The Hard-to-Place Child

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Rymph
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Child Placement ◽  
American Children ◽  
Post War

This chapter examines the notion of the “hard-to-place child” and the post-war emergence of the idea that foster children were inherently damaged. This idea derived from the rise of “attachment theory” and the conventional wisdom that New Deal family security programs had effectively eliminated poverty as a reason for child placement, thereby meaning that those children still in need of foster care came from pathological families. The chapter looks at various qualities that made a child “hard-to-place,” including, age, disability, behavioural problems, and race. It looks specifically at the use of board rates as a strategy to recruit foster parents and at efforts to recruit African American foster homes to serve African American children.

Foster Care in a Life Course Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Fred Wulczyn
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Policy Priority ◽  
The Life Course

To understand what placement outside of one’s home means to the young people involved, we must understand foster care from a life course perspective. I analyze young people’s experiences in foster care from this perspective, accounting for when foster care happens, how long it lasts, and what happens when foster care placements end. I show that the population of children coming into foster care is younger and less urban than it was 20 years ago. I also show reliable measures of exposure to foster care over the life course. Children who enter care early in life are the children who spend the largest proportion of their childhood in foster care—a fact that rarely weighs on the policymaking process. We know very little about state and local variation in foster care placement rates, not to mention the influence of social services, the courts, foster parents, and caseworkers over foster children, so I close by arguing investment in research should be a clear policy priority.

A Model Program for African American Children in the Foster Care System

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 195-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aminifu R. Harvey ◽  
Georgette K. Loughney ◽  
Janaé Moore
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Model Program ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
American Children ◽  
Care System

scholarly journals IS FOSTER CARE THE SAFE PLACE WE BELIEVE IT TO BE? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-515
Author(s):  
Rankwe Reuben Masha ◽  
Petro Botha
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Safe Place ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Abuse And Neglect

Foster care is an important part of the child protection system; however, it seems that some foster children are not protected – they are abused and neglected. The aims of this article are to confirm on a small scale whether children in foster care are indeed being abused and neglected and to develop an understanding of factors contributing to the abuse and neglect of these foster children. A qualitative research approach was applied. Findings confirmed the occurrence of abuse and/or neglect and provided information on factors relating to foster parents and the foster care system itself contributing to this phenomenon.

scholarly journals The Cumulative Prevalence of Termination of Parental Rights for U.S. Children, 2000–2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wildeman ◽  
Frank R. Edwards ◽  
Sara Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Native American ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Tables ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Termination Of Parental Rights ◽  
Synthetic Cohort ◽  
American Children ◽  
Cumulative Prevalence

Recent research has used synthetic cohort life tables to show that having a Child Protective Services investigation, experiencing confirmed maltreatment, and being placed in foster care are more common for American children than would be expected based on daily or annual rates for these events. In this article, we extend this literature by using synthetic cohort life tables and data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System to generate the first cumulative prevalence estimates of termination of parental rights. The results provide support for four conclusions. First, according to the 2016 estimate, 1 in 100 U.S. children will experience the termination of parental rights by age 18. Second, the risk of experiencing this event is highest in the first few years of life. Third, risks are highest for Native American and African American children. Nearly 3.0% of Native American children and around 1.5% of African American children will ever experience this event. Finally, there is dramatic variation across states in the risk of experiencing this event and in racial/ethnic inequality in this risk. Taken together, these findings suggest that parental rights termination, which involves the permanent loss of access to children for parents, is far more common than often thought.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Birk
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Family Preservation ◽  
Dependent Child ◽  
Care Policy ◽  
Child Welfare Policy

This epilogue examines how changes in child welfare policy were affected by the decline of the farm home as a symbol of American prosperity, the appropriate levels of work and education for children, the expense of placement, the problems with supervision, and efforts at family preservation. It explains how the decisions made during the Progressive Era to rationalize, study, centralize, and professionalize institutionalization and placement permanently altered the methods of care for dependent children throughout the country. It suggests that the farm placement system changed in part because the farm itself was in transition, and that foster care was also unsuccessful in ways similar to the practice it was purported to replace. Finally, it considers problems with dependent child care policy that persist until today, in which foster children are trapped in a web of bureaucracy that undermines conscientious foster parents from being able to parent.

scholarly journals The Foster Care Systems are Failing Foster Children: The Implications and Practical Solutions for Better Outcomes of Youth in Care

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ramsay-Irving
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
North America ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Youth In Care ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Behavioural And Emotional Problems

Although the foster care systems in North America are set up with good intentions for best practices for foster children, in reality these systems are failing youth in care. Many foster children experience more psychological, social, educational, behavioural, and emotional problems as compared to children who are not in foster care, and this can continue into adulthood. Attachment theory can help to explain why some children experience these problems. Professionals who work with this population need to have a good understanding of foster children’s unique experiences in order to help them as much as possible. Literature has addressed the problems that foster children have faced for decades, but there seems to be little change that happens to address and prevent these problems. There is no doubt that there is a great need for change in the current foster care systems in North America because current outcomes for many foster children are negative. This paper reviews the literature on foster care and explains the issues that foster children experience. It also addresses why the foster care system is failing youth, and gives practical suggestions for solutions.

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