WORKING WITH TROUBLED YOUTHS

Working with Troubled Youths

Working with Troubled Youths

Introduction

Foster care is defined as 24-hour substitute care for children outside of their own homes. It is generally conceived of as a time-limited living arrangement in which a child whose family is unable to maintain a sufficient child-rearing environment is placed with licensed caregivers until reunification with birth parents, adoption, or emancipation occurs. (Mallon & Hess, 2005) Foster care is a legally binding arrangement in which the state temporarily assumes custody of the child. Reasons for placement into foster care are diverse and include but are not limited to child abuse, neglect, parental substance dependency, mental or physical illness, and incarceration. In the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of reports of child abuse and neglect to child welfare agencies in addition to higher numbers of mothers and pregnant women with substance abuse problems. Consequently, foster placements are involving younger children and infants more often than in the past, and these children are likely to stay in foster care longer than children placed at older ages.

The number of children in foster care has expanded in recent years, with estimates exceeding 550,000 at any given point in time. Further, it has been reported in numerous studies that these children are experiencing high levels of emotional, behavioral, and medical difficulties. Behavioral and psychological problems among foster children may persist because of caregiver instability, the effects of early maladaptive care giving, attachment disruption, and insults to developing brain systems. In light of these alarming findings, there has been a movement toward identifying the most effective placements for children who cannot be maintained in the homes of birth parents. The promotion of the child's growth and development through a safe and nurturing atmosphere has become a primary goal of most child welfare agencies. Recent social and political trends reflect our society's efforts to create a foster care system that maximizes children's opportunity for nurturing care in the context of stability.

Foster care is a social service providing temporary care to children whose homes are unsafe because of child maltreatment or parent or caregiver incapacity. When the substitute caregiver is related to the child, foster care may be referred to as kinship care. Typically, the term foster care includes only children in the legal custody of the state or county child welfare agency, while kinship care may refer to any child in a relative's care, whether or not the state or the relative has legal custody. If a child welfare agency has placed a child in foster care, it must justify to the dependency court that the child would be at imminent risk of harm in the home from which he or she was removed. The state is required to make “reasonable efforts” to prevent the need for foster care, to reunify the family, and to find permanent family alternatives for children who cannot return home. Rules about circumstances that make foster care placement justifiable, as well as criteria for licensing and monitoring foster ...