Part One; What I Want to Know About Foster Care

Katie McAlister

Mrs. Cartier- 5th Hour

5/02/13

The legal requirements that comes with being a foster parent
Statistics of life success in ex foster care
The types of homes foster children come from
The expected time of a child to stay in “the system” once admitted
Is all foster care willing placement?

If not willing, who decides when a situation is bad enough to take the children away?
What is the official definition of foster care?
How many foster children are allowed in one home? (for attention purposes)

Annotated Bibliography

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). Foster care

statistics 2011. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau.

This article provided a lot of insight into specific statistics about foster care, which was officially recorded by the Department of Health & Human Services. It was very useful and relevant to my paper.

Doyle, Joseph J. "Staying in a Troubled Home Can Be Better than Foster Care Placement." Foster Care. Ed. Debra Bloom. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Rpt. from "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care." The American Economic Review 97 (Dec. 2007): 1583-1608. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May 2013.

This essay emphasizes my point and argues that staying in a troubled home, even in a bad situation, is better for the children and their development. This could be useable in any paper on foster care.

"Foster Care | Child Trends Databank." Welcome to the Child Trends DataBank | Child Trends Databank. Child Trends, n.d. Web. 7 May 2013.

This answered one of my “What I Want to Know” questions, and was helpful in previous trends in Child Care. Including group homes, institutionalization, and pre-adoptive programs. This could be beneficial in the history of foster care as well.

“Foster Care Facts and Statistics." FCAA Home. Belmont, Inc., n.d. Web. 2 May 2013.

This site is nicely laid out, and filled with easily accessible foster care statistics and the effects on the kids later in life. This includes the rate of college attendance, and high school graduation. This site is easily useable, and helpful in my research.

"Frequently Asked Questions About Foster Care." DCFS-Foster Care. Department of Children and Family Services, n.d. Web. 2 May 2013. <

This site helped with one of my “what I want to know” questions. It discusses mainly questions that foster parents have, but it addresses how many children can be in one house together. It is a lot of questions that are wondered about by many, and the questions are very effectively answered.

Gorman, Anna. "Family Preservation Policies Exacerbate Child Abuse." Child Abuse. Ed. Lucinda Almond. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May 2013.

My point is very clearly stated in here about how the system fails all of the kids eventually one way or another, and brings up a lot of points that should be addressed in my paper.

Knox, Richard. "The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Child Welfare.gov, n.d. Web. 10 May 2013. <

This article from NPR wasn’t directly related to foster care, but gave me insight into the development of the child’s brain and gave me my argument about stability and development. It’s a very reliable source, coming from NPR.

Marshner, Connie. "Foster Care and Adoption Are Preferable to Family Preservation." Adoption. Ed. Mary Williams. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Reform the Nation's Foster Care System Now." 2005. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May 2013.

In this article the opposite of my argument is advocated for, and it makes a lot of good points. I like having an accurate grasp of the counterargument, so I can be better informed and argue more effectively.

McAlister, Amy. Personal Interview. 10 April. 2013

This personal insight from a foster parent added a big counter argument to my paper. We discussed the type of kids under placement, as well as their home situations, and the measures being taken to fix the home life. This was very beneficial.

Smith, Carol. "Older Teens Cycle Out of Foster Care and Return to the Streets." Street Teens. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Generation Homeless: Older Teens Cycle Out of Foster Care ... and onto the Streets." InvestigateWest. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May 2013.

This article talks about how the foster care system is responsible for most of the homeless population, and how foster care should not be permissible. This was not quite the spin I was looking for, but still helpful. It gave an argument against the system.

The Dangers of Foster Care

Over 400.000 children are currently separated from their families. These children undergo the process of being moved to a new home, with new families, all with a new way of life. The hope is that they would be adopted permanently, but the harsh reality is that once children reach the age of five, it is highly unlikely they will ever be (Child Welfare Information Gateway). After that, the next step is for the child to return home. However, the original problem, in most cases the reason the family was separated, is not fixed during placement. In the case of Salomon Santoyo, too soon of a return from “the system” led to his abuse and murder by his own mother (Gorman). By the removal from the home, and new surroundings these children and parents are emotionally stressed, and sometimes cannot handle the changes. Foster care should not be an option for these families unless it is absolutely necessary, without any other option.

Separation anxiety is a recognized mental condition that many of these children in foster care suffer from. This is understandable; because only 27% of the kids in foster care go to people they know personally (Child Trends Databank). These children feel like everyone they know will eventually abandon them. They begin to cling to those around them. This prevents the children from acclimating to new surroundings, which creates a perpetually unstable environment.

A stable environment is essential for children ages 4-12, because of the developmental process of the frontal lobe. In the brain, this lobe houses higher order thinking, behavioral patterns, and reasoning (Knox). For optimal development, a stable environment, around people earning of the child’s trust, is necessary, but not provided in foster care. Many people used to believe that this development occurred before the age that the child entered foster care, however Dr. Jensen, pediatric neurologist, disagrees.

“Jensen says scientists used to think human brain development was pretty complete by age 10. Or as she puts it, that ‘a teenage brain is just an adult brain with fewer miles on it.’ But it's not. To begin with, she says, a crucial part of the brain — the frontal lobes — are not fully connected. Really. ‘It's the part of the brain that says: 'is this a good idea? What is the consequence of this action?'’ Jensen says. ‘It's not that they don't have a frontal lobe. And they can use it. But they're going to access it more slowly’" (Knox).

To help give the child a stable state of mind, foster care is not the place to be; especially not when the brain is at its most impressionable and actively developing.

Of all the children that are forced to grow up and develop in this way, 2/3 of all the boys and ½ of all the girls are arrested at least once. Over half have priors (Foster Care Facts and Statistics). These children lead troubled lives by having to move constantly, and it isn’t surprising that they resort to petty thefts or other crimes to receive the attention of those that they want to love them. These events in a child’s life are those that they will never forget.

Many people say that foster care is the best possible thing for children who are struggling, because it takes them out of a bad situation (McAlister). However, in many, if not all, situations, the problem is never fixed, and the children are sent back too early. They then are bounced in and out of “the system”, and can never live a stable, normal life. Eventually these kids grow old, and cannot receive help from the foster care system anymore. These teens cycle out of the system right on to the streets (Smith).

These children deserve the most normal, loving life they can live, and by moving to unfamiliar places, with unfamiliar people, that is not guaranteed for all of them. These children should not be submitted to foster care in the hopes that they can live a loving and stable life with the ones they know and love. This option for foster care should be drastically minimized, so that no child has to undergo this painful separation.

Works Cited

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). Foster care

statistics 2011. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau.

"Foster Care | Child Trends Databank." Welcome to the Child Trends DataBank | Child Trends Databank. Child Trends, n.d. Web. 7 May 2013.

“Foster Care Facts and Statistics." FCAA Home. Belmont, Inc., n.d. Web. 2 May 2013.

Knox, Richard. "The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Child Welfare.gov, n.d. Web. 10 May 2013. <

McAlister, Amy. Personal Interview. 10 April. 2013

Part Four; My Process

4/14/13- Argument paper titled “The Dangers of Foster Care” Completed and turned in for first review

4/16/13- I had to go in today and look up more sources because I realized I left blank places for citations that I never went back to fix. I lost points for that.

4/28/13- Today was my sisters birthday, but I still worked on my annotated bibliography. BibMe messed up two of my actual citations so I had to redo them by hand off the MLA handbook. I realized I didn’t really make a works cited for my original paper, so I had to go back and spend almost two hours re-finding all the sites. I actually couldn’t find one of the sites that I used statistics from. I think Gray was the author, and I searched “Gray foster care”, “Foster Care views by Gray”, “Cons of Foster Care by Gray”, and “Foster Care Statistics, Gray” but all I found was a home Called Gray’s Foster Care which was not what I was looking for! It is so frustrating! I don’t want to have to redo my introduction because I can’t find it.

5/01/13- Today I had to finish my “part one” which I totally forgot about doing, because usually I don’t list stuff like that out. And I had been working on my annotated bibliography, I do it all in my head, I also worked more on my annotated bibliography. I still can’t find the “gray” that I cited in my first paper to properly cite, so I just have to take that all out and find another cite to use, which is super frustrating.

5/not written down/13- We got our annotated bibliographies and part ones back, and I got a 25/25! I still had comments on my annotations; I was missing a few evaluations, which I don’t totally understand. I thought what I had done was an evaluation, but I’ll add more of a concise evaluation to them. There’s no point in correcting it and turning it back in right now because I already have a perfect score so I’ll just fix it for the final paper.

5/not written down/13- Today I showed Mr. Henning my Part 3 before turning it in, and he said that I should put in more hard facts, because a few of my paragraphs were pretty fluff… I reworded and added two more citations to my annotated bibliography and my works cited page. Now I think it’s ready to be turned in.

5/13/13- When Mrs. Cartier started talking about our part four (which is the reflection part that I’m actually logging right now) I realized I stopped dating half of my entries! I swear sometimes I do the stupidest things to lose points in English class. ANYWAYS I started typing up my reflection. I feel like this is really weird writing in my reflection about writing my reflection. It’s kind of like the movie ‘Inception’.

5/16/13- Today I completed my reflection, and decided not to make up dates for the ones I didn’t write down because knowing me, I’ll screw it up.

5/17/13- I missed school today so I emailed Mrs. Cartier my Reflection Part Four at Approximately 3:50 pm