Problems in the Foster Care System “Foster care is a state-managed child welfare system that provides out-of-home placement for children who have been removed from their original home due to neglect, abuse, delinquency or abandonment.” What this quote from DAMAR Foster Care Services fails to mention is that though in 2014, 415,129 children were removed from dangerous situations and placed into a more acceptable situation, these children and young adults are still not safe. Foster care is intended to be a temporary safe haven for children who have been neglected, the average foster child spends 23 months in the care of others, and will have an about ten homes over that time, and yet they are still subject to sexual, mental and physical abuse,
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Social service workers attempt to find the right foster home for the child, even as families and social service agencies battle out custody questions before a judge who offers parents multiple chances to regain custody of their child in the meantime, men women and children openly give their home to a foster child for an undetermined amount of time until they are adopted, transferred to another house, or returned to their biological family. But the challenge only grows if there is more than one child trying to be placed. For some of the children it is not only them being moved from their home, it is their siblings too and due to a shortage of homes and the number of parents willing to take two or more children is quite small, forcing the siblings to be placed into separate homes. Foster children will go through an average of 4 homes however it is not uncommon to hear stories of children going in and out of as many as 40 homes in the duration of their time in the system. While in a perfect world this system would work perfectly, this however is not the case, improvements should and can be made. The largest problem facing foster children is what they face when their time in the system is over. According to a study conducted by Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) in 2014, by the age of …show more content…
Though it may be a long process to address the absolute solutions to the numerous problems in the system, there are some that we can never solve. Mainly being the mental and psychological damage that comes with being admitted into the system, whatever is done to improve the system it will never fix the damage done to the spirits and minds of the children who have been placed into the care of strangers for their own protection. Furthermore, the continuous development of the foster care system is needed to further address the issues facing thousands of minors in America
Social service workers attempt to find the right foster home for the child, even as families and social service agencies battle out custody questions before a judge who offers parents multiple chances to regain custody of their child in the meantime, men women and children openly give their home to a foster child for an undetermined amount of time until they are adopted, transferred to another house, or returned to their biological family. But the challenge only grows if there is more than one child trying to be placed. For some of the children it is not only them being moved from their home, it is their siblings too and due to a shortage of homes and the number of parents willing to take two or more children is quite small, forcing the siblings to be placed into separate homes. Foster children will go through an average of 4 homes however it is not uncommon to hear stories of children going in and out of as many as 40 homes in the duration of their time in the system. While in a perfect world this system would work perfectly, this however is not the case, improvements should and can be made. The largest problem facing foster children is what they face when their time in the system is over. According to a study conducted by Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) in 2014, by the age of …show more content…
Though it may be a long process to address the absolute solutions to the numerous problems in the system, there are some that we can never solve. Mainly being the mental and psychological damage that comes with being admitted into the system, whatever is done to improve the system it will never fix the damage done to the spirits and minds of the children who have been placed into the care of strangers for their own protection. Furthermore, the continuous development of the foster care system is needed to further address the issues facing thousands of minors in America