only being able to visit them can take a toll. ​Evidence: Many children struggle because their parents are incarcerated, which has the child in and out of foster care. Due to this older children can develop PTSD if they have been repeatedly traumatized and often have a hard time interacting with others. As for infants, their well-being outcome varies on the type of trauma they have experienced, which could be chronic stress, under a small threat, freeze response, and flight response.

Outside Organizations/Programs: How do outside organizations/programs help the foster care children and how do these organizations/programs benefit the children?

Both outside programs CHAMPS and Treehouse want the best outlook for these children, so they have many possible ways to help them.

A. CHAMPS organization wants to improve the foster system. ​Evidence: CHAMPS (children need amazing parents) is an organization that wants to improve the foster care system. The CHAMPS organization wants to advertise stronger federal policies and make sure children are getting the best possible care in homes, they want to change the public's eye on the foster care system because it is considered to be negative.

B. Treehouse program works with these children personally to forward their education. ​Evidence: Washington State has a program called treehouse that helps foster children plan for their life after high school and after the foster care system. The treehouse program arranged transportation for the students who were no longer in the same district as before. They knew that the students still needed guidance on their journey to progress forward so they found a way to still meet with the students one on one.

Schools: How does having a stable education in school benefit the child in foster care, and what does it mean to them? ​

A stable education for these children gives them the chance to focus on learning and excel, ​which makes them feel normal.

A. What happens when the child is constantly moving to different schools. ​Evidence: A child put in foster care at age 12 spent his next two years in and out of 12 different schools. Due to this, the child has lost valuable learning concepts because he was constantly moving schools, he couldn't remember anything he would learn.

B. Benefits/outcomes of staying in the same school. ​Evidence: Jimmy a student from North Carolina who is a foster child describes his experience in school as if he wasn't able to hear anything, he was more concerned about having enough food and clothes to survive the day. He realized that when he was finally placed in a school for a while he had noticed his handwriting improving, he was able to focus and learn.

C. How school counselors can help the students keep up with school and problems within their private lives. ​Evidence: Personal connections with the adults in the school can encourage the students to do better in school so that they can see the academic potential they and by them realizing this can really improve their well-being. Counselors acknowledging good behavior or good grades can really improve their self-esteem.

Works Cited

1. Alexander, Rachel. “State program drives foster children toward the teen milestone.” April 2018. The Spokesman-Review. 3 Dec. 2018 http://www.spokesman. com/stories/2018/apr/07/state-program-drives-foster-kids-toward-teen-miles/
2. “Children Adopted from Foster Care: Child and Family Characteristics, Adoption Motivation and Well-Being.” ASPE Research Brief, 30 May 2011. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 11 Nov. 2018. https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/children-adopted-foster-care-child-and-family-characteristics-adoption-motivation-and-well-being
3. Child Welfare Information Gateway. “Foster Care Statistics 2016.” Children’s Bureau. ​Washington, DC, 2017. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 1 Nov. 2018. https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster/
4. Developmental Issues for Young Children in Foster Care.​ 2001. Academy of Pediatrics. 21 September 2018. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/106/5/1145
5. “History of Foster Care in The United States.” ​The National Voice of Foster Parents. ​NFPA. 2 Feb. 2019. https://nfpaonline.org/page-1105741
6. Laub, John H., and Ron Haskins. “Helping Children with Parents in Prison and Children in Foster Care.” ​Policy Brief Spring 2018.​ The Trustees of Princeton University, 2018. Princeton.edu. 25 Oct. 2018. https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/sites/futureofchildren/files/media/foc-policy_brief_spring_2018__0.pdf
7. Lahey, Jessica. “Every Time Foster Kids Move, They Lose Months of Academic Progress.” Georgia, Feb. 2014. ​The Atlantic.​ 3 Dec. 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/every-time-foster-kids-move-they-lose-months-of-academic-progress/284134/
8. “Mental Health and Foster Care.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Denver, 9 May.2016. http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/mental-health-and-foster-care.aspx
9. Riley, Naomi Schaefer. 'Can Big Data Help Save Abused Kids? The Quest to Fix Our Messy, Meddlesome Foster Care Bureaucracies.” ​Reason​, Feb. 2018, Gale Power Search. 14 Oct. 2018. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=30&docId=GALE%7CA522210610&docType=Essay&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA522210610&searchId=R2&userGroupName=wood32777&inPS=true
10. Shapiro, Nina. “​How these Washington state foster kids are beating the odds: Treehouse program helps teens graduate.”​ Local News. ​Seattle, Dec. 2017. The Seattle Times. 3 Dec. 2018. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/support-for-foster-kids-in-school-and-beyond/
11. Sparks, SarahD. 'The Gifted Child in Foster Care: Lost in the Shuffle; Poverty, trauma, and high rates of mobility keep bright children in the foster care system from finding their way into academically rigorous courses and programs.' ​Education Week, 7 Mar. 2018. ​Student Resources in Context, 10 October 2018. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=16&docId=GALE%7CA531476293&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA531476293&searchId=R1&userGroupName=wood32777&inPS=true
12. Williams-Mbengue, Nina. ​The Social and Emotional Well-Being of Children in Foster Care.​ 21 September 2018, Denver. http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/the-social-and-emotional-well-being-of-children-in-foster-care.aspx
13. ---'The future of foster care: new state efforts aim to reduce the length of time children spend in care.' ​State Legislatures​, Oct.-Nov. 2009. 10 October 2018. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=13&docId=GALE%7CA211631675&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA211631675&searchId=R2&userGroupName=wood32777&inPS=true#