Foster Care
Foster care is full-time substitute care of children outside their own homes by people other than the biological parents.
Children are placed in foster care for a number of reasons. Some are being protected from abuse at home; others have been neglected by their parents, or have parents who are unable to take care of them. A small percentage of children are in foster care because their parents feel unable to control them, and their behavior may have led to delinquency. In all cases, the child's natural parents temporarily give up legal custody of the child. A child may be placed in foster care with the natural parents' consent. In a clear case of abuse or neglect, a court can order a child into foster care without the parents' consent. Foster care does not necessarily mean care by strangers. If a government agency decides a child must be removed from her home, the child may be placed with relatives or with a family friend. Children may also be placed in a group home, where several foster children live together. State social service agencies are usually in control of foster care decisions, though they may also work with private foundations.
Federal money supports most foster care programs, and a federal law governs foster care policy. This law, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Reform Act of 1980, emphasizes two aims of foster care. One is to preserve the child's biological family if at all possible. Children are placed in foster care only after other options have failed, and social service agencies work with the biological family to resolve its problems, so that children can return to their homes. The second aim of the Child
There are close to 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. About one third of these children are from poor families. Poor children are more likely to be in foster care than middle-class children because their families have fewer resources. Illness or loss of a job may be devastating to a poor family with no savings and no relatives who can afford to assist them. African American children make up about 40% of all children in foster care. They are also more likely to stay in foster care longer, or to have been in foster care since infancy. Also, children of alcoholics or drug addicts are at high risk for neglect or abuse, and so they are often placed in foster care.
In most cases, children who have been placed in foster care have been subjected to some form of abuse or neglect, and being removed from familiar surroundings is, in itself, usually highly traumatic. Children in foster care may have nightmares, problems sleeping or eating, and may be depressed, angry, and confused. Many young children in foster care are unable to understand why they have been taken from their parents. Even if a child is in some sense relieved to be out of a home that was dangerous to her, she may still miss her parents, and imagine that there is something she must do to get back to them. Though there is evidence that children from abusive and neglectful homes start to feel better in foster care, separation is almost always difficult for children.
Foster care can be difficult for foster parents as well. A child who has been neglected or abused suffers psychological damage that may make the child withdrawn, immature, aggressive, or otherwise difficult to reach. Foster placements sometimes fail because the parents simply cannot handle the demands of a troubled foster child. Despite the stress of foster parenting, about 100,000 homes in the U.S. take in foster children. A foster parent may be a single person, and in some areas, single mothers make up a large proportion of foster parents.
Foster parents must be licensed by the agency that handles foster care in their area. The foster parent or parents' home must pass an inspection for health and safety, and in most states, the parents must attend training sessions covering issues of foster care and how to deal with problems. When a child is placed, the foster family has responsibility for feeding and clothing the child, getting the child to school and to appointments, and doing any of the usual things a child's parents might be called to do. The foster parents might also need to meet with the foster child's therapist, and will meet regularly with the child's caseworker as well. The foster parent aims to help the foster child develop normally in a family situation.
Foster parents usually receive money for taking in foster children. With this money they are expected to buy the child's food and clothing, and take care of incidental expenses. Most of the foster parent's responsibilities toward the foster child are clearly defined in a legal contract. Foster parents do not become the guardians of foster children; legal guardianship remains with the state agency. Foster placements may last for a few days or weeks, or even years. If the biological parents give up their rights or their rights to their child are severed, the foster family may wish to adopt the foster child. Foster parenting is meant to be an in-between stage, while a permanent placement for the child is settled. As such, it is stressful and uncertain, but for many families very rewarding.
