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Problems Foster Care

What are the Developmental Issues

What are the Developmental Issues

Abuse and neglect are extremely detrimental to the physiological, mental, and emotional development of children. They can also be extremely detrimental to a child’s physical development. Some of the children who are currently residing in orphanages throughout the country have been abandoned by their families because their parents were unable to care for them. This may have extreme emotional consequences for a child.
Between the ages of three and four, a child’s brain is beginning to develop and administer the child’s emotions, ability to handle stress, aptitude to learn, and personality traits. During this period of development, stability is essential. Any psychological or emotional disruption may harm the development of the brain, which will cause irreversible developmental problems.
During this time period, it is also important that a child maintain a strong attachment with a caregiver. Any disruption in this connection may cause severe attachment problems. Children who are placed in orphanages or who are frequently moved between foster homes do not have the stability that is required to develop effectively.
Children who are living in orphanages may experience constant negative emotions, such as anger, pain, uncertainty, rejection, and instability. These children may suffer from extreme depression and anxiety disorders. Many of the children who are currently located in foster homes have experienced various traumatic events. As a result, children living in orphanages or in foster care may suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
Some of the symptoms of this disorder include trouble concentrating, difficulty remembering things, and irritability. This may make it very difficult to focus in school, and children who are suffering from this disorder may also suffer from learning disabilities.
Children who are in the foster care system have often been betrayed by the people that they loved and trusted the most. Therefore, these children may develop extreme trust issues, relationship phobias, and social anxiety. The child may fear coming into contact with people and may avoid social situations completely. In many cases, a child who is in the foster care system may be suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder. 

What Are The Difficulties in Adoption

What Are The Difficulties in Adoption

There are various difficulties and complications that are
associated with foster care
adoption. Children removed to foster care may have been subjected to
physical violence or emotional damage. In some cases, these children were
denied access to basic necessities, such as food, water, and clean clothing.
They were betrayed by the people that should have loved and cared for them the
most.

It is
essential to understand that many of the children who are available for foster
care adoption maintain severe and long term effects of the abuse that they
experienced. Child abuse and neglect often has an adverse effect on the
psychological, emotional, and social development of a child. A child who has
been exposed to any of the various forms of child abuse may suffer from
psychological, emotional, and behavioral disorders. The child may experience
extreme depression and low self-esteem.

Many
children who are available for foster care adoption are suffering from
 Reactive Attachment Disorder as a result of the abuse or the neglect to which they were
subjected. This severe psychological disorder will prevent a child from
establishing meaningful relationships or emotional bonds with an adoptive
parent or a caregiver. A child who is suffering from the adverse effects of
child abuse will need to be provided with access to therapy and counseling in
order to overcome their traumatic experiences. Many of the children who are
available for foster are adoption have physical or mental disabilities that
require frequent medical treatment.

All You Need to Know About The Problems with Foster Care

All You Need to Know About The Problems with Foster Care

The problems facing children in the foster care system in America are varied. The consequences of an extended period in foster care depend on the child, the situation from which the child was removed, and the foster parents who provided the child with care. Although it is possible for a child who has spent just a short period of time in the system to suffer long term damages, more often the problems only manifest themselves in children who have spent an extended period of time in the system.


Children “Aging out”
Aging out is a very common and serious problem in the United States foster care system. Aging out occurs when a child reaches the age of majority.
Available information related to foster care indicates that children who have been placed in the care of a State Government are often not receiving a quality education. Many times they do not graduate from high school, and those who do complete their education generally receive much lower test scores then other children of the same age.
There are a variety of different reasons, all of which are directly related to their situation and their existence in the foster care system. Children who are living in the foster care system do not experience the same support, encouragement, and stability as their peers. This has an adverse effect on the education that they receive.
The low quality education that a foster child acquires will negatively impact their future and may restrict them from effectively providing for themselves. Various organizations have begun to develop ideas to address and remedy this problem.

Foster Care Adoption and Focus on Returning to Parents
The primary goal of social workers and child protective service agencies is to establish a permanent situation for a child who has entered the foster care system. A permanent situation may include adoption or reunification. Until recently, reuniting a child with their biological parents was considered to be the best and the desired outcome. Most people believe that it is in a child’s best interest.

Juvenile Delinquency

Recent data indicates that children who are currently in the United States foster care system are more likely then other children their age to take part in criminal behavior.

Developmental Issues
It is very common for children in the United States foster care system to suffer from extensive physical, mental, social, emotional, and psychological disabilities, as well as serious developmental issues. In most cases, the children who have been placed in the foster care system have experienced a variety of traumatic events.
They have often been betrayed by the people who were supposed to protect and care for them. These children are not provided with any form of stability and they are often moved from one foster home to another in a short period of time. They may be taken from the care of one foster parent and placed in the home of another within a few weeks.
It is essential for a developing child to have stability so that they can create effective attachments and emotional bonds. Children who experience disruptions during their first few years of childhood may sustain severe developmental problems which may have adverse consequences in the future.

Juvenile Delinquency In Depth

Juvenile Delinquency In Depth

Crime and juvenile delinquency are one of the common problems arising out of child abandonment, neglect, or abuse. For their safety, these children have been removed from the care of their parents and have been placed in a new environment.
Due to their traumatic experiences, they may suffer adverse effects that will negatively affect their psychological development. They may easily become a juvenile delinquent for various reasons. They may not realize, or may not care, that their actions are illegal and wrong.
A child growing up witnessing violence may learn that this is an effective method of maintaining power and achieving goals. Many children have been removed from an abusive home and end up in a foster home where they continue to show signs of abuse and neglect.
A child in situations such as this may understand that the behavior in which these adults are partaking is wrong, but they often do not witness their abusers receiving any negative repercussions for their actions. This may instill the mentality that it is acceptable to use violence, and the child may take part in activities that will have them labeled a juvenile delinquent.
In many cases, a child who has suffered from abuse and who has been placed in a foster home has experienced no control over their life. They may be frequently uprooted from their homes and placed in new environments. No one gives any attention to the child’s desires, and the child has no say in the decisions regarding their life. The State controls their life and their future. In response, a child may choose to become a juvenile delinquent as a method of asserting control.
A child in the foster care system may be dissatisfied with being told where they must live, who they must live with, and how they must behave. A child who chooses to break the law is consciously disobeying how someone has told them to behave. They are taking part in actions that they have been told to do, and as a result they are stating that they have control over their own lives, not anyone else.
In some cases, foster children engage in juvenile delinquency because psychological disorders make it difficult to recognize what is right from what is wrong. Research has indicated that children who experience frequent instability are more likely to become a juvenile delinquent. On the other hand, children who have a strong connection to their foster family are less likely to partake in criminal activities.
Data also illustrates that children who live in group homes are twice as likely to commit crimes. This may indicate that children who do not have strong role models may be more likely to partake in juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is a serious and growing problem in the United States foster care system, and effective methods of addressing this problem must be established.

Understanding The Lack of State Collaboration

Understanding The Lack of State Collaboration

Decentralization of adoption practices hurts the integrity of the larger system. One central detriment to the larger adoption system stems from the perpetual gray area that questions the ability for same-sex couples to adopt. 
Each State maintains a separate adoption system governed by a unique set of laws and guidelines. When an individual from one State finds a child they wish to adopt in another State, no governmental procedure exists to ensure the best possibility of securing this match. Rather, its left up to each individual State to decide how to proceed.
Generally what follows is an abomination that hurts the entire adoption system. The State where the family resides maintains no interest in using their resources to help them adopt a child from another State. The State where the child lives usually lacks the authority to conduct these interviews so the petition effectually flutters out without any actual attempt at helping the family or child with adoption. 
The only way to fix the current adoption system is to establish Federal guidelines that define interstate adoption practices and a central adoption policy. The supposed focus of foster care, finding families to adopt children, remains clouded by a system predicated on dollars and cents without any central governance. 
Until Federal guidelines choose to address the ability for same-sex couples to adopt, willing families and needy children continue to be neglected by a system more concerned with philosophy than results. States operating separate adoption systems place them in direct competition for dwindling resources rather than jointly driven to free undue children from the stresses of the foster care system.

What You Should Know About The Lack Of A Federal System

What You Should Know About The Lack Of A Federal System

Due to the fact that each individual State maintains specific interest in the families that reside within their jurisdiction, there lacks a central cohesion and care for all children in foster care. Lacking a national policy, adoption cost is left to each individual State to manage, leaving only the foster care children of that State in their purview. If a family in one State wishes to adopt a child from another there lacks any body that can adjudicate this transfer without one State losing resources while one effectually gains them.
National policy fails separate states more than the states fail the Federal system. Just like many other Government-controlled services, children living in foster care appear more as a dollar figure to officials that comprise adoption fees and various other cost benefits or detriments. If Federal officials controlled interstate adoption cost and focused on matching children with families rather than worrying about wasting State resources, children and hopeful foster parents would benefit.         
Statistics irrefutably illustrate the benefit of removing children from foster care and placing them in loving homes. Even though states fund their individual foster care systems, the focus remains on front-end savings rather than back-end where true reform exists. Adoption cost by State would drop drastically if interstate adoption opened via a Federal body focused on pairing needy children with wanting families. 
There remains no shortage of homes that desire children from foster care, and beyond states unwilling to foot the bill for adoption fees for other states, the number of children adding to the overall adoption cost would drop drastically as foster care numbers would decrease. International cohesion over the last few years has worked better than many states with differing philosophies and practices debilitating the entire system effectually sky-rocketing the total adoption cost. 
Adoption fees correlated with interstate adoption pale in comparison to the average cost of maintaining proper care for children in foster homes. However, State budgets focus savings on the front-end in order to hit yearly budget numbers. If Federal policy interceded, adoption fees per State would plummet and display unprecedented savings over the long-term with minimal effect on the short-term.