Children In Foster Care Facilities example essay topic

... d to. There are instances that happen more often than anyone realizes that are harmful or even life threatening to the children in foster care facilities all over America. Although the government cannot control what happens to the children while they are in foster care, they can choose the type of people the children are placed with. When homes are selected for foster care the care givers are supposed to go through thorough background checks before being given the power to raise children in foster care. Unfortunately this does not always happen. In a survey done on 48 different foster homes 28 of the homes didn't have any record to prove that required criminal background checks were made (Ritchotte 1).

If this survey holds true on less that half of the foster homes in the US are safe to live in. In another survey done on 48 foster homes 40 of the homes were found to have one or more health deficiencies (Dept of Health). By placing children in these unsafe environments we expose these children to the dangers that we hoped to avoid from their biological parents. Another problem that persists in the foster care system today is the confidentiality laws. These laws prevent abuse and neglect cases that occurred in state custody to remain confidential and unattainable to the public. Every state has a different set of laws and regulations regarding confidentiality, but most of them have the same underlying ideas.

An example of these universal laws is Ohio state laws. The states current policy states, "This regulation requires that the State provide by statute that records concerning reports of child abuse and neglect be confidential and that their disclosure be a criminal offense (reference RC SS 2151.421). This regulation specifies certain circumstances where release of the records would be acceptable, but only if the state authorizes it through statute". (Federal Statutes and Regulations) Another regulation states that, "Records identifying individual children maintained by the Family and Children First Cabinet council are confidential and shall be disclosed only as provided by law".

(Federal Statutes and Regulations) Due to these regulations abuse and neglect should not even be public record. When people don't know about the abuse there is nothing they can do to change it. In order to keep the children that have been removed from their homes, from suffering even more, change must be made to the foster care system that is in place now. Nancy Schaefer twice a gubernatorial candidate has been calling for restructuring of the department of family and children services for years, She says "Words cannot describe the travesty of justice suffered by these children who, rather than receiving the protection of the state, gave their lives in a most horrible and painful death because of a failed and unaccountable system of administration (Thoma)". This system of administration that Nancy speaks of has many areas of trouble that can be improved. Starting with the number of home that are provided for foster care.

In 1988 125,000 homes were available; in 2001 only 100,000 homes were available (Cohen). A small step to improving the system would be to increase the number of homes available for foster care. Rather that having 3-4 children per home the number can be lowered allowing for more special attention and less neglect. Another reform that can better the living situation of the foster children would be better case workers and more attention given to the caregivers. A 1993 action filed in Utah is in many ways typical The National Center for Youth Law filed the class-action on behalf of about 1,400 children in foster care and another 10,000 alleged to have been abused and neglected. The action charged that the state failed to provide adequately trained caseworkers, medical treatment and education to children in its care, that it used unlicensed foster homes and homes that did not meet federal standards.

It also alleged that children bounce around in the system and languish in foster care. A subsequent legislative audit largely confirmed the allegations (Thoma 8). It is not just Utah that is failing to provide "adequate" services, it is all the states. If the government paid more attention to the foster care system children's lives could be salvaged.

As mention earlier confidentiality laws that states have prevents the public for ever knowing about the abuse and neglect cases. The California State's Legal division discovered a 'secret room' in the Los Angeles Department containing 15 filing cabinets holding approximately 3,000 case files on foster care facilities that had problems which were not reported to the state (Thoma 6). This was due to the confidentiality laws these files did not have to be released. As we all know we are a democratic society, if the people find out about these tragedies they will fight for something to be done that is why something must be done to wipe out the confidentiality laws. A 1986 survey Conducted by the National Foster Care Education project found that foster children were 10 times more likely to be abused than children among the general population (Maier 11).

When children are removed from harmful environments they should not be placed into harmful environments. "What starts as parental neglect turns into governmental neglect (Ritchotte)". This does not have to be the case if the government spent a little more time and energy on evaluating the current foster care system and making the correct changes... 5 percent of all perpetrators of abuse or neglect were foster parents; this translates into 4,239 perpetrators and 5,133 instances of abuse (Department of health). Considering the government selects these people to take care of our troubled children this number should be dramatically lower. Ultimately the problem still comes down to the foster parents themselves they have to realize they are taking care of a life and not an insignificant life form.

District Judge Deborah Burgin said it best when she said, "If you take the responsibility to take care of someone - and are paid to take care of someone - the least we can ask for is that they come out alive (Thoma 8)". Work Cited PageBiema, David Van. "The Storm Over Orphanages". Time Magazine, p. 144 12 Dec. 1994. Cohen, Deborah L. "Foster-Care Reforms Often Ignore Problems Children Face in School". Education Weekly 15 June 1991.

Maier, Timothy W. "Suffer the Children". Insight on the News 24 Nov. 1997: Pg. 11. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. "Public records and confidentiality laws". Jan. 2004 web BookTextVie w/3; cs = default; ts = default; pt = 23. Ritchotte, William.

"Foster Care Reform". Adoption. com web Rick. "How Widespread a Problem? A Critical Look at the Foster Care System" Liftingtheveil. org 24 June 2003 web Rick. "A Critical Look at the Foster Care System: How Safe the Service?" Liftingtheveil. org 15 Nov. 2002 web Dept of Health and Human Services.

"Foster Care National Statistics". 2003 web.