...adulthood. This study will focus on the direct effects being a child without a home might have on the ability of those children to be successful in their adult lives. Literature Review: When considering reasons for developmental delays in skills among homeless children, there are many areas that should be reviewed. First of all, let us talk about what might constitute as a “developmental delay in skills”. According the Molnar, Rath, and Klein, when they studied the impact of homelessness on children they focused on issues dealing with homeless mothers in their prenatal state dividing the pregnant women into groups of three: women in homeless shelters, women in housing projects, and all other women (all residing in New York City)(1990, p.110). Of these three groups, the women who were in homeless shelters received the least amount of prenatal care, if any at all, as well as the highest amount of babies that were born at weights lower than average which is proven to increase the likelihood of developing a handicap condition, hearing and or visual impairments, mental retardations, and or behavioral and learning problems. In addition, this group of women also had the highest number of infant mortality rates among the three groups with 24.9 women losing a baby out of 1000 (Molnar, Rath, & Klein, 1990, p.110). Aside from possible birth defects such as the ones previously mentioned, other developmental skills a child may be lacking in as a result of homelessness could be...
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...One of the most comprehensive surveys of abuse in foster care was conducted in conjunction with a Baltimore lawsuit. Trudy Festinger, head of the Department of Research at the New York University School of Social Work, determined that over 28 per cent of the children in state care had been abused while in the system. Reviewed cases depicted "a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuses" inflicted upon children in the custody of the Baltimore Department. Cases reviewed as the trial progressed revealed children who had suffered continuous sexual and physical abuse or neglect in foster homes known to be inadequate by the Department. Cases included that of sexual abuse of young girls by their foster fathers, and that of a young girl who contracted gonorrhea of the throat as a result of sexual abuse in an unlicenced foster home.[1] In Louisiana, a study conducted in conjunction with a civil suit found that 21 percent of abuse or neglect cases involved foster homes.[2] In another Louisiana case, one in which thousands of pages of evidence were reviewed, and extensive testimony and depositions were taken, it was discovered that hundreds of foster children had been shipped out of the state to Texas. Stephen Berzon of the Children's Defense Fund explained the shocking findings of the court before a Congressional subcommitte, saying: "children were physically abused, handcuffed, beaten, chained, and tied up, kept in cages, and overdrugged with psychotropic medication for institutional...
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...Running Head: EXAMINING CHILD ABUSE & FOSTER CARE Examining Different Types of Child Abuse and the Effects of Foster Care Kelsey D. Hill Northeast Alabama Community College Abstract All children have the right to live in an environment free from abuse and neglect. According to Muda & Alwi (2012), “The safety of children is the paramount concern that must guide child protection efforts”. There are four main types of abuse: Physical, sexual, emotional, and neglect. Physical abuse and emotional abuse are similar and different in many ways. Physical abuse can be seen on the outside of a child, while emotional abuse is more of a mental abuse and can harm a child majorly. This paper examines abuse and factors that may help children who are abused. Examining Different Types of Child Abuse and the Effects of Foster Care There are several different types of abuse that undeniably occur in children. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect are the four main forms of abuse. Abuse can physically and mentally abuse a person permanently. A child’s development stage is the most crucial and needs serious attention from parents as well as teachers in order to assure their growth into healthy and mature adults (Noh & Wan, 2012). One of the factors that may hamper a child’s growth is child abuse. It could cause serious emotional effects to a child throughout their lifetime. Although some children would disagree, foster care and human resources could...
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...QuinNisha Hurt Mark Gatlin ENGL 110C 26 April 2010 Flaws in the System The requirements for foster parents are not adequate enough to ensure that the children are in good hands. Foster care is when a child is provided with a temporary family life. Children that are placed in foster care are neglected, abused, or removed due to extreme circumstances that occur in the household. Social services play an important role on selecting the right foster parents for the children. To become a foster parent there are many requirements and regulations necessary to place the child in the right temporary custody. Some minimum requirements to become a foster parent include that you have to be at least twenty-one years old, be free of communicable diseases, be financially self supporting, and complete and pay for a criminal history check. Also the applicant can’t have over six children under the age of eighteen, including their own biological children (Taneika Goldman). Do these guidelines work? The guidelines need to go into more detail to increase the safety of the foster children. Are foster parents taking in children just to benefit themselves? The guidelines that are in place now could be better. The minimum requirements to become a foster parent need to be revised in order to see maximum success. Foster care is a system in which a minor is taken from their biological parent voluntarily or involuntarily and is placed in temporary custody of a certified foster parent. Children...
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...prevents them from studying for long with any single teacher. However, some differences in achievement test scores predate entry into foster care (National Working Group, 2011), indicating that past trauma, developmental delays, or disabilities maybe as or more responsible for the academic underachievement of foster youth as frequent displacement. Compared to the mainstream population, foster youth are much more likely to enter special education. Vacca (2008) found that “students in foster care also are enrolled in special education at three times the rate of non-foster students” (1083). Even this astronomical number fails to fully convey the rate at which foster youth require special services, however. Other studies have found that child welfare caseworkers underestimated the number of foster children who receive special education by sixfold (Goerge et al., 1992). The diagnosis rate of foster...
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...participate in every year will improve staff and improve policies and procedures. Every child needs appropriate housing and support to become successful adults. Improving lives that have been destroyed is a goal for every organization involved in the CWLA. The CWLA plays a leading role in Fostering Connections and Increasing Adoptions Act this includes major child welfare. There are different ways that the CWLA provides funding for their organization. Although many funds are available directly from the State Welfare Agency the funding changes as the agencies have to provide for different clients. Not all clients will have all of the same needs so funding resources will vary. The CWLA does use the Administrative Rules and Regulation to analyze its eligibility rules. When an agency depends on funding from various state/federal government agencies it gives the social worker and staff member the opportunity to use the benefits that will benefit the client immediately. Depending on the needs of the client for example, if the client needs food it will have to qualify for food stamps which require different eligibility requirements than a child needing Medicaid. There are many primary sources that provide funding to the CWLA. One of the primary federal funding sources is the Federal Foster Care and Adoption Assistance. The requirements are that each child be eligible for AFDC. The child must be deprived of parental support and be in...
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...The Department of Human Services (DHS) is Arkansas’ largest state agency, with more than 7,500 employees serving Arkansans of all ages. People seeking support will find at least one local DHS office in each of the state’s 75 counties. Arkansans have access to many services that they can apply for in person or online. Those services include ARKids First health insurance for children, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) and Medicaid. DHS uses Medicaid that is both federally and state funded to pay for 64 percent of the babies born in Arkansas each year and for the care of 69 percent of the state’s nursing home patients. Additionally, DHS protects children and the elderly who have been abused or neglected; finds adoptive homes for foster children; funds services for the elderly such as congregate and home-delivered meals and regulate nursing homes. While regulating childcare facilities, they also support high-quality early childhood education; treat and serve youth in the juvenile justice system; oversee services for blind Arkansans; runs residential facilities for people with developmental disabilities; manages the Arkansas State Hospital and Arkansas Health Center for those with acute behavioral health issues; and supports nonprofit, community and faith-based organizations that depend on volunteers to continue programs vital to our communities. The agency also partners with community mental...
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...My research and corrections of my literature review seems to be going well. I have found that the permanency planning in various states fall under the two categories of working and not working. Working in reference to my thesis question means success of permanency placement and the age out process in addition to the individuals’ success rate after foster care. Not working in reference to my thesis question is reentry of children in foster care and how not gaining permanent placement can affect the child age out process. That leads to the shuffling of a child from foster home to foster home not being mental stable and having a hard time adapting to adult life. Another factor that can leave a child at risk is aging out into independent living...
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...18th Century Colonisation of Australia Colonisation decimates Aboriginal communities with diseases, alcohol, and dispossession. 19th Century Colonies develop own legislations Australian states/colonies develop individual legislative mechanisms concerning child protection for their jurisdictions. 19th/20th Century ‘Stolen Generation’ Forced separation of Aboriginal children from their families under policies of assimilation. 20th Century ‘Forgotten Australians’ State institutionalisation of children for a variety of paternalistic reasons. Late 20th Century Family Court of Australia States gradually devolve their powers in relation to ex-nuptial children to federal court. States maintain individual jurisdiction for child protection. 1987 Legislation in NSW Ascension of Children (Care and Protection) Act. (see hand out) Supporting Families Emergent view that it is better to support families and have children safely remain in the family unit than to remove the child. Late 20th Century Foster Care Growing body of evidence indicating foster care is preferred model of out of home care over residential care models. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Development of convention. First developed by the League of Nations in 1924. Ratified by UN in 1990. Australia one of the first signatories. Mandatory Reporting The new legislation brings in mandatory reporting. That all professionals whose work is associated with children must report instances...
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...Running head: THE FOSTER CARE AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE The Association Between Foster Care and Substance Abuse Risk Factors and Treatment Outcomes: An Exploratory Secondary Analysis Sharon H. Stoess Grand Canyon University NRS-433V March 27, 2011 The Association Between Foster Care and Substance Abuse Risk Factors and Treatment Outcomes: An Exploratory Secondary Analysis “The child welfare and substance abuse systems are integrally linked through the children and families they serve (Blome, W., Shields, J., & Verdieck, M., 2009). There is a dearth of knowledge, however, on how children who have experienced foster care fare when they are treated for substance abuse issues as adults” (Blome, W., Shields, J., & Verdieck, M., 2009). “In addition, the funds available for in-depth, comprehensive research in child welfare are limited” (Blome, W., Shields, J., & Verdieck, M., 2009). “Data collected for one purpose can potentially be used to answer other questions” (Blome, W., Shields, J., & Verdieck, M., 2009). “Secondary analysis involves the use of data gathered in a previous study to test new hypotheses or address new questions” (Polit & Beck, 2009, p. 295). “The issue, however, is that the original researchers may not have collected all the data needed to answer the current question” (Blome, W., Shields, J., & Verdieck, M., 2009). “This article presents an exploratory study using the Alcohol and Drug Services Study (ADSS) study set” (Blome...
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...the number come to find out, aren’t completely accurate. Children who exit and reenter multiple times in a year are counted only once. “Due to rounding of the original AFCARS source data and to missing data, some percentages do not add up to 100 percent, or the estimated numbers do not add up to the total number in the category.” The goal of this study is to show the statistical increase and decrease in the foster care population. While the population focus is based on all races that enter the foster care system. “Data was obtained from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). AFCARS collects information on all children in foster care for whom State child welfare agencies have responsibility for placement, care, or supervision and all children who are adopted with public child welfare agency involvement.” This study was conducted by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services without being bias towards any race, religion, or gender. As such, there is not any evidence of being bias found in this study and based solely on statistical information. The problems I found, as stated above, was the stated fact of the children not being recorded more than once. This missing statistic would benefit the final outcome of measuring the foster care overall statistical recordings. The confounding variables stated in this study revolves around the “unknown or undetermined” race within the statistical recording. As such, the listed races are recorded as the mass...
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... The placement of the child is always arranged through the government or a social-service agency. Children had been physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, or their caretaker isn’t stable enough to take care of the child which result in the Child Protective Services removes the child from the home. Once this goes into effect the child is place into three possible temporally living arrangements which are foster home, group home, and kinship home....
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...My ethical dilemma involved my commitment to my clients, as in this specific case I was committed to a parent and her two young daughters and also I battled with respecting her right to self determination. I have been working with a family for 9 months and the case has been active with this particular family welfare agency for 2 ½ years. Many external factors of oppression have affected this family. I present a 35 year old African American single mother and two young daughters ages 8 and 12. This mother, Ms. Module, (name change for confidentiality), has a history with Child protective services for 2 years now, included in the allegations was substance and alcohol use, educational neglect, lack of supervision, and engaging in domestic violence disputes in the presence of the children. Ms. Module does not know who the father is of the girls, states they were conceived while she was dating various strangers for money. In September 2008 the two children were placed into foster care due to mother’s addiction to cocaine and alcohol including her inability to care for her children and provide a safe environment. Due to Adoption and Safe Families Act, when children are in Foster Care 15 out of 22 months, the Department of Social Services is mandated to file for termination of parental rights against the parents. Since the children have been in a foster home, Ms. Module has been in and out of various rehabilitation facilities. Ms. Module is also diagnosed with Major Depression...
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...cannot be returned to their homes, relatives or foster parents are often asked to provide permanent homes. Foster families provide children in this situation with the consistency and support they need to successfully transition to adulthood (Michigan.gov). In terms of operative goals, there are seven that encompass DHS and represent what the organizations day-to day goals are. The operative goals include: Safety, children’s needs, family’s needs, communities, placement, reunification and permanence, and services. Let me expand on each of these goals. Foster cares first priority is to keep children safe. So when parents/families can’t or do not fulfill this necessity, DHS has been delegated the authority to intervene on behalf of the child. Children’s needs:...
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...Task 2 Legislation/legal framework The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Every child has the right to an education, to be healthy, to grow up safe and to be heard. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child is a legally-binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities. Since being adopted by the United Nations in november 1989, the CRC has received 194 ratifications with only two countries still to ratify. This means that they have agreed to do everything they can to make the rights a reality for children around the world. All signatories are bound to the UNCRC by international law, and its implementation is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Under the terms of the convention, states are required to meet the basic needs of children and help them to reach their full potential. Central to this is the acknowledgement that every child has basic fundamental rights. These include: The right to life The right to his or her own name and identity The right to be protected from abuse or exploitation The right to an education The right to having their privacy protected The be raised by, or have relationship with, their parents The right to express their opinions and have these listened to and, where appropriate, acted upon The right to play and enjoy culture and art in safety On 25th May 2000, two optional...
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