In this section of my paper, I will be looking at the journey of foster care through two different developmental theories, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Erikson's Eight Psychosocial Stages in life. Abraham Maslow created a pyramid with five levels, 1. Basic needs 2. Safety needs 3. Belongingness/Love needs 4. Esteem needs and 5. Self-actualization needs. These five levels are placed into three categories, 1. The Basic needs of life, 2. The Psychological needs of life and 3. The Self-fulfillment needs of life. Maslow’s theory is used to help explain what a person needs psychologically and physically in life, to be able to live it to the fullest. Erik H. Erikson also has his theory about what is needed psychologically from birth to old …show more content…
In the first stage, an infant will develop a sense of trust vs mistrust within himself or herself depending on how fast their needs are met. In the second stage, a kid will development a feeling of autonomy vs shame and doubt depending on the amount of self-control the child is able to gain. In the third stage, a sense of initiative vs guilt will form from the amount of power/control they may have during their interactions with other kids while playing and in other social settings. In the fourth stage, a sense of industry vs inferiority will form depending on how well they passed the previous stages and their interactions with their parents and teachers while completing different tasks. The fifth stage is where a kid will face an identity vs identity confusion crisis depending on how well they passed through the previous stages and their social interactions in the world. The sixth stage is where a person will …show more content…
Their basic needs have not been met due to a parent/caregiver that is not capable of giving the child what he/she needs. Some of the children in foster care never slept in a bed before entering foster care; they never had a full course meal or is able to bathe on a regular basis. In an article on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs it states, “When an individual does not have enough of something, he or she has a deficit, ultimately creating what Maslow has termed deficit needs” (Poston, 2009). These “deficit needs” will follow the child into adulthood especially if they are not met. They are also the underlying cause of the emotional problems the children develop while in foster care. In an article on Erikson’s Schedule of Human Strengths and the Childhood Origins of the Resourceful Self, it states, “the human strengths that develop in childhood are critically important to the formation of a resourceful self” (Capps, 2012). We must take a deeper look at the quality of care being given to the children who are in foster care to ensure they have a chance to grow up and become mentally and physically healthy adults. The requirements for education/trainings on the development of a child must be changed to ensure these foster parents/facilities have the knowledge and skills required to handle children being taken from their homes and placed in
From existing research it is proven that children have mental, physical and development issues from growing up in foster homes. These young adolescents and children do not have the proper care in fostering homes as they would in an "all average American home". These kids are open to new traumatizing experiences not usually seen if one had a stable home, and these events causes permanent damage to one 's health state. Also with the simple fact that there are hundreds of children per foster home, all with different needs, still needing the basic necessities to thrive as a human without getting the proper funding calls for malnutrition children. Now these young kids are not just getting the proper care needed but they are also doing poorly in school and with daily challenges in life generally.
The life for a child in foster care is much different than any other child’s. While growing up children look up to their father or mother. They aspire to be like them and follow in their footsteps. For the children placed in foster care all they see is that their parents could not take care of them. They will not have the memoires of growing up with their family, but instead memories of the different homes they have been transferred too. Foster parents love and care for all of the children that come into their homes, but it’s hard for the children to accept someone who moves in and out of their lives.
when they are on their own (Mech, 1994). These are some of the problems faced by 20,000 foster children who age-out of care each year. History In the early 1980's, older adolescents in foster care and young adults who had been discharged from foster care become a source of great
Though I never entered foster care as a child and therefore, did not consider this topic directly related to my childhood; I see things differently now. The largest common denominator for the existence of foster care and the primary reason why children get placed is extreme poverty. Although I have gone hungry myself here and there in my life, and I also have encountered financial hardship throughout, it appears as really nothing compares to the histories of these families. The traumas they have endured living through despair and darkness of these circumstances is not easy to put into words. My research took me to different genders, different cultures, and different extremes of personal history. It was really heartbreaking to find out these facts via individual memoirs because it felt like they all sat in the middle of my room, up close and personal. What I do know now without a doubt is that I can clearly relate to the raw emotions which back up any human trauma out there. Any of these emotions are what connects humans all over the world; it gives people the key to relating to one another, especially in the space of suffering, as it will demonstrate through the call for and usage of foster care.
Over 600,000 children in the United States are in the foster care system. Reasons include, abuse, neglect and abandonment. These children lack nurturing environments and stable homes. Children within the foster care system have more mental, physical and developmental problems. It is imperative to understand the challenges children entering the foster care system are exposed to. The system works best when children are provided nurturing, and short-term care until they can be placed back home safely or a permanent adoptive family. For many children, however, the stay is longer, with 30% remaining in temporary care for over two years. Staying in the system is detrimental to the child’s well-being. The foster care system is an unsuccessful intervention for children that cultivates development, health and mental issues.
Although foster care can be a great system by providing kids with homes, sometimes we don’t see what’s happening behind the closed doors. The children that enter the “system” typical have experience or will experience emotional or physical trauma that impacts their development. If children’s mental states are not properly
Abundant amounts of children who have been in and out of foster care are known to have more behavioral problems than children not in the system. Whether we want to believe it or not, there are bad people in this world. Somehow some of these “bad people” become foster parents for the wrong reasons. Some take in foster kids for the extra income. This makes no sense to me considering foster parents make nearly no money. Their average pay is one dollar and five cents and hour (“The Foster Life”). This money and usually the foster parents own money are spent on the child. Foster parents like this are huge contributors to the impacting trauma on foster kids’ lifes. With lousy foster parents comes frequent moves between homes. Researchers have found that frequent moves in foster care can be detrimental to child development. Some caregivers would go as far as neglecting the child they are meant to be protecting. This furthers the consequences, and changes the child’s life for the worse. Due to these circumstances, Medicaid steps in and covers majority of foster kids. Studies have shown that children who are in foster care are twice as likely than non-foster children to form behavioral issues (Becker, Jordan, and Larsen). There are other down sides to foster care other than a irresponsible caregiver. There are hundreds of children who need placement in foster homes. This leads to
There are a multitude of reasons that students in foster care lack educational success such as unmet health needs, developmental issues, lack of stability, and emotional or psychological issues. Most importantly, however, foster care children lack educational success because of behavioral and mental health concerns, maltreatment and abuse, and placement trauma experienced while being in the foster care system. These issues are the underlying reasons that many foster care students end up on the streets, in jail, or homeless when they age out of the system. And after years of not receiving the proper
An adult’s psychological development depends on one’s childhood experiences with adults and their capability of providing nurturance, protection, trust, and security to the developing child. Children with current and previous ties to the foster care system were found to have behavioral, emotional, and social well-being issues. The United States averages more than 400,000 children in foster care during the year. Amongst these 400,000 children, as many as 50% have developmental disorders or psychiatric diagnoses (Hutchinson). Children placed within the foster care system are more likely to be found to have mental health issues due to the inadequacy
The foster care system in America negatively affects the lives of adolescents in the system mentally and physically. On any given day there are over 428,000 children in foster care and more than 20,000 kids age out of foster care with no permanent family; therefore, they are being left behind socially, educationally, mentally, and under developed for the real world. Foster care first started in the nineteen hundreds when Charles Loring Brace created the “Children’s Aid Society” in New York. Then later on the 1900’s, social agencies started to supervise and pay the foster children’s sponsors. However, back in foster care’s history and still today, the kids in the system experince abuse and become mentally unstable. One out of five kids
As family structure changes children pay the biggest price. They may lose the luxury of a stable home or school to call their own, when parent are no longer in the picture either. This is an issue that is largely ignored by society and most importantly the government. Without the foster system, children would be left abandoned and forgotten by all. The foster system provides thousands of homes for foster children each year, with parents that can give them what they need. But, foster care in America is inadequate for all American foster children and needs to be improved. Improvements are critical in bettering American foster systems, these improvements include, creating programs, finding more stable homes, and starting mentoring programs
Helping these vulnerable children access the services, interaction, and the stability needed for them to grow-up to being successful members of society can be provided with foster placement. If the process is well planned and if the foster parents are given adequate support, the foster care system can be a valuable resource for abused and neglected children (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 321).
Everywhere across the world, more and more children are being placed into foster care or a welfare type system. Foster care can benefit children or harm them; the effects of foster care differ for every individual. These types of systems often have a major effect on young children’s physiological state. Children entering in foster care are often malnourished and have untreated health problems. A high percentage of children who are placed in these types of systems have mental health, physical health, and/or developmental issue which often originates while the individuals are still in the custody of the biological parents. Children in foster care should be provided with a healthy and nurturing environment which often provides positive long term results. The age of children in a foster care varies across the world, but it is often seen that majority of these children are young (George para. 1). There are more young children in the system because younger children require more adequate care than older children that are already in the system. Placing these children in welfare systems is supposed to be a healing process for them. Although this is supposed to be a healing process, statistics say these children have a negative experience while being in these systems, but this is not always the case. A number of children in foster care fall sucker to continuous neglect and recurrent abuse with the lack of nurturing and an unstable environment. These same children often have unmet
The government attempts continually to revise the foster care system to serve children more proficiently. However, more problems ensue these diligent efforts and modifications. In the article, “Influences on the Mental Health of Children Placed in Foster Care,” author Caroline R. Ellermann concludes, “Once in foster care, ongoing health problems and risk for further complications are exacerbated by (1) removal from the biological home and the trauma of parent separation,” (Ellermann, 2007, p. S23) The system designed to eradicate child abuse erroneously generated a trickle effect of problems. By the removal of these children, the government transpired additional emotional and health problems. Unbeknownst to the effect of the separation anxiety caused by the removal from biological family, these children became subject to abuse from the foster care system.
Children in foster care are more likely to have mental, physical, and developmental problems, but are also less likely to receive the health care they need for those problems (Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent