Foster Care

Destinee Garcia

Communication 1311

Informational Speech

What does a foster child really go through when they enter the system? How does it feel to no longer have a parent in charge of you, but a court? How do you survive living in an environment that isn't naturally comfortable to you? Every child deserves to know the love of a family. Foster children go through a lot, first at the home they were removed from then going into a strange home where the new “parents” that may or may not really like them. Ashley Harris with Youth/Child Development said “For many foster youth, foster care is not a place where they can heal, but a place where they experience continued maltreatment, neglect, and isolation.”

Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a group home. A child goes there when there was no proper parental care at home, and the court decides whether a child must enter foster care. There are several reasons why children enter foster care. Sadly, many homes have more than one reason of a child enters the system. Some top reason would be physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, incarceration, truancy, death, or a very rare occurrence voluntarily placing their child into foster care. The number of children taken into foster care has hit a record of 40,000 in one year. . On average, children stay in the system for almost three years before either being adopted, or happily reuniting with their birth families. Once the court gave the family a chance to prove they are capable of providing for their child. 20 percent of the foster children wait five years or longer until they “age out” Despite all the intended reform, foster cares are is still overcrowded by 126,000 children, still waiting for adoption.

Mental and behavioral health is the largest unmet health need for children and teens in foster care. For the most part children enter foster care in a poor state of health and an increased susceptibility for further wounds from unstable...