Velasquez 1

Nancy Velasquez

Professor Katherine Joshi

Final Paper

11 August 2017

Audience: Americans, Government Officials, Social Workers

The Foster Care System: In need of Improvement

Audience Analysis: In this paper, I will be addressing social workers, especially those that are
involved in the foster care system, as well as the government, so that they can both work together
to improve the system. The government should look into foster care system throughout the
United States, to make sure that these programs are abiding by the law and to ensure that they are
running properly. The government should also establish a better budget plan so that if foster
children do grow out of the system, they are prepared for life on their own. I will also be
addressing Americans, because there needs to be more awareness of the reality of the foster care
system. I am also addressing Americans, in hopes to encourage people to play a role in the
system, whether it be volunteering or fostering. The issues that I will be discussing in this paper
are issues that are known to the government and social workers, yet there has not been great
efforts to improve the system.

A child being taken from their home and getting placed into a group home, so that they

can wait for a family to take them in? I cannot even begin to imagine it. This is what some

children go through. Hypothetically speaking, if I had to experience this I would be emotionally

distressed knowing that my parents are not able to take care of me and having to wait for a

family to take me in. This is the devastating reality for some children in the United States.

So, why does the Foster Care system exist? The foster care system is for children that

have been removed from their homes. Some reasons being that parents are unable to properly

care of their child; the childs parents die and becomes an orphan or it may even be that the child

has ran away from home. The Foster Care system is a program that exists throughout the United

States and is funded by the government. Though the government manages it, is not as effective

as one would think it is because the budget provided by the government is not being used wisely.
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Social workers are not correctly placing children into safe foster homes, and there needs to be

more research done to increase awareness of the gaps within the foster care system.

The Foster Care system is not as effective as it should be. The Foster Care system is a

system where children with no parent nor guardian are placed, and social workers help these

children by finding them a home, which can be a tedious process since there are numerous

components. The first form of foster care system came about in 1562, where children who were

orphans were placed into indentured service, and through that, children had shelter and food.

One can argue that the Foster Care system is not as bad as it used to be, it still has room for

improvement.

In this paper, I will address the main issues within the foster care system, by focusing on

the maltreatment of children, by exploring the reasons as to why it may occur, and also in

pursuance of being able to identify where the gaps are within the system and what can be done to

improve these issues. The paper addresses the following: The Foster Care system is ineffective

because children are not being properly cared for nor are they prepared for life on their once they

turn eighteen. I will also be addressing the need for more research, as well as more awareness

about this issue for the wellbeing of all children in the foster care system.

The research on the Foster Care system is dominated by its ineffectiveness. Indeed, my

research shows that there needs to be more research done about the foster care system to improve

it. The Foster Care system is funded by the government to ensure that children within the system

are well taken care of, but yet there is not enough support give to children when they get older.

An example of this scenario would be Sharde Armstrong. She had been in the system since the

age of six and was separated from her other siblings. She spent her whole life moving from home

to home and then she ended up growing out of the system. Sharde states, As a nation, we must
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do a better job of making certain that youth in foster care have family relationships and are

prepared for adulthood. Every day we fail to act, 67 children like me leave foster care without a

permanent family (Steve, FC). The government funds for the foster care program but it seems

as though not even money is going into the lives of these children after they are out of the

system. Each day, living in the United States gets more difficult and competitive. Children are

growing up in the foster care program and so, it is only right if social workers prepare these

children to become independent. By not doing so, crime rates can increase as well as poverty,

and the economy can decrease.

The Foster Care System is funded by the government, and they have provided about an

$8 million budget for the program (HHS FY2016 Budget in Brief). This covers childrens

health bills, compensation for foster parents, and pay for employees in the foster care system.

Now, foster parents that take children in are helped greatly by the government to guarantee the

childrens wellbeing. One must question the intentions of foster parents. They benefit from the

Foster Care system because they receive plenty of help, financially, from the government.

Because of this, social workers should effectively get to know each foster parent well, as well as

the environment they live in, before they are able to take children in, in order to prevent such

cases of abuse.

The cause of the maltreatment is that social workers are not efficiently finding safe

homes for children and afterwards children are taken in, the cases get little to no attention

afterwards. Nina Biehal wrote in her study, Maltreatment in Foster Care: A review of the

evidence,

Children may be reluctant to disclose maltreatment for fear of consequences, or they

may lack the capacity to do so due to their young age or disability, resulting in under-
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reporting. Equally, social workers may not record all allegations due to a fear that

managers will over-react (Biehal).

Researcher Biehal explains that some of the reasons why cases of abuse within foster homes are

because children are afraid to speak up or social workers just ignore the reports filed. The foster

care system is supposed to be a safe place for children. Children are being taken from their

unsafe homes with the goal of protecting and providing a better life for these children. How can

that occur when some social workers are not doing their job properly? The government needs to

enforce laws in order to reassure childrens safety, as well as investigating all foster care homes.

However, others have argued that the foster care system is beneficial, for the economy

and for the children. Because of the foster care system children are not in the streets, fending for

their lives. The foster care system has provided all the basic essentials for these children. Shelter,

food, water, clothing, education, and health care. My best friend, Nicki, has a foster family and

has been with them since she was only a baby. Her family is made up of foster children and her

parents are exceptional parents. Not all foster homes are bad foster homes.

Children that are place into foster care tend to suffer from mental illnesses due to their

past experiences. Therefore, the government has implemented laws that require foster parents to

take parent-training courses. In the scholarly journal, Prevention of Behavior Problems for

Children in Foster Care: Outcomes and Mediation Effects, Several recent surveys indicate that

difficulty in understanding and managing child problem behaviors is a primary reason foster

parents decide to stop providing foster care (Chamberlain, Patricia et. al). The government has

created these laws in order to prevent children from being returned to the group homes. They

want foster parents to be able to properly take care of the children while also being careful with

their emotions.
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The Foster Care system has its pros and cons. Children within the system are being

maltreated and in order to prevent and stop this issue, there has to be more awareness, social

workers need to work more efficiently, and the government needs to do investigations of this

issue. There also needs to be more research done in order to get to the root of the problem, in

order to solve it.

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Works Cited

Biehal, Nina. Maltreatment in Foster Care: A Review of the Evidence. Child Abuse Review,

vol. 23, no. 1, 2014, pp. 4860., doi:10.1002/car.2249.

Chamberlain, Patricia, et al. Prevention of Behavior Problems for Children in Foster Care:

Outcomes and Mediation Effects. SpringerLink, Springer US, 10 Jan. 2008,

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-007-0080-7. Accessed 27 July 2017.

"History of Foster Care in the United States." National Foster Parent Association - History of

Foster Care. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2017.

Lawrence, C., Carlson, E., & Egeland, B. (2006). The Impact of Foster care On

Development. Development and Psychopathology, 18(1), 57-76.

doi:10.1017/S0954579406060044

Reddy, Linda A., and Steven I. Pfeiffer. "Effectiveness Of Treatment Foster Care With Children

And Adolescents: A Review Of Outcome Studies." Journal Of The American Academy Of Child

& Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 36, no. 5, 1997, pp. 581-588. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1097/00004583-

199705000-00007.

Secretary, HHS Office of the, and Office Of Budget (OB). "FY2016 Budget in Brief - ACF

Mandatory." HHS.gov. US Department of Health and Human Services, 02 Feb. 2015. Web. 30

July 2017.

Steve, FC. "Aging Out Without a Family." FosterClub. FosterClub, Inc., 05 Oct. 2008. Web. 11

Aug. 2017.