Social Work Case Study On Foster Care

The U.S foster care system is corrupt and the children trapped in it face the worst of it. The goal of foster care is to eventually reunite children with their parents or find the child a safe, loving home. Instead, foster kids face the harsh reality of abuse, mental illness, and temporary homes. The children and ripped from the homes they’ve known their entire lives because their parents struggle financially. The system would rather pay strangers to the child to take care of him/her rather than helping the parents of the child. This case would be called “neglect” when in reality most parents were doing all they could to take care of their children. The children’s new foster parents are paid hundreds of dollars per month. Often times, the money doesn’t go to the child and he/she is left truly neglected. The system is broken because children are taken from their homes for the wrong reasons and put into unsafe environments that will have a traumatic effect on the rest of their lives.

The only problem, that occurred while on the initial visit to the prospective foster carer, was how long the process takes to become a foster carer. It was explained on the visit, that the next step would be skills to foster course. However, the nearest course was fully booked and so the prospective foster carer would have to wait for the next available course. Overall, the process could take up to 1 year, however the prospective foster carer believed she could foster sooner. This was the only difficulty for the prospective foster carer and the social worker, as they cannot speed up the process even though the foster carer has substantial potential.

Jordan is adjusting to her first foster care placement. The youth expresses not having a problem following the house and DSS rules. Jordan is struggling with the possible length in time in foster care. She hopes to leave DSS custody before the end of August 2015. Jordan withholds her feelings and does not demonstrate healthy coping skills. The youth allowed to have supervised phone calls with DSS approve family members.

Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (AFSA) clearly and unequivocally establishes three national goals for children in foster care: safety, permanency, and well-being. ASFA was in part “a response to the fact that more children were entering the foster care system than were exiting.” Five principles underlie the ASFA and apply to professionals working with families through public and private agencies as well as state courts. These principles are:

The act of his mother’s neglect was a reoccurring thought throughout Dave’s head. He could not understand what caused his mother to act like this and he blamed himself.

In the past few decades there has be an increasing amount of children placed in the foster care system. With the amount of rising teen pregnancies and maternal drug abuse means increasing numbers of infants abandoned at birth. There have been many cases of child abuse or neglect that have been on the rise. State and local agencies are unable to suitably supervise foster homes or arrange adoptions. Statistics show that many children will spend most of their childhood and teenage years in the foster care system, which has shown to leave emotional scars on the child. Today, Child Welfare groups are looking for federal funding and legislation to increase programs and services aimed at keeping families together.

Children being placed in the foster care system usually come from unhealthy or unsafe situations, some might be mourning the death of a parent; therefore, whatever the circumstance is it is crucial the child’s wellbeing be put first. In many situations the child is put into another low income or highly abusive home, or often times the system is not temporary for the child. Each foster kid should be closely monitored by the state, the child’s wellbeing is crucial to the development of their future. We should do thorough investigations on the homes, before and while the child is under their care. If a child ever feels unsafe in their foster home, there should be an immediate investigation of the home.

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 Challenges In The Life Of A Foster Child What is foster care? Foster care is when a child or teen under the age of 18 is placed into a group home, or a home with a caregiver also known as “foster parent”. Many children are put into the foster system because, their parents neglect them, abuse them, homelessness, or they have familial problems in their household, such as, exposure to criminal activity, alcohol, and/or drugs. But the real question is, what Challenges are faced by teens that are in foster care? Teens that are in foster care face many challenges in life.

Adolescents aging out of the foster care system face many challenges. Most youth who have reached legal adulthood have been taught essential life skills and have a safety net of family and community support systems (Paul-Ward & Lambdin-Pattavina, 2016). Foster children often age out of the system with little or no social network and lacking the skills to acquire basic necessities such as employment, housing or healthcare. The absence of these two important fundamental needs increases the likelihood of perpetuating a generational cycle of poverty, abuse/neglect, criminality and substance abuse.

The study consisted of 12 parents who foster children ages 2-8 years old. The high levels of conduct problems among children in the foster care system and the added cost to families, society and services, there is a pressing need to support foster parents. Providing foster care to children with increased emotional, behavioral, and medical needs requires not only time, but patience in dealing with the child’s demands. Foster parents often voice they are unprepared to meet demand of children with increased behavioral and emotional needs and adolescents in their care. This situation can result in placement disruption, which further strains foster care resources and has negative impacts on foster children and youth. The incidence of conduct disorder

The foster care system has been a public policy issue for some time. Advocates say there are six problems that hinder foster care in the U.S. The first problem hindering foster care is that too often group homes are the go-to. Because there are rarely enough foster families, there are more than 56,000 children that live in a group setting. Advocates argue that children who are placed in family settings from the beginning have more success than those that were defaulted to group settings. Group homes are also lacking in sufficient support and do not make financial sense since group homes cost seven to ten times more than if the child was placed with a family.

When an adolescent comes into for therapy there is really never an easy task of finding out what is going on. Adolescent that come in who are part of the foster care system will add another degree of challenges. Children and adolescents that are put into the foster care system are not there because they choose to be, they are there due to some event in their life putting them there.

The foster care system is defined as “the raising or supervision of foster children, or orphans or delinquents, in an institution, group home, or private home, usually arranged through a government or social service agency that provide remuneration for expenses” (dictionary.com) The foster system is used when the guardian of the child is not fit to raise the child. Although it is believed that the foster care system is effective, there are many problems with it. When admitted into foster care, it is common to be moved several times. Being forced to move so frequently can lead to fear of being close to someone as well as misbehaving. While the idea of foster care is respectable, when put into action it fails to fulfill the goals and can often

In the roughly eleven-minute interview with my client, Alex, we discussed her need for case management services. She established her concerns that she wanted to address with me, as well as her current status in education, living arrangements, social supports, along with her history in the same areas. We also began to discuss (informally) the goals that she intends to reach with help of my services and other services she may be referred to. During the process, I learned about Alex’s strength and resilience. I also learned a lot about myself as an interviewer.