The Future of our Children: Foster Care Problems around the Privileged Countries

Final paper essay to be presented to:

Prof. Ivy Marie L. Ganadillo

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course

Special Topics in International Politics

POSC 3213

By:

Florante, Raven Jobelle D.

BPS 4-1

March 23, 2019

 Today, it has been evident that the population is growing and one of the consequences of
this is the growth of number of homeless children or if not homeless, children which are delegated
to other families and not all of them experience desirable situations in there. Different cases about
foster care systems can be best found on countries that are privileged and has a large population
such as People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. In line with this, this
research would try to seek how the different foster care problems around the privileged countries
affect the lives of the children and how do different key actors involved address the said problems.
This will be tackled through, first tackling the actions and functions of the foster care systems thus
this will also open the discussions regarding the problems that were encountered. If there are
problems that have existed and has been existing, this research will also present the way key
actors engage to the said situations. It is also the goal of this paper to look for the impacts of the
problems and engagements to the children, given the fact that they were the primarily affected in
the issue and will also offer some recommendations in order to address the problems so that it
will be used as possible solutions that the privileged countries should cater that can also be
offered by some other countries.

A. Foster Care Systems during its old days

In USA, their foster care system faced many issues even from the beginning, the main
problem on how the system functions back then and even up to today was with regards to
attending to the referral of cases to the juvenile court on instances wherein foster parents are
unqualified of giving the children the life that they deserve. The main function of the service seeks
to help the parents overcome the difficulties in giving the basic needs of their children, however
not all foster parents are capable of providing the necessities distinctive to every foster child. The
answer to the said instance was addressed through the help of workers that assist parents of
these children by using community financial resources to improve their housing and also to
improve the relationship between the members of the family (Giles, 1960). It was expected that
this kind of policy would be effective, unfortunately it just led to disadvantageous opportunities.
On the records, it was reflected that inadequate benefits of the service were encountered, 22
percent of the school age population living in 20 counties with child welfare units and 40 percent
of the school age population live in 227 countries without these organized protective services
which led to a creation of a bigger problem for Texas (Giles, 1960). This kind of malfunction rooted
from the circumstance that not all parts of the country were delegated with sufficient workers that
were expected to train foster parents which gave pain to children who were not given enough
material and immaterial needs that they deserve. It can be gleaned that the US foster care system
functions in an ineffective way as it was unable to bring inclusivity since some part of the state
was unable to feel the benefits of the said program.

Going on to the situation of China during the old days of its foster care system, a documentary
film entitled film “The dying rooms” became famous back then as it showcased a story of the
orphaned children under the supervision of the state child welfare institutions, it was shown in the
documentary film that the orphaned children, mostly girls died of insufficient medical treatment
and it was recorded that the death rate was 50-80 percent in some welfare institutions (Shang,
2017). The film served as an eye- opener to many and as an update of how foster care system
functions. It also garnered different reactions and different responses. The world particularly the
different organizations and the Chinese government as well were shaken and led to change of
policies like allowing donations from different entities concerned, domestic and international
adoption were legalized as well (Shang, 2017). However, problem regarding the differences
between the adoption processes of countries became prevalent (Finet, 2018). The changes
brought different kinds of pros and cons that affected the main concern of the issue which are the
children. The changes were not carried out in a very peaceful manner thus sending the idea that
it did not went well as it was expected. Throughout the time, the risks were mitigated however the
goal of fully eradicating it was not yet met.

B. Issues of the Foster Care System and its Effects to the Foster Children

Careless supervision was perceived as a major reason for removing and placing children out
of their homes in US (Cheung, 2014). This instance shows that the increasing trend of time
amount spent in out-of-home care causes stress for a child as it also increases the instance of
getting traumatized because the child is unfamiliar to people taking charge of him which are the
foster parents. In addition to this, a child can be considered at the trauma stage whenever he
increases his agitation and pain (Lindley, 2018). This also led a child to feel that he is a burden to
the foster parents while questioning his life as a foster child. Another issue linked to the foster
care system of the mentioned country is the racial disproportionality wherein foster parents
consider the race, gender and physical attributes of a child upon adoption, they most likely prefer
the overrepresented white children over the underrepresented black, Asian, and African children,
they are also not fond of fostering gays, lesbian or other sexual preferences as well as those who
are physically disabled (Cheung, 2014). This instance will just lead to making children prone to
be entrusted to parents who are capable of exploiting them or abusing them. All this issue led to
an undesirable outcome wherein caseloads grow since the mentioned issues were not addressed
properly (Swann, 2006). Regarding this matter, another mistreatment and other kinds of issues
that does not advance the welfare of the foster children were recorded.

On the other hand, China was not exempted on experiencing problems that involve foster
children. The most common problem was with regards to the stress that children has undergone
as they cope with the fact that they were separated with their birth parents, this situation led them
to different adversities such as lack of opportunities that was expected to hone a safe relationship,
malnutrition and abuse also followed (Finet, 2018). Thus, as the children experience the simplest
problem and solution was not offered it will just boil him down to experience more serious problem
to the extent that he himself could not survive. The experiences of the foster children hinders them
to have an optimal behavioural adjustment that can help them on combatting different problems,
in line with this, many institutions fail as well on providing the foster children the sufficient
opportunities that may also lead them to building good relationships with stable caregivers (Finet,
2018). It is worthy of noting that with how foster care system function, children are vulnerable to
be affected to the issues and problems that it encounters. This situation is not easy to mitigate
and children whether they like it or not have to face it as well, however this should serve as a
reminder that they do not deserve it, what they deserve is the act of experiencing the promises of
the different institutions and key actors that made them believe that there is a betterment that
awaits them.

C. The Actions of the Key Actors

The foster care system in US is considered problematic due to the fact that even the
whole federal government does not offer enough actions to combat the problems and to
better provide a sound foster care system. This can be reflected on studies which reveal
that foster care families are continuously decreasing as the federal government was not
able to give enough “foster care maintenance payments” and there were even no specific
guidelines on how these funds will be given and allocated to the foster care families,
studies also bear the fact that there were also no training provided for the families by the
government on how they can be honed as foster care families (Ahn, 2018). It has always
been stressed that funds are necessities that the government should never neglect.
Foster care families deserve to receive those funds as they use it to sustain the material
and immaterial needs of the children, it also serves as an enabling tool for them to give
the children the life that they should really be experiencing. On the other hand, the public
which is the group that possible foster parents came from, as mentioned on the issues
appeared to be very incompetent and does not follow the actions that they have learned
on trainings (Giles, 1960). They also appeared to be selective on adopting (Lindley, 2018)
while some of them tend not to cater the best that they can give to the foster children
which also causes trauma (Cheung, 2014). It can be learned that the key actors involved
such as the government and the people may often be seen as unable to play their
important roles. The mentioned issues and its effects to the foster children sends the
message that the foster care system was unable to uphold its responsibility of taking care
of the children even if they were sought as players of important role in the society as it
created long-term grievances to children especially when they are not given the chance
to experience the life with a family that they have been aiming. They may be able to
somehow forward their aims and interests, however, they were negligent when it comes
to advancing the welfare of the main actor in the said issue which are the children involved
in the foster care system.

Unlike US, records regarding the actions of key actors in the case of China often reveal
positive contents. The policies of the government was said to have expanded its reach to
promote welfare for children in the foster care especially to those with disabilities (Shang,
2017). The government, in response to the problem mentioned before expanded and try
to empower the institutions that bring hops to foster children, policies were reformed.
Records of actions are often correct, however given the notion that the impacts of the
problems and solutions to the children was still destructive, they can still be assumed as
ineffective. The ineffectiveness may have rooted on the instance that expectations grew,
the government was expected to give the foster children the chance to achieve full
citizenship rights (Shang, 2017). On the side of the other actor involved, which is the
public wherein potential foster parents belong, records show that the alternative care in
China helps provide foster care or family group care (Shang, 2017). The families who are
expected to fulfil the dreams of the children plays an important role of serving as the
caterer of the safe and stable life for the children. Actions similar to the mentioned above
are great leaps to forward the main goals of the foster care system. Unfortunately, actions
like these can be perceived as not enough since the problem and impacts are still
undesirable and evident.

D. The Ideal Foster Care System

Recalling what was mentioned regarding the foster care systems of US and China, it
can be learned there is really a need for reformation or for a reorganization of the whole
system that is expected to cater help to the children who deserve to have not just families
but a quality life with a well-mannered family. In line with this, in this part, a study that
offers a new model of foster care for children that was assumed as fitted to the privileged
countries such as China and the US and can also serve as a pattern for other neighboring
countries that also face similar problems, would be discussed, it was entitled “A New
Model of Foster Care for Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project”. The
study is a Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) wherein BEIP personnel were
Romanian psychologists and social workers who were recruited in Bucharest, this sought
“to establish child- centered foster care, a model in which foster parents became fully
invested in and psychologically committed to the children in their care, loving them as
their own.

The first remarkable solution mentioned by the study was the act of assuring the child,
especially if he comes from a serious difficulty that the foster care system will first evaluate
if the child himself and the potential foster parents as well would be able to achieve quality
caregiving as well as necessary safety and stability if they will be paired (Smyke, 2009).
This solution can be the best to counter the problem regarding children who experiences
trauma. In connection to this, in the offered model, there will also be a monitoring of the
“developmental trajectories” of the children particularly on their developmental outcomes,
brain functioning outcomes and their clinical outcomes (Smyke, 2009). Using this kind of
policy, children were expected to have peace as they enter their new homes and parents
would not need to be selective as well since the child entrusted to them were also carefully
evaluated.
 On the other hand, when it comes to the problems with the foster parents and with the
government, social workers can organize groups for potential foster parents that will help
them acquire their licenses, this act enables them to have a deeper knowledge and to do
in advance proper matches between foster parent and foster child, organizing groups like
this can also open to more possibilities like acquiring more funds from other potential key
actors such as NGOs and other concerned citizens (Smyke, 2009). There may be a
problem with starting such group that can function very well, however the establishment
of such group would a great beginning to end the growth of caseloads that became the
cause and effect of the problems of foster care system that led to grievances and
undesirable effects to children.

It can be gleaned at this paper that there are really non- traditional issues around the
world that are waiting to be addressed to the extent that even the greatest powers were
not able to solve it, thus, the key actors involved should behave and act in a manner
wherein issues like this would be solved especially if it involves one of the most vulnerable
main actor any issue would have- the children. Key actors must realize that to forward
their interest is not enough and to communicate with each one actor to another would not
wholly help as well, instead they should consider the welfare and the sake of the main
actors involved in whatever issue there would be.
References:

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foster care costs for children in the United States. Children and Youth Services
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Chinese adoptees: The role of pre-adoption experiences. Children and Youth
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Giles, R. (1960). Facilities and Services for Neglected Children in Texas. NPPA
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