Non-Relative Care Placements for Children in Foster Care

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Introduction

There are many children and adolescents who live in foster care. This essay deals with the problems of the children who are in non relative care. It also deals with the factors that lead children to non relative care, the way the study is conducted, the data used in study, subjects of study, the method of analysis etc.

Problem or objective statement

There are lot of children and adolescents who live in foster care. There are many reasons for one to be admitted in a foster care. Here, the main issues to be addressed are the problems of children who are placed in foster care, the social impact of foster care centers, whether these centers are run as they are supposed, the effect of non relative care on children etc. Children in foster care are brought up without getting the love and care of real parents. So, their mindset will be different from children who are brought up by real parents. As there are many people who come out of foster care to face the challenges of life, it is very important to study the problems they face in society. There has been a considerable increase in adoption in recent years. So, we also have to discuss about social issues that lead a child to foster care. The other studies related with the same topic reveal some interesting results. The change in attitude of people towards human relationship is the main reason for increase in adoption. So, study of this topic would not just be a study of foster centre. We could also evaluate the depth of human relations through this.

“Over the past 50 years, adoption has changed more than it did over the thousands of years between the first recorded accounts of adoptions in ancient times and the mid-20th century. These changes have followed societal trends and reflect the greater openness in our discussions about personal matters and our deeper understanding of human strengths and weaknesses that have occurred in almost every segment of our lives.” (Adoption Information para 2).

Literature review

One can be admitted into foster care centre related to many reasons. The main reason is economic.

“Foster care is care provided for children whose families are temporarily unable to care for them. The local government determines the process of arranging foster care. Foster care is surprisingly common in the United States—about 750,000 children are in the foster care system each year.” (Foster care para 1).

Parents who cannot bring up their children normally give them to foster care centers. But, the financial problem alone may not be the main issue. Personal and social reasons can also lead parents to take decision to place their children to these centers. In case the parents are not alive child can be admitted to foster care centers.

If the parents are not alive there are not many choices other than sending the child to foster care center. Some people get voluntarily ready to take responsibilities of the child. But it happens only in rare cases. So the studies related to foster care will be mainly related with foster care centers.

There has been lot of other studies related to the same topic. People send their children to foster care mainly because of family reasons. If the family is in trouble, the parents will not be able to give their children good education and food. That is the main reason which leads them to take such a decision. So, foster care centers are supposed to care children as if they are at home. US have made a study on this issue. It deals with whether the foster care centers treat children as if at their home or not. Children face many difficulties in foster care centers. They claim that 15,000 children from 1990 to 2002 have been observed. They also say that this is the largest study about the topic.

“It confirms what experience and observation tell us: Kids who can remain in their homes do better than in foster care,” says Stangler. He says “some kids, for their own safety, need to be removed from their families, but in marginal cases of abuse, more should be done to keep them together.” (Koch para 12). This study reaches in the conclusion that it is better for the children to be in family even if it is troubled. But this is not suitable for extremely abused families.

There have been some other studies that are related with the reunion of the children with their relatives. Most studies reveal that children face lots of difficulties when they live with their biological relative after a long life in foster care. Children who lived in foster care need some special care for health and mind. If the family fails to give such a care to those children it will lead to some serious problems. They also need to get a special education to lead a normal life. Otherwise, they also may have to face the problems like unemployment.

The study conducted by the’ Pediatrics’, the official journal of American Academy of Pediatrics reveals much important information related to the problems of children in foster care. “In one California study, children in foster care comprised <4% of Medi-Cal-eligible children, but accounted for 41% of all children who used Medi-Cal mental health services. The limited long-term research on children in foster care suggests that they are at risk for continued difficulties, including not finishing high school, incarceration, and chronic problems with employment and housing.“ (Taussig, Clyman and Landsverk para 8).

Many other studies based on the interviews conducted with young people who lived in foster care centers result in mixed conclusions. Some say that they felt well when they were in foster care centers. They think that their life would have gone worse if they had lived with their family. Some others say about the emotional problems they had when they get separated from their biological family. They also suggested the steps to improve the facilities of foster care centers.

“On the adaptive behavior scale, the mean scores for children in foster care were more than one standard deviation below the norm. Our findings suggest that the most important mental health screening issue with children in foster care is to identify what specific mental health problems need to be addressed so that the most effective treatment services can be provided.” (Clausen et al. para 1).

Subjects for study

To conduct a study about the foster care, we need to go to different corners of life. The people who have experienced life in foster care are the main focus. But, they alone cannot be the source of information. In order to study about the reasons that led them to foster care, we need to collect information from lot of other sources.

People who have established foster care centers are another major source for getting required data. Child Welfare Information Gateway gives some important information about adoption.

“Public agencies place foster children for adoption. Private agencies sometimes contract with the public child welfare agency to place foster children; they also may place U.S. infants or children from other countries. In some States, facilitators (attorneys, physicians, or other intermediaries) may coordinate adoptions without an agency’s involvement.” (Adoption: Overview para 4).

The professionals who work for foster care centers are another focus for this subject. They are familiar with the problems of children in their foster care centers. The people who have adopted children could explain the mental relationship with their adopted children. Some people could love their adopted children extremely when they were small kids. Many of them couldn’t continue it when they grew up. When children come to know the fact that they are not with their biological parents, different kinds of thoughts can disturb them. Then the adoptive parents should learn how to overcome this problem.

Different personal opinion also contributes well when researches are made on this topic. These people include those who witnessed adoption and adoptive families, who were familiar with children who are in foster care etc.

Measurements

The measurements in the study are demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, maltreatment history and mentoring. Demographic characteristics are measurements to identify race, ethnicity and gender of the children. Here, the first two demographic characteristics will be asked by the interviewer and gender will be assessed by the interviewer by himself. It should evaluate the living situation of the children in the foster care. Children live usually with relatives, such as parents who adopted them, their own parents or their relatives. The living situation can be categorized into five such as –

“(1) living with relatives (adoptive and biological parents and extended relatives); (2) living in family foster care; (3) living in congregate care (operationalized as residential treatment program, group home, shelter, detention facility, or inpatient psychiatric unit); (4) living in semi independent situations (Job Corps dorms) or in supervised or unsupervised apartments; and (5) living on one’s own.” (Munson and McMillen para 16).

In this study, the psychiatric history should be evaluated using the criteria of DSM IV of diagnostic interview schedule. Here the major psychiatric symptoms are assessed such as PTSD, ADHD, depressive disorder, oppositional disorder, conduct disorder and mania. The physical abuse or trauma experiences also should be evaluated in the children who are in foster care. There are “six dependant variables for multivariate analyses on the basis of their prevalence and importance: lifetime inpatient psychiatric service use, lifetime outpatient mental health service use (outpatient therapy, day treatment, and mental health care provided by a primary care physician), lifetime residential mental health service use (group home or residential treatment), current outpatient mental health service use, current residential mental health service use, and current psychotropic medication use.” (McMillen et al. para 12).

Mentoring also should be evaluated in the study and there are five aspects of mentoring which are to be considered. They are “(1) presence of a non-kin natural mentor; (2) pathway to meeting this mentor; (3) duration of the relationship; (4) frequency of contact; and (5) relationship quality.” (Munson and McMillen para 13). The access of a non relative mentor in foster care is the first dimension of mentoring. How the children can meet the mentor and what is the procedure to meet him is the second dimension of the assessment of mentoring. The duration of the relationship between the mentor and the children who are in the foster care also should be evaluated. The frequency of the meeting determines the wellness of the foster care. The last dimension which is to be evaluated in the foster care is the quality of the relationship between the mentor and children. Sometimes, the children will be frightened by appearance of the mentor. The children will not be free to deal and speak with the mentor. If there is a smooth relation with the mentor, the children will be happy.

Taking the maltreatment history of the children is necessary to study the non relative foster care among children. The children might have the experience of physical abuse and neglect. There are questionnaires like CTQ (Child Trauma Questionnaire) to assess the trauma experience. The questionnaire has four columns, namely ‘never true, true, often true and very often true’.

Data collection methods

In order to collect the data to know about the cause and effect on non relative care placements for children in foster care, it is better to conduct personal interview because it is the best method for collecting the data. There are many reasons for a placement of a child in foster care. When the personal interview is conducted among the members of the foster, one can know more about their personal details. Personally interview is performed in three ways – face to face meeting, through phone and through online. In the personal interview through face to face meeting, the interviewer will directly meet the person to be interviewed. And the interviewer will ask the prepared questions and it is the finest method to get reliable and accurate data. Through face to face meeting, both get the chance to express their opinion and idea and get the chance for final clarification after collecting data. Interview through phone is conducted when the person to be interviewed is free. It is very fast. Before conducting the interview fix the time with the individual so that the interviewer can interact more time. Interview through online is the latest method and this method is widely used as it is very simple and needs only less cost compared to other methods.

“Internet survey easy is and numerous. The internet survey allows for customization across a broad spectrum. Databases can be automatically converted digitally, avoiding time consuming reentry.” (Spiker para 9). When following this method, in some cases the chance to get reliable and accurate data is less.

Data Analysis methods

Different types of analysis have been made in order to find out cause and effect on non relative care placements for children in foster care. Analytic techniques used here are arrays used for displaying data, for tabulating the occurrence of events. These are used for recording the details got from the analysis. “Large differences between relative and non-relative placements in relation to parent-child contact have been reported by Le Prohn (1994), who compared the role perceptions of relative and non-relative foster carers.” (Barber and Delfabbro 25).

The analysis process includes combination of different process. The different processes include combination of description and explanation of practices that are followed currently. To make the analysis enormous, each of the evidence has been examined properly.

The first step of data analysis includes developing and describing important themes that have been collected by traveling across states. That is, raw data has been collected. Second step is to analyze the themes properly which is to understand about different policies and practices.

Budget for conducting survey

Money that should be spent for traveling is the main expense that surveyor should meet. Money for internet access is another main expense. They also have to spend money for the human power required for collecting the data.

Time schedule for survey

The time schedule varies. It depends upon the person whom we meet.

Conclusion

Lack of relative care is one of the main problems that most of the children face. It is a social issue that deserves lots of studies. The studies should include different kinds of analyses of human relationship, the relation of economy with the issue etc.

References

Adoption Information. 2009. Web.

Adoption: Overview. Child Welfare Information Gateway: Protecting Children, Strengthening Families. 2008. Web.

Barber, James G. and Delfabbro, Paul Howard. Children in Foster Care. Routledge, 2004. Print.

Clausen, June M., et al. “Mental Health Problems of Children in Foster Care.” Journal of Child and Family Studies 7. 3 (1998): 283-296. Springer Link. Web.

Foster care. Merck: Select an Online Manual. 2009. Web.

Koch, Wendy. Study: Troubled Homes Better Than Foster Care. USA Today. 2007. Web.

McMillen, J. Curtis, et al. “Use of Mental Health Service among Older Youths in Foster Case: Dependent Variables.” Psychiatr Serv 55 (2004): 811-817. Psychiatric Services. Web.

Munson, Michelle R. and McMillen, J. Curtis. “Nonkin Natural Mentors in the Lives of Older Youths in Foster Care: Measures: Mentoring.” J Behav Health Serve Res 35. 4 (2008): 454-468. Pub Med Central. Web.

Spiker, Sarah. Pros and Cons of Survey Methods: Internet Survey As A Global Survey Mechanism. Suite101.com: The Genuine Article, Literally. 2009. Web.

Taussig, Heather N., Clyman, Robert B. and Landsverk, John. “Children Who Return Home From Foster Care: A 6-Year Prospective Study of Behavioral Health Outcomes in Adolescence.” Pediatrics 108. 1 (2001): e10. Pediatrics. Web.

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