foster care

Author: Alisha Hardman
Title: Foster care and the system
Time of post: 11:05

Foster care
What is foster care?

Over 500,000 children are currently in foster care. Children in foster care often lack many needed supports and resources. Due to neglect and abuse, children may be removed from their birth parents. Some other reasons may be abandonment, illness, incarceration, AIDS, substance abuse, and death. Being removed from their homes and placed in foster care is a difficult and stressful experience. Many have suffered abuse and neglect. About 30% have severe emotional/behavioral/ and developmental problems. However, some show resiliency and determination to go on with their lives .some symptoms children show are
Blaming themselves and feeling guilty
Wishing to be with their parents no matter the circumstance.
Feeling unwanted
Feeling helpless
Having mixed emotions about adopted parents
Feeling insecure and uncertain about their future

Foster parents open their homes and hearts to children, a task that is both rewarding and difficult. However, there has been a decrease in the number of foster parents available to care for children. Foster parents have many challenges to face like:
· Recognizing the limits of their emotional or any attachment with the child
· Having to deal with the child’s emotions/behavior during and after visits with biological parents
· Understanding how the child is feeling


The Data

Male
52%
Female
48%




(The percentage of male and females in foster care)









FOSTER CARE WORKERS- ARE THEY IN FOR THE MONEY OR DO THEY CARE?


Many of the child protective services social workers are inexperienced, overworked and lack adequate supervisory, technical and clerical assistance, critics say. They hop from crisis to crisis on a starting salary of $25,000 a year. At the same time, many of the 700 or so state-licensed foster families, who earn about $300 a month, have become frustrated and resentful of a system they say excludes their input and is unresponsive to their needs. Some foster parents also say they've been retaliated against if they complain or talk to the court-appointed lawyers who represent foster children. Members of both ranks sometimes feel the agency just isn't there to help them handle a growing population of children seriously damaged by abuse and neglect. Some of the most experienced are bailing out under the strain, and children in state custody are paying the price, critics say. Turnover in CYFD social workers has averaged 20 percent over the past two years, forcing social workers to change cases frequently. One child might have two or three social workers a year. "It takes a lot of time to develop a relationship with a child who's being abused to the point where the child can trust you enough to tell you something's wrong," said Sara Simon, president of the New Mexico Professional Society on Child Abuse. "And then, when you have workers changing every three to six months, nobody develops that relationship." And when a child's file is transferred, vital information about the child's living conditions or medical needs can -- and has -- fallen through the cracks, say children's lawyers