From Foster Care to Prison Essay

unsalted adults who leave the baby bird-welf be system at period cardinal face steeper ch bo and soges in be approaching indep terminationent adults than those who hold up in pargonnt boot. National studies subscribe to put together that young lot who suppurate bulge egress of the child- sociable welf argon system at eighteen are common chord time oft credibly to be unemployed and not enrolled in civilize than young people overall. They are also much more(prenominal) likely to struggle financially, suffer from mental illnesses or drug or inebriant dis marks, bear children they cant translate address of, or end up in prison (Borja, 2005).The writings introduces that there is a flat correlation among children ripening out of promote commission and unveiling the prison system. The state of calcium is the oversizedst state housing surrogate business organisation children in the country. Still, there is a high demand for enquiry to demonstrate methods by which the cycle of destruction can be broken, as microscopic research has been conducted on nurse shell out young persons beyond the years of 18. As a top of this, an exploratory study forget be conducted to gear up parameters that should enable and convince states extend advance- economic aid services to youths until age 21.Literature suss out Bruce Willis once said too some(prenominal) children in rear bring off are falling through with(predicate) the cracksBe a hero take the time to learn astir(predicate) adoption to twenty-four hours (Thinkexist. com, 2006). promote sustentation is meant to be a temporary living situation for children who are awaiting the probability to be reunited with their parents or an primaeval(a) suitable guardian. In some cases, children are placed in long-term fretting placements. For older adolescents, a rear veneration program can be designed to provide command and resources to prepare the adolescent for the transition into independence (Wikipedia, 2006).Look more job centered coping essayAs of September 30, 2003, there were an estimated 523,000 children on record in cheer business organisation. Of these, 46 percent lived in non-relative homes, 23% lived in relative homes, 19% lived in group homes or institutions, 5% were in pre-adoptive homes and 7% lived in otherwise placement types (Wikipedia, 2006). When a child enters the parent boot system, the role of the parent is no longer held by a single individual or even the household. Rather, multiple parties are involved. More often than not, the state assumes custody of the child.A court ordained attorney or child protection services agency is minded(p) the responsibility of the decision making. The boost fright provider is assigned the concern of the physical custody. Judges other court officials whitethorn also rich person a say in the tuition and welfare of the child. The childs biological parents or guardians whitethorn also remain invol ved through visitations and can also be informed of their childs public assistance and deal plan (Molin and Palmer, 2005). there are two types of foster electric charge voluntary and involuntary.Voluntary foster care occurs when situations arise where the parent or guardian is temporarily unable to care for a child and seeks help. go awaying foster care often occurs when the child is taken from the parent or guardian in order to ensure safety. The end result of the large number of decision makers in the foster care system has been shown to pee-pee save detrimental effects on the well-being of the children. The cost to notice a system with so many an(prenominal) players raises financial concerns, and often puts the conterminous necessitate of the child on the back burner.Additionally, foster care children may not necessarily slang the type of care they need and may be particularly indefensible to not receiving care for their mental wellness demand because they often e scape a person in their action who feels responsible and accountable for their well-being (Kerker and Morrison, 2005). Because of the lack of individual attention on focus on the childs well-being, children in foster care are continuously ending up homeless, in prison or in mental institutions as yearly as adolescents. some children in foster care exhibit mental health problems.These can cut back from difficulty achieving sustainable relationships, coping problems, emotional and conductal disturbances, attention disorders, depression, autism and bipolar disorder, thus causing these children to be defined as a vulnerable community in monstrous need of consideration and protection. The nigh commonalty problem exhibited by the children in foster care are called externalizing disorders (Kerker and Morrison, 2005). Externalizing disorders oftentimes occur when children hurl been mistreat physically and, as a result of the abuse, demonstrate outward aggression towards others as well as towards themselves.There are statistics to support the case that there are factors in the foster care system that contribute to the impeding mental health of the children in care. It is most important to note that few of the children in the system are screened for mental health problems. One study showed that over 94% of the welfare agencies sampled assessed the children for physical health problems, but only 47. 8% checked for mental health problems (Kerker and Morrison, 2005). It is important to mention that being removed from their homes and placed in a foster care setting is a difficult and nerve-racking experience for a child.Many of these children curb suffered some form of serious abuse or neglect. intimately 30% of children in foster care have severe emotional, behavioral or developmental problems (American Academy of kid and Adolescent psychological medicine, 2005). While most foster children show signs of remarkable resiliency, many also suffer from physical hea lth problems as well as physiological and emotional problems. These children frequently blame themselves and feel guilty about being removed from their birth parents and wish to return to their parents even if they had been abused by them (American Academy of baby and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2005).In evaluating the effect of foster care children who are aging out of the system and entering the echt world, it is important to note that many of the children in the system have prominent up with their parents in prison. Consider for example, Former Parole Officer Marilyn Cambrell. Cambrell plays deputy mom to children whose parents are in prison at M. B. Smiley High crop in Houston. About half of the students attending the high school have all had to face the reality that they are among the 2 million U. S. children with a parent behind bars.Many of these students are now in foster care, exit them with feelings that they are unloved and unsafe in the world. Cambrell has begun to inst itute classes at the school, which have given more than 300 students a chance to transmit their frustrations, share coping skills and, most importantly, feel they arent alone (Aguayo and Sewing, 2003). Many states have begun to implement strategies to break the cycle of vulnerability among students that age out of the foster care system and have begun to impose systems of self-care in the foster care system.In Iowa, a new law has been implemented that mandates the admissionory of financial support to youth in foster care to 21 years of age. In essence, the new law executes as a sit around for other states to enact the selfsame(prenominal) law and improve the services for youth who are making the transition from foster care to adulthood (Policy and employment, 2006). In order to qualify for the extended care and support, the youth are mandated to come in in an schooling and nurture program or educate in full time.To be able to qualify in the law, the youth must move in a n education or training program or draw full time. This program falls under the standard of self-care that Orem describes as necessity to the supremacy of individuals seeking out optimal health, as the adolescents and young adults are taught means to provide for themselves and are given the resources require to develop independence. Legislatures and other advocates have begun to get involved in the fight on therefore national level to protect the vulnerability of foster care children aging out of the system.Similar to the program in Iowa, The cherish Care freedom Act of 1999 was passed to help provide children who are aging out of the foster care system the life skills necessary to provide for themselves. The act provides further access to health care professionals, as the act extends Medicaid coverage one-time(prenominal) age 18, and requires states to prepare foster kids for meshing or for further education before they are emancipated (DeLay, 2000). Another step that can be taken to ensure the well being of children in foster care is to focus on the need for assessment.Foster parents can be taught by health care professionals such as nurses to look for signs of mental problems. The California Institute for Mental health has developed screening tools that consist of a series of questions regarding indicators of potential emotional and/or behavioral disturbances in preschool (0 to 5 years) and school-age (6 to 18 years) children. The screenings are designed to assist in the observations of the children, and to alert the parents and others in the foster care system of a need for more broad evaluations (Kerker and Morrison, 2005).People magazine recently publi knock off an article on a couple, Julie and Mike Deitch, who made the decision to take on foster children. They became commissioned as foster parents after seven months of classes. In 2004, they took in cardinal siblings whose parents were hooked on meth. They have since adopted the children a nd took on two more children, whose parents were schizophrenic (Jerome and Marquez, 2006). There are several issues that come of out the Deitchs story that can be used as prime examples of the victory of the modern foster care system.First and foremost, the parents received the training they needed to care for the children themselves. Secondly, the children were placed with foster parents who intend to adopt. And, while the Deitchs had much to overcome in dealing with children whose parents had mental health problems, they put the necessitate of the child first and stuck with providing a high quality standard of care regardless of the obstacles at hand. It is evident that the child welfare system involve to undergo some redevelopment to best address the needs of the mental health condition of foster children.Emphasis should be on the day to day, starting in the home. Foster parents need to be trained to care for the children by health professionals. Older children need quality at tention so that they can one day care for themselves as adult. Any and all mental health problems need to be detected at an early stage and care for. Advocates need to continue to take notice of the needs of the vulnerability of the foster care children and create legislation and develop programs that serve their best interest.If these things occur, perhaps the cycle of vulnerability of children in foster care can be overcome. Young adults who have aged out of the foster care system have left the system only to be go about with significant health, social and educational deficits including homelessness, involvement in puerile crime and prostitution, mental and physical health problems, poor educational and employment outcomes, inadequate social support systems and early parenthood.These poor outcomes reflect a number of factors including ongoing emotional trauma resulting from experiences of abuse and neglect introductory to care, inadequate support while in care, accelerated tran sitions to adulthood and lack of guaranteed ongoing financial and other assistance to help facilitate this transition. Young people leaving care do not currently receive the ongoing support that a good parent would be expect to provide for their children (Mendes, 2006).Children in the foster care system have been found to be associated with the probability of becoming a rapist or other type of sexual crime predator. As a result of this, the literature demonstrates that the prevention of bollix may usefully be associated with enhancing the life chances of fathers and sons by greater support for those offenders who have spent time in foster care. Additionally, the fact that the risk factors for future violence are similar to those for rape endorses the point that rape is essentially a violence offence instead than a sex offence.It further demonstrates that prevention programs for rape pass on have associated benefits (Christofferson, Soothill and Francis, 2005). Many children who h ave been identified as having deviant or behavior problems spend time in therapeutic foster care programs. In these programs, the youth are placed in the care of foster parents who have been trained to provide a structured environment that supports their learning social and emotional skills. An assessment was conducted on the effectiveness of such programs in preventing reddish behavior among participating youth.The Task Force on Community handicap Services conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature regarding these programs, conclusion that reported and observed violence, including violent crime among the children in therapeutic programs declined (Hahn, et. Al, 2004). collectable to the issues that they faced throughout adolescence, young adults who leave the child-welfare system at age 18 face steeper challenges in becoming independent adults than those who stay in foster care.National studies have found that young people who age out of the child-welfare syste m at 18 are three times more likely to be unemployed and not enrolled in school than young people overall. They are also much more likely to struggle financially, suffer from mental illnesses or drug or alcohol disorders, bear children they cant take care of, or end up in prison (Borja, 2005). The literature demonstrates that there is a direct correlation between children aging out of foster care and entering the prison system. The state of California is the largest state housing foster care children in the country.Still, there is a high demand for research to demonstrate methods by which the cycle of destruction can be broken, as little research has been conducted on foster care youths beyond the age of 18. As a result of this, an exploratory study volition be conducted to define parameters that should enable and convince states to extend foster-care services to youths until age 21. The parameters that leave alone be defined allow the education levels, current living conditions, socioeconomic status and employment statuses held by the young adults aging out of the foster care system.The pile get out past serve as a tool in support of the literature in order to shed light onto the missing think between children leaving the foster care system and attaining financial independence and success in mainstream society. Methods The county of Sacramento extends from the clinical depression delta lands between the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers north to about ten miles beyond the narrate Capitol and east to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (County of Sacramento, 2006). The southernmost portion of Sacramento County has direct access to the San Francisco Bay.Respondents for this research will be selected from aged out foster care children in the county of Sacramento. In order to identify the sample community, social workers and foster care agencies in spite of appearance Sacramento County, including the County Department of Health Assistance as w ell as the Criminal Justice Department will be contacted. The equalatives of the agencies will receive information detailing the importance of conducting the analyse, and will be asked to provide or pass on the pile questions to interested participants between the ages of 18-21.The local prison will also be contacted in order to identify cigarette samples who have come through the foster care system and who are now in prison. The representatives will be asked to block bias, and to balance those selected among males and females. In order to calculate accurate percentages and accurately represent the number of young adults aging out of the foster care system, the nonsuch sample size will consist of cubic decimetre male and fifty females. For confidentiality purposes, those sampled cannot be randomly selected, as all names and information of those individuals participating need to be passed on through a social work related agency.Due to this, the results may be slightly skewed. However, the skewing of the results will most likely balance themselves. That is, it is expected that an individual receiving technical training coming out of the foster care system (an example of a success story) will most likely be balanced out by an individual in prison coming out of the foster care system. That being said, it is essential that there be some control in selecting the sample, as having 100 responders all in prison will behave the results. Due to this, the survey will be distributed to a variety of agencies, so as to best manage the results.In conducting the survey, questions will be constitute to address the respondents attainment in areas of education, employment, friendship and family. The questions will be posed utilizing a Likert-type scale to determine response categories. Questions involving demographics, ethnicity and sex activity will be essential in providing useful information as to other factors (outside of being in foster care) that separate individu als in the population. For example, a question in the survey should identify the demographic location held by the foster child during the time in care, as well as well as identify any potential moves or changes in location.In doing this, it will be possible to identify if demographic changes are an independent variable or dependent variable in effecting the results of the survey. If it is an independent variable, because it needs to be accounted for in the survey results. Similar questions will be posed in regards to ethnicity and gender, in order to determine their impacts on the results of the survey. The surveys will be distributed to contacted welfare agencies in the Sacramento area to then be passed on to target samples.If needed, and if approved by the agencies, the method will include taking time to travel to the place of residence of the selected population to ensure that the surveys are accurately filled out and returned. The responses will then be entered into SPSS. An an alysis of the surveys will be conducted looking for significant differences, relationships and correlations. In doing this, key-word searchers will be conducted. At the same time, the responses will be sort based on socioeconomic class, education, gender, living conditions and employment status and then cross referenced to identify key correlations in the data.The purpose of the survey will be to clearly define target triggers that caused the foster care children to end up in prison. A comparative analysis of results will be conducted in order to drawn lines of association between family values, views on friendship as well as socioeconomic status. At the same time, the answers to the survey will be used to compare and contrast methods and exposures faced by those young adults who did not go to prison after leaving the foster care system versus those who did. In conducting the survey and evaluating the results, levels of success within the foster care system will be revealed.For exa mple, if it is found that many of the young adults were mainstreamed into a job-training program and still entered prison, the survey will be used to reveal triggering factors that caused the downfall. Due to the sensitive nature of the survey as well as the sensitive nature of the questions posed to the target population, the survey will need to be submitted to a human subjects military commission for review. Overall, the survey test the hypothesis in an attempt to assess the needs of legislators to pass policy to extend foster care benefits to the age of 21.populations overall attitude towards the future. That is, it will provide shrewdness as to whether oror not the population has successfully overcome the cycle of destruction (coming out of the system and ending up in prison as a result of no where else to go), or if it appears that the individual needs further training to in order to be financially independent and lead a stable lifestyle. Anticipated Findings It is expected t hat the survey will reveal a clear cycle of destruction occurring from the transition out of foster care.The survey is anticipated to support the literature that there is a missing link between children leaving the system at the age of 18 and determination success in the mainstream society. Due to this, the survey will provide a tool to better define what the missing link is, and provide insight as to what can be done to break the cycle of destruction. This is good, you should include similar language at the end of your literature review when you are discussing the intent of your research. Finally, make sure to attach your survey as an accessory item to your proposal References Aguayo, Anna and Sewing, Joy.A Former Parole Officer Plays alternate Mom to Kids with Parents in Jail. People, 60(11), p. 129-130. American Academy of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry (2005, May). Foster Care. Retrieved celestial latitude 4, 2006, from http//aacap. org/page. ww? name=Foster+Care§ion=Fac ts+for+Families Ashby, Cornelia (2006). Child Welfare Improving Social Service Program Training and technical Assistance entropy Would Help Address Long-Standing Service-Level and Workforce Challenges. GAO Reports, p. 56. Borja, Rhea (2005). Teens Released from Foster Care Too Early, Report Says. Education Week, 24(38), p. 6-6.Child Welfare Information Gateway (2005). Foster Care Numbers and Trends. Retrieved December 5, 2006 from http//www. childwelfare. gov/pubs/factsheets/foster. cfm County of Sacramento (2006). About Sacramento County. Retrieved December 5, 2006 from http//www. saccounty. net/portal/about/areafacts. html CMS profit (2006). Medical Foster Care Program. Retrieved December 5, 2006 from http//www. cms-kids. com/CMSNMedicalFosterCare. htm Delay, Tom (2000). Fighting for Children. American ledger of Psychiatry, p. 120-124. Jerome, Richard and Marquez, Sandra (2006). They opened their hearts and home to babies born of meth-addicted moms.People, 66(15), p. 83-84 Ker ker, B. , & Morrison, M. (2006, January). Mental Health Needs and Treatment of Foster Youth Barriers and Opportunities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(1), 138-147. Molin, R. (2005, January). bear and Participation Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Children in come forward-of-Home Care. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75(1), 1. Policy and Practice (2006). New Iowa Law for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Seen as Model for Other States. Policy and Practice of Public Human Services, 64(3), p. 28. San Francisco Chronicle Editorial (2005, October 14). Governor signs foster-care bills.San Francisco Chronicle, 10. 2005, . Retrieved December 4, 2006, from http//www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article. cgi? lodge=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/14/EDGKVF7QQ01. DTL San Francisco Chronicle Editorial (2006, November 2). Foster Cares Future. San Francisco Chronicle, 11. 2006, . Retrieved December 5, 2006, from http//www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article ThinkExist. com (2006). Foster Care Quotes. Retrieved December 4, 2006, from http//en. thinkexist. com/quotes/with/keyword/foster/ Wikipedia (2006). Foster Care. Retrieved December 5, 2006, from http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Foster_care