The child welfare system is ever changing as it tries to improve the lives of families and children. The child welfare system removes children from homes in severe circumstances when their safety is at imminent risk. Most of these children have experienced abuse and/or neglect that has caused significant trauma in their lives, impacting them emotionally, psychologically, physiologically, developmentally, etc. What is sometimes forgotten is that removing these children from their homes and environment they have always known and placing them in foster care, is another loss and traumatic event. While children services has made that decision upon the idea that the trauma of leaving them in the home is greater than the trauma of having them removed, there is still a significant amount of adjustment that these youth are asked to make. Not only are they going into a new environment with people they don't know, they may also be switching schools, given new expectations, and they are now dictated by the rules and laws they come along with being in the custody of the state. Unintentionally, foster care placement often deprives children of having some normal childhood experiences. The child welfare system is continuously looking for ways to improve the lives of children in foster care to allow them to grow, learn, and have as "normal" a life as possible. Unfortunately, sometimes the system puts up barriers to achieving that.
When youth are not able to participate in activities that are needed for development, they are unprepared for life as an adult. Many youth who age out of foster care experience unemployment or inadequate income, homelessness, and incarceration. It is essential for the development of the adolescent brain that youth have the ability and opportunity to practice decision making skills and to sometimes make their own mistakes to be learned from.
Allowing youth to test boundaries while in care can help them learn about natural consequences and the importance of making positive choices (Texas Department of Family And Protective Services, 2013).
The most recent legislation passed is an extremely significant one that has major potential to improve the lives of foster children through helping them achieve a higher level of normalcy.
Public Law 113-183, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, was passed in 2014. This law requires states to implement a Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard to support normalcy for children in care. This federal law does not require state legislation; however, recognizing the importance of normalcy, Ohio has taken a lead in implementing normalcy policies. State legislation in Ohio was passed in September of 2014 as reflected in:
"ORC 2151.315 Participation in extracurricular enrichment, and social activities"
This section defines age-appropriate activities for youth and outlines what needs to be considered by foster parents when making a reasonable and prudent parent decision such as age, developmental level, maturity level, potential risk factors, best interest of the child, emotional and developmental growth, family-like living experience, and child's behavioral history.
"ORC 5103.162 Qualified immunity of foster caregivers"
This section grants foster parents immunity from liability given that they have taken training regarding prudent parenting decisions and that they can demonstrate that the decision they made for the foster youth was a reasonable decision.
The Juvenile Law Center (2015) writes that normalcy is "ensuring a child’s range of experiences while in foster care is typical of the range of experiences of any child of the same age." They feel it is important for children to "practice the skills they will need as an adult while they are still in a protected environment. These experiences help them build relationships, develop skills, and prepare for adulthood."
The idea of normalcy for young people in foster care has to do with the idea that you should
be able to take part in regular childhood activities despite being in foster care. In other words,
the foster care system shouldn't prevent you from experiencing normal developmentalactivities, such as staying overnight with friends or participating in after-school activities. The following are various links you can access to learn more about the Normalcy and the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard:
http://www.ohiocasa.org/files/mnu_page_387.pdf
http://ocwtp.net/PDFs/Normalcy%20and%20RPPS%20Guide.pdf
https://test.fosterclub.com/groups/normalcy
I think you touch on some great points here. I was wondering, you state that "Many youth who age out of foster care experience unemployment or inadequate income, homelessness, and incarceration." Do you have actual numbers on this or is it just generalized for your post to make the point? I am curious to see the comparison rates of those who age out of the foster system compared to kinship placement or just CPS involvement. You are right though, normalcy and engagement of these children in age appropriate experiences with peers and supportive adults is vital for better outcomes as adults.
ReplyDeleteThere was a really good graph I had from a paper, but I could not figure out how to get it downloaded. Here are some excerpts from a paper I did: Research demonstrates that youth who have been in foster care exhibit lower educational attainment, higher unemployment rates, higher risk of homelessness, higher risk of delinquency and crime, lower incomes and less financial stability, lower-self esteem, higher rate of mental health, and less social supports than those that have been raised within their own families. (National Governors Association, 2008; National Governors Association, 2010; Ohio Fostering Connections, 2010; Ravinder & Tan, 2012; Petr, 2008; Stott, 2011; Yates & Grey, 2012). Emancipated foster youth in Ohio were surveyed at the age 19 by the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) in 2013 revealing the following; 36% were incarcerated, 26% had been homeless at some time in the last 2 years, 14% have mothered or fathered a child, only 47% had a high school diploma or GED, 24% had part-time jobs, and only 12% had full-time jobs (Ohio Fostering Connection, 2014). In a study by Mares (2010), emancipated youth in Ohio identified their perceived needs as being a lack of knowledge around job obtainment and skills, future career planning, housing, money management, and parenting. 53% of those youth felt that they had not been prepared to live on their own with 47% saying that the hardest part was financial skills and management. Research has shown us for years that youth emancipating from the foster care system have lower educational attainment levels. These youth are less likely than peers to graduate from high school and attend college. By the age of 24, approximately 25% of emancipated foster youth had not obtained a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) compared to 7% of peers in the general population (National Governors Association, 2010). Youth within our foster care system are more likely to have academic performance issues and high rates of school disciplinary actions resulting in lower educational achievements. Financial instability and hardship are common among emancipated youth. The National Governors Association (2010) reports that the median yearly income for emancipated youth is $8,000 compared to their peers who earn $18,300. Two-thirds of female foster youth receive food stamps while only 7% of their peers do. For males, approximately one-fourth of foster youth receive food stamps while only 2% of their male peers do. There are 32-40% of emancipated youth that must depend on public assistance and extreme financial hardship is an adversity faced by 50% of emancipated youth (Children’s Rights, 2013). With such poor financial stability and need for government assistance, emancipated youth have higher chances of experiencing homelessness within the early years of their adulthood. In Ohio in 2013, NYTD reported that 19 year-old emancipated youth were surveyed and found that 26% of them had experienced homelessness in the last 2 years (as cited in Ohio Fostering Connections, 2014). Children’s Rights (2013) also identifies homelessness as a problem, with studies that indicate 12-30% of youth struggle with this issue.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good resource I used: http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1012FOSTERCARE.PDF
There is a great table outlining this on page 4 of the document