The Need to Protect America’s Foster Children

Brittney A. Beyerlein and Ellin Bloch affirm that as many as 640,000 children, many of which experience multiple cases of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, live within the American Foster Care System any given year. The health and well-being of foster children are dramatically endangered upon entrance into the foster care system due to caregivers being widely uninformed and unprepared. Establishing more safe, loving foster homes and greatly reversing some of the mental and emotional instability of America's children is the goal. As a means of resolving this issue, the authors suggest implementing Trauma-Informed Care for foster parents across the nation to protect foster children. Trauma-Informed Care research and practices are on the rise, however, this important issue is nowhere near being solved. Beyerlein and Bloch closely examine the issue and its course in their article entitled “Need for Trauma-Informed Care Within the Foster Care System: A Policy Issue”. Beyerlein and Bloch acquired accurate information and strongly prompted the need for reform but failed to continue directing possible solutions in the right direction. Beyerlein and Bloch examine the different types of previous and recurring trauma children within the foster care system endure. They claim the needs of children should come first if there is any hope of eliminating the mental health issues and learning disabilities that have become so prevalent.

The authors explain that Trauma-Informed Care is achieved when all responsible for the care of a child know the proper ways to deal with the effects that traumatic experiences can cause, in addition to how it differs from Trauma-Focused Care. Beyerlein and Bloch also advocate for increased resources and guidelines to effectively teach foster parents how to care for such vulnerable children, in hopes of creating more safe, stable placements. Beyerlein and Bloch stress the importance of strongly educating parents on how not to inflict several types of trauma upon their foster children. They also claim caregivers' ability to attain adequate financial funds, “strengthen resilience and protective factors”, and engage in training programs all serve as suggestions of learning the proper ways to parent this population.

Beyerlein and Bloch were able to acquire accurate information to include in their article. They utilize this data to prove trauma while in foster care is an important national issue by collecting large samples of feedback from across the country. They included a national study by Greeson and Colleagues made up of 2, 251 foster children. Beyerlein and Bloch used this study to proclaim that a greater number of foster children have experienced at least two types of trauma and that “83% had been diagnosed with at least one clinical disorder”. They included another study conducted by the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). This study examined the depth and levels of behavioral and emotional issues of 3,803 American foster children. Another study of 500 foster children by Chamberlain et. al allowed Beyerlein and Bloch to assert that nearly 90% of foster children have experienced emotional abuse, another 52.7% sexual abuse, and those who had been neglected by their caregivers came in at 51.5%. Another nationwide study of 729 foster children, also carried out by the NSCAW, on the emotional and behavioral effects of placement instability was also included. The authors’ use of large studies opens doors to the wide array of different types of trauma and struggles that children experience, which may have otherwise gone unnoticed in smaller or more centralized studies. The use of such large, widespread information presents more authority to the article, and the issues at hand and further contributes to making the authors' claims credible within the Welfare System. Beyerlein and Bloch also strongly prompted the great need for reform of the Foster Care System. 

The authors brought awareness to not only the continuous hardships that foster children face, but how it affects caregivers, communities, and virtually all Americans in ways they may not realize. The two stated that over half experience four or more different types of trauma during their time in the system. Beyerlein and Bloch also argue that a much too large number of foster children suffer behavioral, emotional, and financial consequences for the rest of their lives. Not to mention, foster children may experience up to 19 placement moves due to inadequate care by unprepared foster parents. The authors voice how the children are not the only major sufferers. Taxpayers and the government even suffer as 'billions of dollars are spent in the United States each year in order to deal with unaddressed childhood trauma', especially in schools. Beyerlein and Bloch also brought awareness of the consequences of foster care trauma on communities, which include high poverty, crime, and addiction rates if gone untreated. The two authors explained the consequences of ignoring issues within a poor Foster Care System in a way that directed focus and attention to possible solutions. Beyerlein and Bloch’s ability to successfully point out how the flaws in America's Welfare System affect foster children and the country as a whole allows for the sole purpose of their research to become evident, but most importantly, sensible. Their successful use of this information promotes needed support and resources to finally begin to improve the Welfare System, which has the ability to greatly benefit all that are currently affected.

Towards the end of their article, however, Beyerlein and Bloch failed to continue directing possible solutions in the right direction. The author's first proposal to lessen maltreatment, through Trauma-Informed Care, called for regularly screening foster children for trauma to keep ahead of and prevent traumatic events. They also claimed that training foster parents in trauma prevention education before ever allowing children in the home is a beneficial regulation. Beyerlein and Bloch vouched for increased resilience of foster caregivers to continue to care for troubled foster kids, thus creating more stable and accepting households. However, their prevention targets seemed to stop there, and their solutions flowed into how the Foster Care System can better treat and deal with trauma once it has already occurred. By beginning with trauma prevention tactics, and shifting to strategies of improving placement stability, the authors did not fully explain how to minimize trauma within the system. Beyerlein and Bloch went on to declare that foster parents and agencies should be taught compassionate and considerate treatment for previous traumas. They also back the rehabilitation of vulnerable children that have been already impacted by trauma by strengthening the mental capacities of the whole family. Lastly, the authors wish to create stable environments that can safely treat and address prior traumatic stress experiences. The two were able to initially offer satisfactory solutions that coincide with the purpose of their article, however, they could not continue to close their argument with hopes that this major issue is being handled in the best way. The authors needed to include more solutions that dealt with eliminating trauma within the Welfare System, not how to effectively treat it. Beyerlein and Blotch should have left the treatment strategies out and focused on more implementations in the foster care system that would ensure only competent parents who would not inflict trauma upon their foster children become caregivers. Beyerlein and Bloch should have also included more examples of exact training and regulations that would directly decrease rates of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse.

Therefore, the solutions, possibly the most anticipated and important part, of Beyerlein and Bloch's research, left too much confusion and speculation about the purpose and significance of their work. Beyerlein and Bloch successfully examined the important topic of physical and mental abuse and neglect through large samples and studies. They rightfully highlighted the meaning and need for Trauma-Informed caregivers and homes across the nation. Yet their research still needs improvement, as the authors lost credibility after not offering complete prevention strategies. Beyerlein and Bloch did well in bringing undeniable attention to the already rising issue of struggling children in America's broken Foster Care System. They without a doubt proved the recent requests for reform and change of the system to be viable. Even with their relatively weak prevention strategies, Beyerlein and Bloch were still able to provide a strong starting point of implementations for Trauma-Informed Care, along with accurate descriptions of interventions once children are already placed in the home. 

However, their claims alone cannot end this epidemic. The Welfare System needs more articles like this, but taking the issues and solutions even further. Educating and informing caregivers and foster families about Trauma-Informed Care could be the first step to forever changing the American Foster Care System and protecting all foster children, both mentally and physically, for years to come.

Work Cited

1. Beyerlein, Brittany A., and Ellin Bloch. 'Need for Trauma-Informed Care Within the Foster Care
2. System: A Policy Issue.'​ Child Welfare​, vol. 93, no. 3, 2014, p. 7-17. ​Gale Academic
3. Onefile​. Web. Accessed 25 Sept. 2019.