Partial support was found for the policy of keeping siblings together in foster care; the results suggest that the policy is positive for a unique subset of siblings, or those who initially show a low level of behavior problems. Compared to siblings in continuous placement, either together or apart, siblings in disrupted placement with high initial behavior problems had fewer problems, while siblings in disrupted placement with low initial behavior problems had more problems. These findings stress the importance of examining the relationships between siblings and the potential risk of separation and placement shifts before early placement decisions are made.
Marzick, a.B. (2007) the foster care ombudsman: applying an international concept to prevent institutional abuse of America's foster youth. Family Court Review 45(3): 506-523.
Children today are often abused while in foster care, opposing the goal to create a temporary, safe, homelike setting to protect and nurture children who are unable to live with their biological parents due to reasons such as abuse, neglect, or abandonment. This abuse is frequently worse than the reasons they were initially removed from their parents' care. There is now an internationally based innovative concept called the foster care ombudsman that may be a part of the solution. Child welfare ombudsman offices in California, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, as well as international locations are described in this report. The author also emphasized how a foster care ombudsman can complement class action litigation of foster care abuse claims. "When strongly statutorily defined, properly funded, and well-staffed, foster care ombudsman offices can serve as a complement to class action litigation and, more importantly, as...
(2007) Poverty, child maltreatment, and foster care. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 13(5): 296-303.
In general, children are maltreated at considerably higher rates when they are living in poverty. Child welfare officials normally hear of children in foster care because they are neglected by parents who are struggling with poverty effects, such as homelessness, incarceration, HIV, and substance abuse. The authors reviewed the disadvantages experienced by young children in foster care, 36 months and younger. They found the common risks to include low birth weight, prenatal substance exposure, and prematurity. Substance abuse, for example, showed to be a major negative effect. Those children with prenatal substance exposure may be at high risk for a number of problems, including motor control and perceptual defects, even when they are raised with adequate care after birth. In addition, the child welfare agency had only an 11% screening for early intervention, despite the multiple risks as well as established mandates for screening. The system that is to protect and care for maltreated children lags behind in improving the well-being of its children. There appears to be a need for a middleperson who can be specifically in charge of this need. One example in California is a federally and state funded program that employs nurses to coordinate healthcare between the child welfare system and healthcare providers. This foster care nurse role evolved due to the growing recognition of the many health and developmental issues seen in child welfare and the lack of timeliness in addressing these problems.
