Foster care

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Foster care is a system by which adults care for minor children or young people who are not able to live with their parents. Responsibility for the young person will be assumed by the relevant authority and a placement with another family found. The foster placement will be monitored until the biological family can provide appropriate care or the biological parental rights are terminated and the child is adopted. Voluntary foster care may be required in circumstances where a parent is unable or unwilling to care for a child. For instance, a child may have behavioral problems requiring specialized treatment or the parent might have a problem which results in a temporary or permanent inability to care for the child(ren). Involuntary foster care may be implemented when a child is removed from the normal caregiver for his/her own safety.

Requirements to be a foster parent vary by jurisdiction, as do monetary reimbursement and other benefits foster families may receive. Foster care is intended to be a temporary living situation for children and young people. The goal of foster care is to provide support and care for the young person in order that either reunification with parent or guardian or another suitable permanent living arrangement can be facilitated. This may include an adoptive home, guardianship, or placement with a relative. At times, the bond that develops during foster care will lead to the foster parents adopting the child. In some instances, children may be placed in a long-term foster placement. For older adolescents, a foster care program may offer education and resources to prepare for a transition to independent living.

Contents

[edit] United States

In the United States, foster home licensing requirements vary from state to state but are generally overseen by the state's Department of "Social Services" or "Human Services". Children found to be unable to function in a foster home may be placed in Residential Treatment Facilities (RTFs) or other such group homes. The focus of treatment in such facilities is to prepare the child for a return to a foster home, to an adoptive home, or to the biological parents when applicable.

[edit] Recent United States Foster Care Legislation

On November 19, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed a new foster care law (The Adoption and Safe Families Act 1997, [1]) which dramatically reduced the time children are allowed to remain in foster care before being available for adoption. The new law requires state child welfare agencies to identify cases where "aggravated circumstances" make permanent separation of child from biological family the best option for the safety and well-being of the child. One of the main components of The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) is the imposition of time limits on reunification efforts. In the past, it was common for children to languish in care for years with no permanent living situation identified. They often were moved from placement to placement with no real plan for a permanent home. ASFA requires that the state identify a permanent plan for children who enter foster care.

[edit] Canada

In Canada a child may become a Crown ward and placed under the care of the provincial government, usually through a local or regional agency known as a Children's Aid Society. If the crown does not terminate the parent's rights, then the child will remain a "permanent crown ward" until eighteen years of age. Crown Wards are able to apply for Extended Care through a Society which enables them to receive financial services from the Provincial Government as long as they remain in school or employed until they are up to twenty five years of age.

Many children remain permanent crown wards and are not adopted as there is no legislation mandating permanency within a specific time period. The amended Child and Family Services Act provides children and young people with the option of being adopted while still maintaining ties to their families.

[edit] Effects of chronic maltreatment and treatment

The National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children (meaning those children in U.S. foster care freed for adoption) had symptoms of attachment disorder. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and maltread infants exhibited attachment disorder symptoms (disorganized subtype).[1][2] Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems.[3][4] These children are likely to develop Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD).[5][6] These children may be described as experiencing trauma-attachment problems. The trauma experienced is the result of abuse or neglect, inflicted by a primary caregiver, which disrupts the normal development of secure attachment. Such children are at risk of developing a disorganized attachment.[5][7][8] Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms,[9] as well as depressive, anxiety, and acting-out symptoms.[10][11]

The effects of early chronic maltreatment are seen in varioius domains and the result is Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which requires a multi-modal approach that directly addresses the underlying causative trauma and which seeks to build healthy and secure relationships with permanent caregivers. These children require specialized treatment[12][13], such as Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1995). Finding order in disorganization: Lessons from research on maltreated infants’ attachments to their caregivers. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds), Child Maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 135-157). NY: Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ Cicchetti, D., Cummings, E.M., Greenberg, M.T., & Marvin, R.S. (1990). An organizational perspective on attachment beyond infancy. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & M. Cummings (Eds), Attachment in the Preschool Years (pp. 3-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  3. ^ Gauthier, L., Stollak, G., Messe, L., & Arnoff, J. (1996). Recall of childhood neglect and physical abuse as differential predictors of current psychological functioning. Child Abuse and Neglect 20, 549-559
  4. ^ Malinosky-Rummell, R. & Hansen, D.J. (1993) Long term consequences of childhood physical abuse. Psychological Bulletin 114, 68-69
  5. ^ a b Lyons-Ruth K. & Jacobvitz, D. (1999) Attachment disorganization: unresolved loss, relational violence and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.) Handbook of Attachment. (pp. 520-554). NY: Guilford Press
  6. ^ Greenberg, M. (1999). Attachment and Psychopathology in Childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.). Handbook of Attachment (pp.469-496). NY: Guilford Press
  7. ^ Solomon, J. & George, C. (Eds.) (1999). Attachment Disorganization. NY: Guilford Press
  8. ^ Main, M. & Hesse, E. (1990) Parents’ Unresolved Traumatic Experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status. In M.T. Greenberg, D. Ciccehetti, & E.M. Cummings (Eds), Attachment in the Preschool Years: Theory, Research, and Intervention (pp161-184). Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  9. ^ Carlson, E.A. (1988). A prospective longitudinal study of disorganized/disoriented attachment. Child Development 69, 1107-1128
  10. ^ Lyons-Ruth, K. (1996). Attachment relationships among children with aggressive behavior problems: The role of disorganized early attachment patterns. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64, 64-73
  11. ^ Lyons-Ruth, K., Alpern, L., & Repacholi, B. (1993). Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom. Child Development 64, 572-585
  12. ^ Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., (Eds.) (2005) Creating Capacity For Attachment, Wood 'N' Barnes, OK. ISBN 1-885473-72-9
  13. ^ Becker-Weidman, A., (2006). Treatment for Children with Trauma-Attachment Disorders: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. Vol. 23 #2, April 2006.

[edit] External links

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