Implications of Foster Care and Child Development thru Adolescence - Research Paper Example

Implications of Foster Care and Child Development thru Adolescence Implications of Foster Care and Child Development thru Adolescence Foster care refers to a protective program which provides children with home placement away from their risky home environment for short term or a long-term basis (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Over the past decade, research has indicated that there is an increasing trend in the number of children being admitted into foster care suffering from developmental problems and mental health concerns. Efforts are being made to make the foster care a more pleasant and healthy process for those admitted so as to ensure that their developmental process in later years is positive (Marotz & Allen, 2013). In the United States, there are currently over 600,000 children under foster care and this depicts a very large proportionate of vulnerable youth in the country (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Most of the children get admitted to the system at a young age of less than 5 years which is deemed by psychologists and pediatricians as the most important stage of development for the human life. At this stage, children are extremely vulnerable since their neurological development peaks. As such, they are at a potential risk of being affected by the pre-foster experiences as well as the experience of foster care (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Foster care is an avenue for developmental risks for adolescents through being exposed to inconsistent or uncaring relationships, violence and maltreatment; which are major life-changing events for any adolescent. According to research studies on adolescents in foster care, these occurrences have been the primary source of trauma and troubled brain development (Marotz & Allen, 2013). The need for a healthy environment for the adolescents to be brought up in cannot be underplayed when considering a secure future for the next generation (Marotz & Allen, 2013). According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the number of available homes for placement of children is way below the demand of foster placements; statistics show that over 30% of the children requiring foster placement misses the opportunity (Marotz & Allen, 2013).There is no clear-cut system for placements. However, about 70% of the placements have been successful with providing a better environment for the children (Marotz & Allen, 2013). According to developmental researchers, a combination of a number of risk factors is what influences the outcomes of development in adolescents and increase psychiatric disorders and maladaptation. These risk factors include; maltreatment, dysfunctional families and chronic poverty. Admission into the foster care system is in itself a risk factor since it heightens the challenges of these vulnerable adolescents (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Though done with good intentions in mind, recurring placements only accumulates the negative experiences of the individual thereby creating further behavioral and emotional problems. Before entry into the foster care system, most adolescents get maltreated in their homes of origin. This is usually the base for which developmental challenges start and manifest if not well addressed. Some of the challenges that arise due to this are psychopathological disorders, poor school performance and negative behavioral manifestations (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Exposure to severe abuse increases the risk of developmental challenges by a large margin as compared to those who did not face the same. Another risk factor prior to admission to the foster care system is problems relating to formation of attachment between the adolescent and the family of placement (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Such difficulties are attributed to the quality of care that the adolescent received in the first years of existence. Those who experienced rejection and insensitivity grow up to low parental expectations and end up with behavior patterns that lead to poor socio-emotional development (Marotz & Allen, 2013).This sense of parental detachment at an early age develops in an adolescent as being rejected thus making it hard for them to adapt to their foster homes in totality. According to research studies into foster care dependents, it has been found that they tend to have special needs and problems relating to their behavior and psychology. Multiple placements into different homes revealed developmental problems in emotional and social functioning (Galotti, 2011). This was attributed to strained relationships between the foster parents and the dependents due to the negative behavior of the dependent (Galotti, 2011). The level of behavioral aggression has been linked to the experiences that one was subjected to prior to joining the foster care system. Those who experienced severe abuse tend to be more internalized and less relational to their foster families; whereas those with less severe abuse were less internalized and more relational to their foster families therefore developing positive behaviors (Galotti, 2011). Adolescents under foster care are found to exhibit heightened behavioral symptoms compared to adolescents facing the same environmental challenges, but living with their own parents (Galotti, 2011). This increased level of risk in behavioral patternspose a potential of long-term in the foster care system thereby increasing the number of placements. Also, the negative behaviors being on the increase makes it harder for treatments options to be taken (Galotti, 2011). According to Paterson’s coercion theory, developmental and mental health challenges in children are as a result of poor strategies of parenting by the parents or the care-givers. Patterson suggests that the behavioral, emotional and social problems developed by children is caused by lack of child supervision, parent’s unavailability, inconsistent discipline methods and absence of reinforcement of proper social expectations (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Adolescents become delinquent when family organizations lack in strength and consistency of habits and values. These delinquencies extend to their external environment leading to antisocial tendencies with their peers. Over time, these antisocial tendencies grow into problematic social behaviors that make it hard for the adolescents to adapt to the conventional society. Multiple placements in combination with the mental and behavioral developmental problems experienced cause further problems for the adolescents. Aggravated developmental challenges are an increased result of these risk factors which leads to developmental delays. The foster care system is faced with long-term cases of developmental delays, which are on the increase by the day at the rate of 60% of the general children population (Marotz & Allen, 2013). Foster care systems have reported the following developmental delay rates: 10% growth problems; general motor challenges at 31%; cognitive difficulties were at 33%; and 57% showed language delays. Psychiatric problems have also been reported to be higher among those under foster care as opposed to those within their own families (Marotz & Allen, 2013). In the area of academic and cognitive functioning, a report by National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) showed that a larger percentage of adolescents under foster care performed averagely with regards to their academic and cognitive measures. However, a higher than expected percentage of the children under foster care were found to experience altered academic functioning and delays in cognitive development (Galotti, 2011). On a cognitive test conducted on children of school-going age, about 7% were within the clinical range whereas the same sample had a language test which 14% were ranked as delayed development. These figures put the children in the foster system at the same developmental bracket as children in their own homes but suffering from chronic poverty (Marotz & Allen, 2013). The academic functioning of the adolescents in foster care was ranked as poor achievement with very high chances of placement into special education and retention of grades. This is however attributed to their experiences before admission into the foster care system as opposed to experiences under foster care school attendance is also very low due to the multiple placements problem. It is extremely difficult to explain or draw a conclusion regarding the relationship between developmental delays and multiple placements. Some studies suggest that multiple placements result in developmental delays and difficulties among most adolescents in foster care; other studies suggest that developmental delays and difficulties in adolescents under foster care lead to multiple placements. However, a study by NSCAW indicated that instability in placements among adolescents lead to higher chances of emotional and behavioral problems which include low self-esteem, difficulties in coping, aggression and lack of adjustment to new homes (Galotti, 2011). Behavioral and developmental challenges in adolescents under foster care are a large economic problem to the society and economy as a whole. Considering that these cases are mostly recurrent, treatment of these problems incurs heavy costs to the child welfare system. A single child incurs direct costs of about $ 35000 annually to cater to; this figure multiplied to the huge number of children under foster care creates a large financial cost to the US economy (Galotti, 2011). Treatment of their health related mental problems and developmental concerns, as well as other costs incurred by the society raises the cost per child to over $ 100,000 (Galotti, 2011). Multiple placements have led to the likelihood of long-term foster care for most children under foster care. This means that the children are most likely to spend their adolescence years in foster care and sometime pouring over to their youthful years. This problem decreases the chances of these adolescents reuniting with their original families thereby may create social and biosocial challenges. This creates an endless cycle which ends up with most foster care youths having their own children resulting to the foster care system themselves. Such a cycle is a great challenge for the society welfare at large. References Galotti, K. M. (2011). Cognitive development: Infancy through adolescence. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE. Marotz, L. R., & Allen, K. E. (2013). Developmental profiles: Pre-birth through adolescence. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Read More