Children in Foster Homes Children

Children in Foster Homes Children have an entitlement to safe, stable, and nurturing families. However, to most children, this is a dream that is yet to come true, since abuse and neglect has become part of lives of a significant number of children. Because of abuse and neglect they are subjected to children are quite often denied their fundamental entitlements. The state often intervenes and put such children under foster care. Some of the children put under foster care at later stages realize that foster is not a safe haven.

This has been the reason behind children drifting from one foster home to the next. These children have however; remained optimistic that they will one day find a permanent home (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). The reason behind shifting from one foster home to the next has been attributed to maltreatment that these children are subjected to. To help children who have undergone abuse and neglect, web for support must be strengthened.

In spite of the critical role that foster homes play in the lives of children who have undergone abuse and neglect, the public appear to be very ignorant about foster care. The public seem to be unfamiliar with the child welfare system that oversees foster care.

This can be attested to by the spate of incidences where a number of children lost their lives because of failure by courts to adhere to the recommendations by the child welfare agency or laxity on the part of the child welfare workers as was the case of the death of the 2-year-old Brianna Blackmond and Brian Jackson who was starved by the foster parents respectively. These two incidences in Washington D.C.

And New Jersey respectively brought to the attention of the public some system failures (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). The public called for action to be taken on foster care. The need for change in organizational leadership, policy, and policy was reiterated. Policies that are put in place after a tragic incident has occurred are often over reactive and piecemeal. To effect changes in the way business is done in foster care, stakeholders have to seriously think about and understand the challenges the child welfare system faces on daily basis.

Thus far, a close examination of how the child welfare system runs is imperative. Families grappling with mental illnesses, unemployment, substance abuse, and domestic violence tend to neglect and abuse children (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). Children find themselves in foster care for a number of reasons. For some it is the inability of the mother to care for the newborn infant.

Some children find themselves in foster care because of the in put of a teacher, a social worker, a police officer, or neighbors who take an initiative to report a suspected child mistreatment to child protective services. Other children are put under foster care after having been abused by their immediate family members (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). Children whom their parents are in abject poverty, are battling substance abuse, or have mental illnesses find themselves in foster homes because of the neglect and abuse they are subjected to.

Children who cannot stay with their parents because of abuse and neglect may be placed with non-relative foster families, with their family members or even in therapeutic foster care home. Fifty per cent of children under foster care live with non-relatives while a quarter of them live with their relatives (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). Child welfare agencies are an integral part of the child welfare system. These agencies' policies and practices vary from state to state. Their organization also varies from state to state.

The courts also play significant role in child welfare cases with regard decisions to remove a child to the development of a permanency plan to decision to return a child home. The courts also have a hand when it comes to termination of parental rights and making a child available for adoption. Public agencies can contract private agencies to provide foster care services to children and families. Private and public agencies collaborate to provide the best of services to the children.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 and Child Family and Services (CFSRs) have provided an impetus for reform in the realms of child welfare. Some of the changes the ASFA has introduced with regard to child foster care include shortening of the timeline for making decision about permanency. The ASFA has eliminated long-term foster care as a permanent option (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004). With ASFA there are clarifications on when states do not have to make reasonable efforts to re-unify children with their real parents.

The act offers guidance on issues regarding termination of parental rights. It also provides direction when it comes to recognizing kinship caregivers as legitimate placement option. The act emphasizes increased accountability. The CFSRs helps in evaluating whether welfare agencies meet established national standards. This is facilitated through an array of systemic, family, and child outcome measures used to determine whether these agencies guarantee safety of the children under their care (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004).

With the CSFRs, the states have to demonstrate that they are making progress towards meeting the set standards. Failure to do so attracts financial penalties. Children under foster care face myriad challenges that impact their physical and psycho-social health. Children under foster care exhibit more health problems relative to other groups of disadvantaged children (Vandivere, Chalk, & Moore, 2003). The gap between the health of foster children and children who are not under foster care is great among young children.

Children under foster care are four times more likely to have a disability than children who are not under foster care (Barber, Delfabbro, & Cooper, 2001). These children have also been diagnosed with chronic health problems. Research shows that 15% of children under foster care are either in fair or poor health. Eleven to fourteen-year-olds under foster care do report having.