CRITICAL ISSUES IN CARE

Critical Issues in Care

Critical Issues in Care

Q3.

Introduction

Foster care is defined as a substitute for 24-hour care for children outside their own homes. It is generally conceived as a living arrangement is limited in duration in which a child whose family is unable to maintain a sufficient education of children is placed with authorized physicians to reunification with birth parents, adoption or emancipation occurs. Foster care is a legally binding agreement in which the state takes temporary custody of the child. Reasons for placement in foster care are diverse and include, but are not limited to child abuse, neglect, substance dependence from parents, mental or physical illness, and incarceration. In the last decade there has been an increase in the number of complaints of abuse and neglect to child welfare agencies, and a greater number of mothers and pregnant women with substance abuse problems. As a result, foster placements are involving young children and infants more frequently than in the past, and these children are likely to remain in foster care and children placed at older ages. (Barth 1994 45)

The number of children in foster care has expanded in recent years, with estimates over 550 000 at any given point in time. In addition, it has been reported in numerous studies that these children are experiencing high levels of emotional difficulties, behavioral and medical. Behavioral and psychological problems among foster children may persist because of medical instability, the effects of early care maladjustment, attachment disorders, and insults to the development of brain systems. In light of these alarming results, there has been a move towards identifying the most effective placements for children who cannot be kept in the homes of the biological parents. Promoting growth and development of children through a safe and nurturing environment has become a primary goal of most child welfare agencies. Recent social and political trends reflect our society's efforts to create a foster care system that maximizes the opportunity for children to cultivate mindfulness in the context of stability. (Clausen 1998 296)

Social and Political Trends in Foster Care

The Emergence of foster care in the United States dates back to the efforts of Charles Loring Brace, who in 1853 founded the Children's Aid Society of New York, an organization that sets the modern methods of child protection. In late 1800, Brace led the effort to place children in New York with the families of the Midwest and other rural areas, where they were adopted, forced to work on farms, or both. The system improved the lives of many, but some of the children were exploited as free labor. In the wake of several scandals, it became clear that the need for greater supervision of state agencies to ensure children were not being mistreated. In 1909 at the White House Conference on Dependent Children, Theodore Roosevelt established the first legislation supporting the use of foster care for homeless and abandoned children. This helped pave the way for a federal agency dedicated to the promotion ...