Family Foster Care Essay

Family foster care is defined as children cared for in a family setting by a certified foster care family (Cox, Tice, &Long, n.d.). This placement is intended to be temporary, but unfortunately becomes permanent for many of the children that are in the foster care system (Cox et al., n.d.). In 2014, the statistics on foster care in the United States were as follows: 415,129 children were in foster care, 52 percent being male and 48 percent being female, and the three highest racial groups were White with 42 percent, African-American with 24 percent and Hispanic with 22 percent (Statistics on Foster Care, 2014). Ages varied from under five years of age up to 20 years of age. The highest age group being five years or under with 39 percent and the lowest group being 16 to 20 years of age with 16 percent (Statistics on Foster Care, 2014). The living arrangements on these foster care children mainly consisted of 46 percent living in a foster family home with a …show more content…
However, even though receiving treatment, there has been no differences noted in children who have not received any mental health treatment (Williams & Sherr, 2008). With this population it is shown that former foster care children were four to five times more likely to be hospitalized for a suicide attempt (Williams & Sherr, 2008). Teenagers were five to eight times more likely to be hospitalized for a serious psychiatric disorder (Williams & Sherr, 2008). Foster children with numerous placements that have been detached from natural, primary, and community supports before obtaining treatment, do not do as well as those that are not in foster care. Due to these risks, it is shown that foster children will not respond as well to the treatment being given (Williams & Sherr,