![]() However, the alternative to foster care may be continued abuse, neglect, and traumatization of vulnerable children. “Foster care is meant to be a safe respite for children being harmed by their parents.” As the dozens of active class action lawsuits against state foster care systems demonstrate, too many children in foster care are deprived of the safety, stability, and connectedness of family life (Font & Gershoff, 2020). Nor, however, can these system failures be dismissed as mere aberrations. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016, 2019). These examples do not represent the majority of children’s experiences in foster care-a large majority is not abused or neglected in care, experiences two or fewer placements, and exits to reunification, adoption or permanent placement with a relative (U.S. These assumptions are rooted in very real problems of foster care systems nationwide-systems that, at times, fail to provide minimum standards of safety (e.g., Fowler & Ryan, 2020), cause long-term harm to children’s development by moving them children across dozens of temporary homes (e.g., Alder, 2020), or let children reach adulthood with no legal family and nowhere to go (Annie E. Yet, the assumption among the public and some scholars and practitioners is that placement in foster care is inherently harmful and rarely, if ever, justified (Busso, Down, Gibbons, & Volmert, 2019 Franck Meyer, 2019 Raz & Sankaran, 2019). Department of Health & Human Services, 2019).įoster care is meant to be a safe respite for children being harmed by their parents. ![]() In 2018, more than 680,000 children spent time in foster care, most commonly for reasons of neglect (62%), parent substance abuse (36%), parent inability to cope with parenting (14%), or physical abuse (13%) (U.S. ![]() ![]() Foster care provides such 24/7 care by placing children with relatives (kinship care) or non-relatives (family foster homes) or, for children needing intensive levels of care or supervision, in residential group (congregate) care settings. The majority of these children need services to address physical or mental health needs, and a substantial number will also need a temporary or permanent substitute caregiver in order to protect them from future harm. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020). Nearly 700,000 children are substantiated (confirmed) as victims of maltreatment in the United States each year, and millions more are suspected victims or at serious risk (U.S. ![]()
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