Even though the number of children in the foster system that needs guidance may be extremely high, fostering a child can be a stressful personal choice. When a foster parent decides to commit to being a foster parent, whether the person becomes a foster parent formally through a fostering agency or informally by taking in a family member or friend’s child, a foster parent and other people within the household will surely be challenged in diverse ways. Even with all the resources the agencies have out there to assist the foster parent in preparing to foster a child, “foster parenting is a learn-as-you-go effort” (Foster Parenting and Stress”). No matter how diligently the person may apply oneself to “no one can ready you for the stress level you are sure to experience” (“Foster Parenting and Stress”). Without a doubt, fostering a child has positive and negative sides to it such as all circumstances in life. For instance, a foster parent has to deal with several different people during the juvenile case for each child they foster. A foster parent must keep open communication with the Department of Child Safety and the fostering agency. In a few cases the foster parent would communicate with the biological parents in regards to the child or the D.C.S. caseworker would be a liaison between the foster parent and the biological parent. When it comes to the child, as a foster parent, the person is to “participate as a member of the treatment team working to strengthen and reunify the child’s biological family; value and help to maintain the child’s connections with his/her biological family; provide transportation for family visits; participate in case planning and related meetings; record the child’s observed behavior and progress, and address behavioral difficulties; and communicate with the child’s caseworker and other professionals, such as attorney or Guardian ad Litem (GAL), court-appointed special advocate (CASA), therapists, physicians and law enforcement” (“Role of Foster Parents”). People are unaware of what it takes to be a foster parent. However, the positive side of the situation, the child has a special they can trust and communicate with in how they feel regarding the situation and/or how they feel towards their biological parents and the foster parent will listen and be able to let the caseworker and other responsible parties stay involved. For each child going through this process needs a person they can trust and have faith in. The foster parent needs to relay any/all important information to the caseworker regarding concerns that they or the child has. Anytime there is a medical incident where the child may need to seek emergency attention the caseworker must be notified as to the nature of the hospital visit and the outcome. Currently, approximately 19,000 children in the foster system, the number may be higher. With all the children in the foster system, according to William Kapell, “they need foster homes, they need
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Each child will have their own disabilities or issues that they will be dealing with. The children may have been taken away from their parents due to physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, parents having drug addictions, parents being incarcerated, abandonment, etc. Children will handle life’s issues differently in their own way. The foster parent must be understanding and try to help the child with what they are facing. The foster parent will see the child go through many effects, such as “nightmares, regressive behaviors, depression, acting out—the list goes on” (“Trauma and Children: An Introduction for Foster Parents”). The children in the foster system go through trauma, which is a “psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of usual human experience, one that induces an abnormally intense and prolonged stress response” (“Trauma and Children: An Introduction for Foster Parents”), that may always be with them for the rest of their lives. The foster parent will need to keep in contact with the caseworker of how the child is doing, which the caseworker may suggest for the foster parent to take the child to see a psychiatrist if the child is not already seeing one. Of course it is a lot of work going through the process with the child, but the child would feel safer having someone there with them through it, than to go through it by
Each child will have their own disabilities or issues that they will be dealing with. The children may have been taken away from their parents due to physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, parents having drug addictions, parents being incarcerated, abandonment, etc. Children will handle life’s issues differently in their own way. The foster parent must be understanding and try to help the child with what they are facing. The foster parent will see the child go through many effects, such as “nightmares, regressive behaviors, depression, acting out—the list goes on” (“Trauma and Children: An Introduction for Foster Parents”). The children in the foster system go through trauma, which is a “psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of usual human experience, one that induces an abnormally intense and prolonged stress response” (“Trauma and Children: An Introduction for Foster Parents”), that may always be with them for the rest of their lives. The foster parent will need to keep in contact with the caseworker of how the child is doing, which the caseworker may suggest for the foster parent to take the child to see a psychiatrist if the child is not already seeing one. Of course it is a lot of work going through the process with the child, but the child would feel safer having someone there with them through it, than to go through it by