Looking at the United States foster care system, at one point or another, there are more than 400,000 children in the system. Children in the system have greater mental, emotional, developmental, education and physical health needs compared to other kids not in the system. These children are more prone to abuse, neglect, poverty and many other things. I would like to look at the effects of the foster care system on young children. This semester, I hope to learn more about the foster care system and how to better it. For my personal use, I hope in the future to become a foster parent and maybe be able to adopt a child that I would have fostered. I would like to get in contact with a children social worker who deals with finding homes for children in the system.
Annotated Bibliography
Greeson, J. P., Briggs, E. C., Kisiel, C. L., Layne, C. M., Ake III, G. S., Ko, S, L., & … Fairbank, J. A. (2011). Complex Trauma and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents Placed in Foster Care: Findings from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Child Welfare, 90(6), 91-108.
(1) In this study, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network set out to see if they could find a standard protocol that can be used to find the different needs of children that need to be satisfied, part of child welfare. They collected information from the children themselves or their parents or caregivers or family members and/or other relatives. This information included the type of trauma they experienced, how often they were exposed, the rates of mental health and emotional problems, and if different demographics affected the children. I noticed they covered all the bases, they looked at demographics, they looked at children who were in foster care n the past thirty days. Everything was recent. They looked at PTSD, behavior, the history of the trauma. The study included different measures and a large study group. The biggest trauma that was recorded was neglect, 82.6; more than half, more than three quarters. It’s ridiculous!
Ncsl.org. (2018). Mental Health and Foster Care. [online] Available at: http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/mental-health-and-foster-care.aspx [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018]
(2) About 18-22% of the general population have a mental health issue. Of the 400,000 children in foster care, about 80% have a mental health issue. Therefore, children in foster care are given more psychotropic medications at a much faster rate compared to children not in the foster care system. Coming from a governmental perspective, that’s millions of dollars through Medicaid to provide these medications. The Healthy Foster Care American Initiative identifies mental health as the biggest unmet health need for youth in foster care. They found that trauma, the different homes, the broken relationships, and the medication were all the cause of mental health issues in foster care youth. Looking at foster care and the general population, matching gender, age and ethnicity, the biggest mental health issue was PTSD with a percentage of 21.5 in foster care youth compared to a low of 4.5% in the general population. The link above shows laws and acts that have been passed by the NCSL to help provide treatment for young youth with mental health issues.
Rice, S., Cotton, S., Moeller-Saxone, K., Mihalopoulos, C., Magnus, A., Harvey, C., & … Herrman, H. (2017). Placement instability among young people removed from their original family and the likely mental health problems. Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, 29(2), 85-94. doi:10.11919/j.issn.1002-0829.216090
(3) With approval from The University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee and the Victorian Department of Human Services Research Coordinating Committee, research assistants set out to identify and record details of participants for the study. The study was to help find further information about what predispositions young people (age 12 – 17) may have in reference to care for mental health disorders, and help find a guide for them. The study looked at six different types of home placements: adolescent care program, foster care, therapeutic foster care, kinship care, lead tenant and residential care. They had a survey with ten questions regarding age, gender, placement type, ethnicity, languages other than English, if they have a disability or not, age of first removal from the family, and number of previous placements in the last year, the last three years and in their lifetime. The study showed that three out of four kids had a lifetime history of more than one placement, either home based or residential care programs. A limitation of this study is that it only looked at children who were registered with community youth organizations. This study was set out to show how different types of foster cares are able to help with different needs of different youth.
Scozzaro, C., & Janikowski, T. (2015) Mental Health Diagnosis, Medication, Treatment and Placement Milieu of Children in Foster Care. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 24(9), 2560-2567. doi:10.1007/s10826-014-0058-6
(4) In this study, the Instructional Review Board at the University of Buffalo reviewed and approved a study to answer three different questions about children in foster care: (1) the percentage of children in foster care who have a mental health diagnosis, (2) of that percent, who receive services and/or medication, (3) do children who have mental health diagnosis have a different home placement versus children who don’t? They collected 200 case files randomly from the 845 that were in the county at the time. They then administered surveys and got a 64% return rate. The breakdown of ethnicity was 58% African American, 28% White, 2% Hispanic and other ethnicities of 13%. Of the 128 surveys returned, 59% had a mental health diagnosis. Possible limitations of this study may be where the child lived. What kind of a foster home they were placed into? Where they placed into a foster home that had the one child or had four other children living in the home? What was the environment like in the home? This study supports my argument. More than half of the kids they surveyed had some mental health diagnosis, more than half!
United States. Government Accountability Office. (2012). Children’s Mental Health: Concerns Remain About Appropriate Services for Children in Medicaid and Foster Care. Washington, D.C.
(5) The Administration of Children and Families reported that 18% of foster care children were on some medication for mental health and 30% with a potential mental health issue did not have the proper care or treatment for it. Three agencies have looked into working on getting youth in foster care the proper medication and care for those with mental health issues. Only a third of youth in foster care have received the proper medication and mental health services. The Administration of Children and Families have helped states put into place new requirements on child welfare and the treatment of children who have emotional trauma. The administration has put in new laws to help children in the foster care system. One strength of this study is that it is federal. It is able to help children all over the country.