Foster Care
"Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story." - John Shipp
What is Foster Care? |
Why is Foster Care Important? |
Foster care is temporary care of a youth until they can return home, emancipate or are adopted (if parental rights are terminated). This can last anywhere from overnight to several months and even years.
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The primary purpose of foster care is to provide a safe and stable environment for a child who cannot be with his or her parents. An environment that feels like home instead of a group home or other residential center is usually best for a child.
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Background about Foster Care
In America today, there are 443,000 people under the age of 18 in foster care struggling to find their place in this world who would highly benefit from the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program. Many of those youth have come from very hard childhoods such as being abused, or neglected, having unsafe or unhealthy lifestyles, and having unstable parents. The Foster Care System was created in 1853 by a man named Charles Loring Brace he helped over 30,000 homeless youth living on the streets and slums in New York City find families to love them and support them. Children in foster care need love and acceptance. It is important that these children feel love and acceptance going into a new home because there are foster children who did not have the experience of being loved or accepted growing up.
What are some traumatic experiences that youth go through?
Many youths in foster care experience trauma and many have to deal with abandonment issues and attachment disorders. This comes from a childhood of neglect or abuse that these children often experience and that's why they get put into foster care. A way to measure childhood trauma is ACE’s include all types of abuse and neglect as well as parental mental illness, substance use, divorce, incarceration, and domestic violence. Adverse childhood experiences can result in poor health outcomes such as substance use, risky sexual behavior, the risk for intimate partner violence, suicide attempts, behavioral challenges, risk of incarceration, and physical ailments such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, liver disease, and other physical and mental issues.
Goals for Youth in Foster Care
Foster Cares main priority is safety and well-being for the youth, and we value the bond and relationships youth have with their family. We believe and research indicates youth have a better chance at success when they are with family; therefore, reunification with family is our main goal.
Youth return home or are placed with a relative or kin 80-90% of the time. In 2016, 651 youth were successfully reunified with family
Youth return home or are placed with a relative or kin 80-90% of the time. In 2016, 651 youth were successfully reunified with family