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Foster Care and Child Welfare

            
             One of the actions I took to promote a system change was to partner with The John Burton Foundation (JBF), The Children's Law Center (CLC) and Larkin Street Youth Services (LSYS) and go up to the Sacramento State Capitol and Lobby and inform legislators about SB 528 (Parents in Foster Care). First, I would like to give a brief summary of SB 528. The passage of this bill ensures access to child care by prioritizing foster youth who are parents for subsidized child care. Parenting and pregnant youth are 200% are more likely to drop out of high school than to graduate from high school, leaving them without the means to achieve economic stability. .
             One key reason for this is a lack of reliable, affordable child care. SB 528 directs the Department of Social Services to collect data on parenting and pregnant youth. Currently, the number of youth in foster care who have children in California, either as custodial or non-custodial parents, is unknown. Knowing this information is necessary to understand the breadth of this issue and to develop appropriate policies to address it. The proposed legislation would require the statewide collection of this information.
             Each year tens of thousands of teenagers are released from the foster care system in the United States without high school degrees or strong family relationships. Two to four years after discharge, half of these young people still do not have either a high school diploma or equivalency degree, and fewer than ten percent enter college. Nearly a third end up on public assistance within fifteen months, and eventually more than a third will be arrested or convicted of a crime. The existing structure sets kids up to fail by inadequately preparing them for adult life. Foster care programs traditionally emphasize goals of reuniting children with family or placing children into adoptive homes, but neither of these outcomes is likely for adolescents.


Essays Related to Foster Care and Child Welfare

1. Child Custody in Pennsylvania

... custodianship or independent living (for teenage foster children at the verge of "aging out" of the system) (netcenters.org.) Children and teens who do not have kin to care for them are placed under the care of Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Child Welfare System. Depending on the needs of the child, their age, and ability to adapt (behaviors), they may ... be placed either in a group home setting or with a foster family in which they will reside. CPS ensures that these children receive the minimum care of food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and an education (custodycoach.com...

  • Word Count: 1849
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. The Vulnerable Ones - Children in Foster Care

... adolescents who are leaving foster care and making the transition to adulthood. Supporting adolescents leaving foster care would represent strides at preventing the high rates of homelessness that is plaguing America. Adolescents within foster care are often powerlessness, lacking the authority or power. Decisions are routinely made that regards an adolescent's placement that will have life-long consequences without adolescents. In most cases, child welfare does not provide the ... parents. In some cases the loss of parents, natural environment, school, their friends and family can be w...

  • Word Count: 2077
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Foster Care System

... basic types of foster care in the United Stated are: family (non relative) foster care, kinship (relative) care, therapeutic foster care, and residential group care (Lindsey, 1994). Consider the number of foster care children in America that are placed into the system. According to Child Welfare League of America, (2006), there are roughly 500,000 children living in foster care. African American children make up two-thirds of the foster care population and stay in foster care longer than the ... average child. When it comes to finding ... ...

  • Word Count: 2649
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Aging Out of Foster Care

... their Chafee dollars on room and board for former foster youth (Oldmixon, 2007). The Chafee Foster Care Independence Act continues to be the central framework for child welfare legislation and can be seen at both the federal and state levels today. The most current policy passed regarding youth aging out of foster care involves the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It became effective January 1, 2014 and required all states extend Medicaid ... the opportunity for success of individuals who are transitioning or have transitioned from the foster care system. "Michigan Yo...

  • Word Count: 3259
  • Approx Pages: 13
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Welfare

... if they go to work. Most of them cannot pay for child-care and therefore they are left unattended. A widespread argument among the American public is that welfare costs taxpayers too much and therefore should be greatly reduced. Welfare reform has caused an increase in filings of dependency and neglect and an increase in children placed in foster care. This is costing us millions of dollars each year. In 1995 ... . Those states that have weak work requirements and lenient sanctions have seen the least decline in child poverty. Mixed results on the effectiveness of welfare reform are not ...

  • Word Count: 1729
  • Approx Pages: 7

6. Foster Parenting and Adoption

... the Family: An Illustrated Overview of Life with the Disturbed Foster or Adopted Child," Dr. Richard J. Delaney examines the approach to the understanding and treatment of disturbed foster and adopted children. Over the course of five chapters the author assess the decline of effective adopted and foster families, reviews the typical behavioral problems that are common among the foster care and adoptive children, the impact they have on the family ... dynamics, strategies to assist in problem solving and discussions on special issues that occur in adoptive and foster families. Through p...

  • Word Count: 1648
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. School Counselors Advocating for Foster Youth

... ,000 youth in the United States who "age out" of foster care each year, it can be an extremely difficult experience filled with many challenges (Gardner, 2008). Youth aging out of foster care are "at a higher risk for homelessness, unemployment, illness, incarceration, welfare dependency and sexual and physical victimization than their peers" (Gardner, 2008, p. 3). Although ... and the foster youth by facilitating positive communication and providing parenting information, resources and support to all involved. When working specifically with youth aging-out of foster care, the school cou...

  • Word Count: 3042
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Social Work in Child Welfare

... strategies for achieving them. Many child welfare services have their own personal strategies that are detailed and complex. Strategies that they use come from national policies/values that drive their delivery system. The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform is an example of one. This agency has three main recommendations for social workers to help prevent the trauma of foster care; and keeping children with their own ... families and still assuring their safety. Although many child welfare agencies may not agree with national policies, it is a foundation and a guideline if t...

  • Word Count: 1722
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Child Abuse

... accounted for 7.7%. Throughout the United States, parents caused 449,150 cases of child abuse, foster parents caused 3,689 cases, and child day care providers caused 6,024 cases. Child abuse costs our society billions of dollars every year in direct costs, and indirect costs. Child welfare systems spend $14,400,000,000 a year on foster care, adoption assistance, and family preservation and support, but this figure excludes Medicaid, which is an important source of ... treatment funding for children and families. (Prevent Child Abuse America, 1) Law enforcement agencies spend $24,709 ......

  • Word Count: 4959
  • Approx Pages: 20
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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