July
16, 2015
Out-Of-Class Story #2
Foster
Children
The number of children entering
foster care in Colorado may have decreased over the past decade, but the number
of available foster parents still does not match up.
According to a report from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and
Families, 4,820 children entered foster care in Colorado in the 2013 fiscal
year.
This totals 5,851 total children in
foster care for that year in Colorado, according to the report.
This is a significant drop from the
7,782 children entering foster care in the 2004 fiscal year, which ended up
with a total of 8,196, also indicated in the same report.
Those numbers do not even take into
account the children whose cases are assessed and dismissed. The Colorado
Department of Human Services Community Performance Center’s report on Logan
County’s child welfare situation clearly shows this.
According to that report, from
January to March 2015, out of the 124 reported cases only 41.1% SPELL OUT PERCENT STED % SYMBOL, PER AP STYLE were accepted for
assessment. WHICH MEANS WHAT? EXPLAIN IN
LAYMAN’S TERMS
“There’s a ton of kids. We thought
it was going to take time for us to get our placement, but the night we signed
our last paperwork they told us, ‘We got two boys that need a placement,’” said
first HYPHEN HERE time foster parent Meghan Harms from Sterling,
Colorado.
There is a demand that
does not match up to how many foster parents are available. It does not help
that foster parents are limited in what they are allowed to do with the
children or limited in how they can provide the stability these children need. ACCORDING TO WHOM? ATTRIBUTE!
“I think the hardest thing is having to keep in
the back of your mind that he’s got other parents. He’s got rules and stuff,
silly things like I’m not allowed to cut his hair. I can’t make those decisions
for him. Sometimes it feels like babysitting more than anything else,” said
Harms.
The Community Performance Center’s report on
Logan County also showed that three years tends to be the longest a child stays
with a foster family. In January to March 2015 alone, 88.3% SPELL OUT PERCENT STED % SYMBOL, PER AP STYLE of the 5,318 children in foster care stayed with
their placements for 35 months or less.
Foster care is also not always beneficial for the
child involved.
Rochelle Fraenig, put into foster care less than
two years from being 18, said that there had been many frustrations to being
placed in foster care, although she did not dismiss the ways she benefited from
it.
“I had to take time out to talk to case workers
and go to court and talk to this person and that person and see a therapist,
etc. What was even more frustrating was the fact that I wasn’t legally allowed
to talk with my mom. Granted I didn’t follow this rule and I got in trouble,
but nobody seemed to care that I wanted to have that ability,” said Fraenig.
“The positive things about being in care though
were the financial perks. Now I essentially have my four years at my university
paid for. I get help with living costs like food, bills, housing, etc,” said
Fraenig. “My life was improving—foster care turned it into a mess. But then
again without it I wouldn’t be able to go to the University of Michigan free,
have access to good funds, or have amazing life-changing opportunities.”
The emotionally beneficial nature of foster care
seems to relate to the severity of the situation the child is being removed
from.
“From my
experience or from studies I've read, it seems that it only benefits children
to be separated from their family if there are situations of severe physical or
sexual abuse, of themselves or others, or other factors that may give highly
unsafe environments like drug addiction or prostitution within the family,”
said David Blakely, A mental health
professional. Blakely has had 20 years of counseling experience, dealing with a
range of clients from addicts to children to couples. SOLID NEUTRAL EXPERT
“If there
are signs of some abuse or that there's some violence in the family not
directed toward the children or that the children feel safe, there are
indicators that show children are more stable remaining in their homes,” said
Blakely, “which doesn't mean they should be left in an abusive situation, but
the kids don't necessarily fare better being taken out of the situation.”
Foster care does not always benefit the child’s
development, which is a problem if the child will grow developmentally
challenged whichever situation they end up in.
Blakely
said, “If foster care happens in the first few years of a child's life there's
a lot of chance of attachment difficulties in that child's life as they grow
up, meaning the child will have a hard time building intimate relationships and
maintaining intimate relationships.”
“There's a growing amount of research that shows
the first 5 years of a child's life is when they develop their ability to form
healthy attachments, basically to trust people. There's evidence that shows if foster
care happens there's greater risk of depression, addictions, relational
difficulties,” said Blakely. “It doesn't mean foster care is bad it just
means foster parents need to be conscientious in giving the children stability
and security.
(860 words)
Source Sheet
Meghan
Harms, first time foster parent
David
Blakely, licensed professional counselor; (970) 520-8314, davidclareb@gmail.com
Rochelle Fraenig, ex-foster child; (810) 986-0416
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’
Administration for Children and Families; http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/afcars
Colorado Department of Human Services Community
Performance Center; https://rom.socwel.ku.edu/CO_Public/MyHome.aspx
ASSIGNMENT GRADE: (REDACTED)
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS: A SOLID JOB HERE.
NICE JOB OF GETTING A NICE RANGE OF INTERVIEWS (THOUGH A FEW MORE EXAMPLES OF FORSTER
PARENTS AND FOSTER CHILDREN WOULDN’T HURT), GOOD NEUTRAL EXPERT AND GOOD DATA THAT
YOU GOT FIRST-HAND FROM A RELEVANT AGENCY. I KNOW YOU HAD TROUBLE GETTING A
HOLD OF LOCAL FOSTER OFFICIALS, BUT YOU WORKED AROUND THE PROBLEM AND STILL GOT
A BROAD RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES. FOR REWRITE I WOULD SUGGEST CONTINUING OT TRY TO
GET A HOLD OF LOCAL OFFICIALS; CONTACT STATE-LEVEL FOSTER OFFICIALS; AND GET
MORE FOSTER PARENTS AND KIDS TO GET A RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES WITHIN THOSE
PERSPECTIVES. STILL, NICE WORK.
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