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Social

Injustice in
the American
Foster Care
System
Talia Bartolotta, Jennifer Godfrey,
Lauren Hawkins, Orah Kabaei, Melody
Klatt, Danielle Palmer, and Marissa
Stendel

TO THE END OF JUNE

FOSTER CARE: BASIC FACTS, HISTORY,


AND GOALS OF THE SYSTEM

Informally established in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace


Temporary removal from biological parents
Provide biological parents appropriate resources
Return child to biological parent(s)
$15-20 billion spent each year
Guidelines vary from state to state
Foster parents make an average of $229 to $869 per month
National average $568

(Foster Care Background and History, 2016)

WHY IS THIS POPULATION


MARGINALIZED OR OPPRESSED?
Removal from biological family is based off personal opinion
~80% removed due to abuse/neglect
Research finds that frequent replacement are associated with poor outcomes

Often times separated from siblings


Case workers have heavy caseload
Child can be sent back to agency at any point
Developmental delays
Language delays
Cognitive problems
Gross motor difficulties

Occupational injustice
(Barbell & Freundlich, 2001; Paul-Ward, 2009; Rubin, OReilly, Luan, & Localio, 2007)

SOCIOCULTURAL
Culture, language, and religion of selected family do not always meet

that of the child


Difficulty forming positive relationships

Lack of nurturing
Moving from home to home has detrimental effects on forming attachment

Behavioral challenges secondary to continually changing cultural

expectations

Vary from child to child

(Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000)

SOCIOECONOMIC
Foster care families
Lower average income
More government assistance
More likely to have one-parent households and have greater child to
parent ratios than the average family
When foster care children age out of system
More likely to live in poverty
On average make ~$8,000/year

(Beam, 2013; OHare, 2008)

DIVERSITY
Number
415,129 children
52% male, 48% female
Ages
39% less than 5 years old
23% 6-10 years old
22% 11-15 years old
16% 16-20 years old

Race

2% American Indian/Alaskan Native


1% Asian
24% African American
0% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
22% Hispanic
42% Caucasian
3% Unknown/Unable to Determine
7% Two or more races

(Beam, 2013; Statistics on Foster Care, 2014)

LIFESTYLE CHOICES
Behaviors
While in foster care
Poor school performance
Run-away

Out of Foster Care


Unable to pay bills
Have not developed necessary skills
Unable to obtain or maintain job

(Beam, 2013; Pecora et al., 2006)

LIFESTYLE CHOICES
Potential reasons for negative choices and behaviors
Lack of nurturing throughout lifetime
No assistance after aging out occurs
Results
Increased rates of teenage pregnancy
Poor high school graduation rate
Poor college attendance and degree conferral rates
Increased rates of incarceration
Increased rates of homelessness
(Beam, 2013; Pecora et al., 2006)

Retrieved from: https://www.fosterclub.com/article/statistics-foster-care

BELIEFS AND VALUES


Founded on a belief and value that a child should be cared for in a

family household rather than in an institution or group home

Meant to remove children from harmful environments into a better

home or to simply provide them with a home

Values within the system (often controversial topics)


Biological family values
Foster parent values
Values within the working system (case workers)

(Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004)

ROLES
Foster child
Case workers

Foster parents
Biological parents

(National Foster Parent Association, 2015)

STEREOTYPES
Foster parents
In it for the money
Do not really care about the kids

Abusive

Biological parents
Drug addicts
Lawbreakers
Bad people
Do not love their kids

(Chipungu & Bent-Goodley, 2004)

STEREOTYPES
Foster kids
Aggressive/dangerous
Poor academic performance

Drug problems
Trouble with the law
Emotionally or mentally disturbed

Case workers
Liars
Jaded and cynical
Do not care about the kids or families
(Chipungu & Bent-Goodley, 2004)

CUSTOMARY PRACTICES
Each individual, family, and foster home is different
People have many diverse stories to tell about their experiences in the

foster care system and the kinds of lifestyles and customs that they
were exposed to

Stereotypes exist but do not necessarily reflect fact for all families in

the foster care system

INTERVIEW #1
Foster parent
16 years
Age: 60
Has had 120 children placed in her house
30 permanent, 90 respite
Began foster care due to a life-long desire to help

Has found acceptance of cultural diversity most important throughout time

as a foster parent

Completes training to be certified as a treatment home


Learns how to stop negative aggressive behaviors of child

INTERVIEW #2
Current foster child
Age: 17
Has been in system since she was 7 years old
All of her siblings have been adopted except for her
Works as a tutor for younger foster children, as an advocate for sex-

trafficking, and sings in the school choir

Believes she has had a better life than she would have had with her biological

parents

Utilizes resources of the foster care system


Plans to attend 4-year college and attends Building Futures, and Foundations (BFF)
Meets with planned permanent living arrangements (PPLA) representative

INTERVIEW #3
Former foster child
Age: 19

Was found abandoned in an apartment at 14 months, but was adopted

by his first foster family at age 5

He wishes all kids-especially older kids-could have people they could

love and respect as parents

Feels lucky after seeing other kids in the system

Is now attending college near the community where he grew up

INTERVIEW #4
Foster parent
Has custody of 11 month year old baby since she was two days old
Born in a prison cell to a meth addict

Also has a biological son


Believes that foster parents need to be active in searching for services

and advocating for the child

INTERVIEW #5
Former foster child
Age: 20

8 years in the foster care system starting at the age of 9


23 placements over the 8 years
Residential facilities, group homes, and foster homes

Has 9 siblings: all are addicted to drugs; none are seeking higher education
No contact with adoptive or biological parents
Currently attending community college for education and youth services

INTERVIEW #6
Former foster child
Age: 28

Married with two kids


Foster parents gave her a sense of family
Adopted after three placements into the same family as the previous interviewee

Thinks of the foster care system as a way to provide her with a roof

over her head, but did not teach her life skills

Taught her to raise her kids to know they are in a loving family
Still has trust problems and a sense of inadequacy

OCCUPATIONAL APARTHEID
Social status
Restrictions
Economic
Lack of funds allocated to families
Social
Peer relations
Legal
Tax accountability
Interchangeable parts
Money
(Beam, 2013; DeVooght, Child Trends, & Blazey, 2013)

OCCUPATIONAL DEPRIVATION
Biological
parent(s)
Agency

Residential
Treatment
Centers
(RTC)

Extended
family or
relatives

Individual
Foster
home/
parent(s)

Hospitals &
Psychiatric
wards
Foster
group
home

(Beam, 2013)

OCCUPATIONAL MARGINALIZATION
Restriction based on habit and tradition
Family rules and ideals

Systematic rules of each placement


Foster home versus RTC

(Beam, 2013)

OCCUPATIONAL ALIENATION
Socially disconnected
Hard time getting on their feet without family to rely on
Between 16 and 24, many have been homeless more than once
Trauma, depression, behavior problems, and/or emotional difficulties
Long-term disconnection is associated with

Living in poverty
Low-level parent education
Living in a single or no parent household, having a child before age 18
High school dropouts

6 .7 million disconnected youth in 2011


Projected to reach $1 .6 trillion in taxpayer burden; $4 .7 trillion in social costs
(Beam, 2013; Miller et al, 2000)

OCCUPATIONAL ALIENATION
Identity
Need for continuity with their primary attachment figures
Attachment to a primary caregiver is essential to development of emotional security
Sense of permanence is enhanced when placement is stable

Premature return of a child to the biologic parents


Return to foster care or emotional trauma to the child

Children develop attachment disorders and an inability to trust and love


Repeated moves from home to home
Stress and ability to cope

(Miller et al., 2000; Newton et al., 2000; Rubin et al., 2007)

OCCUPATIONAL IMBALANCE
Lack of opportunity based on setting or placement
Money
Foster parents are paid a small wage; does not leave extra money

Education
Inability to access funds for higher education or it is discouraged
Constantly changing schools because of placement instability

Extracurricular activities
Inability to be involved due to time and money constraints
Often have multiple foster children and sometimes biological children to take care of

Jobs
Unable to participate due to rules of the house, transportation, time

Values and morals


Can be in conflict with foster parents; kids have to follow what they do
(Cohen, 2015; Hilton, 2015)

OCCUPATIONAL IMBALANCE
Supervised Independent Living Program (SILP)
Socialized to expect others to fix their problems rather than assist in
developing the reasoning skills needed to solve them
Do not have facilities for hands on learning and staff to implement
Cycle of learned helplessness
Number of people involved in conveying information
Entitlement; have come to expect certain things to happen with little
or no effort

(Paul-Ward, 2009)

OCCUPATIONAL INJUSTICE AND ENGAGEMENT


Higher secondary education drop out rates
Higher rates of incarceration

Homelessness
Drug use and alcohol abuse
Foster care cycle

Poverty
Limited resources
Support systems

REFERENCES
Barbell, K., & Freundlich, M. (2001). Foster Care Today. Retrieved
from: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/policyissues/foster_care_today.pdf
Beam, C. (2013). To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care. New York, NY:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Bass, S., Shields, M. K., & Behrman, R. E. (2004). Children, families, and foster care: Analysis
and recommendations. Children, Families, and Foster Care, 14, 4-49.
doi:10.2307/1602752
Chipungu, S. S. & Bent-Goodley, T. B. (2004). Meeting the challenges of contemporary
foster care. Children, Families, and Foster Care, 14, 74-93. doi: 10.2307/1602755
Cohen, M. (2015). Many barriers to providing normal activities for foster children. Retrieved from
http://youthtoday.org/2015/04/many-barriers-to-providingnormalactivitiesforfosterchildren/

REFERENCES
DeVooght, K., Child Trends, & Blazey, D. (2013, April 9). Foster Care Reimbursement Rates in
the US. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.childtrends.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/Foster-Care-Payment-Rate-Report.pdf
Foster Care: Background and History. (2016). Retrieved from
http://family.findlaw.com/foster-care/foster-care-background-and-history.html
Hilton, M. (2015). How much do foster parents get paid? Retrieved from
http://adoption.com/how-much-do-foster-parents-get-paid
Mastin, D., Metzger S., Golden, J. (2013). Foster care and disconnected youth: A way forward to
New York . Retrieved from http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/files/uploaddocs/report_final_April_2.pdf
National Foster Parent Association (2015). Retrieved from http://nfpaonline.org/
Newton, R. R., Litrownik, A. J., & Landsverk, J. A. (2000). Children and youth in foster care:
Disentangling the relationship between problem behaviors and number of placements.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 24(10), 1363-1374. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(00)00189-7

REFERENCES
OHare, W. (2008). Data on Children in Foster Care from the Census Bureau. Retrieved from:
http://www.aecf.org/m/pdf/FosterChildren-July-2008.pdf
Paul-Ward, A. (2009). Social and occupational justice barriers in the transition from foster
care to independent adulthood. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 8188.
Pecora, P. J., Kessler, R. C., OBrien, K., White, R. C., Williams, J., Hiripi, E.,Herrick, M. A.
(2006). Educational and employment outcomes of adults formerly placed in foster
care: Results from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. Children and Youth
Services Review, 28(12),1459-1481.
Rubin, D. M., OReilly, A. L. R., Luan, X., & Localio, R. A. (2007). The impact of placement
stability on behavioral well-being for children in foster care. Pediatrics, 119(2),
336-344.
Statistics on Foster Care. (2014). Retrieved from
https://www.fosterclub.com/article/statisticsfoster-care

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