Funding for Foster Care Organizations

Child welfare is an important rising issue around the world, the United States, and specifically in western New York. In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States.

The State of Foster Care

The Children's Rights Organization states that on average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years. There are millions of children in foster care around the world; they are children left without adequate resources and strong support systems, which, in turn, does not allow these youth to reach their fullest potential. Family foster care began in China in the early 1990s. Currently, about 30,000 children are living in foster families across the country. This is nearly four-fifths (78%) of the 68,300 children in care looked after away from home. There are around 44,625 foster families in England. Foster organizations should improve their environments for the foster children. More children are entering foster care in the early years of life when brain growth and development are most active. The nerve connections and neurotransmitter networks that are forming during these critical years are influenced by negative environmental conditions, including lack of stimulation, child abuse, or violence within the family.

The Importance of Early Development

Basic stimulation techniques and stable, predictable nurturance are necessary during these periods to enable optimal cognitive, language and personal socialization skills. The pediatrician, with knowledge of the child’s medical and family history, may assist the social service and judicial systems in determining the best setting to help the child feel safe and heal. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians: Advocate for children and adolescents in foster care to receive health care in a medical home. The pediatricians become educated on the special health care needs of children and adolescents in foster care and assist other professionals in addressing these needs.

Funding Sources for Foster Care

Foster care like any other child welfare issues in the United States requires money for better foundations. Foster care and adoption programs are funded by a wide array of federal, state, local, and private sources. According to OLR Research Report, states vary significantly both in the amounts and proportion of government funds they use to pay for their programs. For example, while the average mix is 51% federal, 37% state, and 12% local, in New York, a total of 1,431,837,874 is spent on Child Placement services and administration training.

Challenges Faced by Foster Children

State contributions to family income or placements other than those permitted under federal programs. Other expenditures are necessary to meet the match federal programs impose on the states as a criterion for receiving the federal funds. In New York from the years 1991 to 2001, an estimate of 141,642 thousand is the number of foster-care children eligible under Title IV-E for state fiscal years 1999 to 2001 which was the most recent data available. Children's Bureau (CB) provides funding to states and tribes to provide safe foster care placements for children and youth who cannot remain in their homes.

The Role of Federal Assistance

The Foster Care program provides Federal financial assistance to states to assist with Costs of foster care maintenance for eligible children administrative costs to manage the program and training for staff foster parents and private agency staff. Funding also provides optional guardianship assistance for states as well as assistance to youth aging out of foster care so that they can achieve self-sufficiency. Foster care causes derive from the family specifically but there are many factors that roll into it.

Consequences of Neglect

Neglect has very profound and long-lasting consequences on all aspects of child development—poor attachment formation under stimulation development delay poor physical development and antisocial behavior. Knowledge of normal child development and family functioning helps identify children receiving insufficient and inappropriate care as well as children who are victims of or at risk for abuse or neglect.

The Urgency of Addressing Child Welfare

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics on any given day there are nearly 428000 children in foster care in the United States. An increasing number of young children are being placed in foster care because of parental neglect. According to Child Help Organization in 2014 state agencies identified an estimated 1580 children who died as a result of abuse and neglect — between four and five children a day. Neglect is the failure of the parent or caregiver to provide for the child's basic needs—food shelter supervision medical care and emotional nurturing.

The Need for Systemic Change

The government already funds enough for foster care and child welfare agencies and issues. Money isn't a need for the issue to calm down. Too many children are being forced to leave foster care or residential care at 16. Even if they hadn't already had difficult lives they wouldn't be ready for independence. Children are sent to wherever the companies across the chain can make the most profit. Companies buy homes where properties are cheapest; this could be many miles from the child's local authority. According to City Journal the nation's foster care system has given rise to an unnoticed and deeply troubling reality: not only has it accepted the inevitability of legions of abused and neglected children but it has made them into an integral part of the inner-city economy.

The Economic Impact on Communities

Welfare advocates treat foster care payments as just another routine way to pump government money into troubled neighborhoods. Whole communities of grandmothers are living on the money they receive for their abused or neglected grandchildren.