Monday, April 26, 2010

RJA 13c: Application Project Example

This is the cloest thing I could find to a journal with the childs actual experience

http://www.fosterclub.com/real-story

From here I will get a varity of experiences. This will help me look for things that were similar between children. From here I will be able to accurately create a experience of a child. This way I have something to look back on to make sure I am on the right track. I will need to change this from just a short story to a journal entry and make it more personal.

RJA 13b: Application Project Plan

I am going to do a couple journal entries on the life of a child who has been through abuse and neglect. It will go through a couple days of their life with this. And then there will be an entry describing them being removed from their home and saving them from this situation. It will be fictional but depict what these children go through and why foster care is needed to help them escape.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

RJA #12b: Field Research Report

1.In your opinion, why is foster care necessary? In 1889, the first act of parliament for the prevention of cruelty to children, commonly known as the "children's charter" was passed. This enabled the state to intervene, for the first time, in relations between parents and children. Police could arrest anyone found ill-treating a child, and enter a home if a child was thought to be in danger. The act included guidelines on the employment of children and outlawed begging.
One of the things that was identified in this piece of legislation is that children are not the PROPERTY of their parents. Parents are not allowed to do anything that they want with children. As a civilized society we have an obligation to protect citizens that need protecting. We also have an obligation to protect and value family life. Those values are protected by other areas of Health and Human Services.

2.Do you believe foster care is successful? Do you have examples?
I believe that the success of foster care depends upon the standards that are set for the coordination of care when children are in the foster care system. Foster Care is INTENDED to be a temporary intervention for an existing problem. In the past around the United States, it has become part of the problem. It is important that foster care continue to meet the developmental needs that all children have. Frequently, children come into Foster Care with Developmental/ Medically/ Educational delays. Foster Care should be a place that encourages the mastery of developmental tasks. It should strongly encourage the reunification with family and or kin. Since I have begun working for Denver Human Services, I see that they have embraced the serious responsibly of caring for children in foster care, not just removing them from hardm. It is extremely important that babies and young children have the opportunity to bond with their caretakers and develop attachments. Expedited Permanency Planning (EPP) makes it a federal mandate for children under the age of five to be in a permanent home within 12- 18 months of being removed. Federal legislation has restricted the number of moves that a foster child can have, which provides for the child to have stronger attachments, consistent care and education, etc. These examples have made foster care better for our kids, but it never removes the process of grief and loss that a child endures who has been abused or neglected. I believe that we do a much better job integrating the treatment plan with the family to engage them so the family does have to believe that we are working against them.
I am very proud of the fact that Denver Human Services has a collaborative effort with Denver Health (at the East Side clinic) to provide a foster care clinic to our kids in foster care. It is staffed by medical personnel that are experts in medical issues of abuse and neglect. They are a one stop shop that could provide for any medical need or referral that a child in care might have. Because it is tied into our own system, it allows the process to be more effective without having to wait for the foster parent to “receive” the Medicaid card or dealing with kids who lost their card in the move to a new home, etc. and not be able to get the treatment that is needed.






3. What is the Foster care system working on to improve some of the flaws in the system? Jen had mentioned something in the works to put a time limit on parents to get there act together to keep kids from getting stuck in the system for years?

This legislation has been around since 2003, I addressed some of it in the previous question. I believe that Denver has done a good job doing what is called a “diligent search” for kinship relatives for the children who have placed in Foster Care. It used to be that we would count on the bio-parents to reveal who in the family might step up to care for children when they couldn’t be with bio-parents. Many times, bio-parents are so full of shame that they did not provide that information; children were placed with strangers (foster parents). When children are placed with family or kin, they do much better. There already exists a connection, an attachment, a bonding that promotes the developmental process that allows children to flourish, and to decrease the number of losses that a child might experience. If termination of parental rights does occur, then the child who is placed with relatives doesn’t experience such a deep loss of identity. This becomes very important as adolescent development approaches. Along this same line, I think one of the things that we are working on in foster care is expanding our relative/kinship program. There is currently legislation or perhaps it is being considered that will allow states to provide for this on a more consistent basis. There one state (can’t remember which one) where children ARE NOT ALLOWED TO go to a stranger foster care home unless the caseworker can PROVE no family exists that would be able to provide appropriate care. This documentation must be signed off by the head of the Child Welfare Agency. In Denver, we have received a grant from the Children’s Bureau for a five year period to increase the number of foster care homes that match the over-representation for children of color that currently exist in the foster care system. The identity of the child’s family, race, culture and religion must be respected. Bottom line: no child from Denver should be placed in a foster care home in Pueblo due to a shortage of foster care homes in Denver. Children NEED to have access to their families and vise versa.

Introduction
The key Federal legislation addressing child abuse and neglect is the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), originally enacted in 1974 (P.L. 93-247). This Act was amended several times and was most recently amended and reauthorized on June 25, 2003, by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-36).
CAPTA provides Federal funding to States in support of prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment activities and also provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations for demonstration programs and projects. Additionally, CAPTA identifies the Federal role in supporting research, evaluation, technical assistance, and data collection activities; establishes the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect; and mandates Child Welfare Information Gateway. CAPTA also sets forth a minimum definition of child abuse and neglect.
The complete text of the law (U.S. Code title 42, chapter 67) can be downloaded from the Cornell University Legal Information Institute website at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/ch67.html. A booklet presenting CAPTA as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, including the Adoption Opportunities program and Abandoned Infants Assistance Act, as amended, is available on the Children's Bureau website at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws/capta03/index.htm. Print copies of this booklet may be ordered from Child Welfare Information Gateway.
Summary of Legislative History
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was originally enacted in P.L. 93-247. The law was completely rewritten in the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption and Family Services Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-294, 4/25/88). It was further amended by the Child Abuse Prevention Challenge Grants Reauthorization Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-126, 10/25/89) and the Drug Free School Amendments of 1989 (P.L. 101-226, 12/12/89).
The Community-Based Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Grants program was originally authorized by sections 402 through 409 of the Continuing Appropriations Act for FY 1985 (P.L. 98-473, 10/12/84). The Child Abuse Prevention Challenge Grants Reauthorization Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-126) transferred this program to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended.
A new Title III, Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness, was added to the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment Act by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-645, 11/29/90).
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was amended and reauthorized by the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-295, 5/28/92) and amended by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Amendments of 1992 (P.L. 102-586, 11/4/92).
The Act was amended by the Older American Act Technical Amendments of 1993 (P.L. 103-171, 12/2/93) and the Human Services Amendments of 1994 (P.L. 103-252, 5/19/94).
CAPTA was further amended by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-235, 10/3/96), which amended Title I, replaced the Title II Community-Based Family Resource Centers program with a new Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program and repealed Title III, Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness.
CAPTA was most recently amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-36, 6/25/03), which amended Title I and replaced Title II, Community-Based Family Resource and Support Program with Community-Based Grants for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.





Through the program at Bridging The Gap, emancipated teens have passed a couple of key pieces of legislation. One, mandates that siblings have more contact with each other. The second mandates that the school the foster child has attended by responsible for making sure that their records get passed onto the next school, so that the Foster Child doesn’t get to grade 12 and find out that they don’t have enough credits to graduate….and to ensure that their IEP’s get followed. (Individual Education Plans)
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4.Is there a form of screening of foster parents to prevent abuse?
Foster parents have several levels of screening. We do a Colorado Bureau of Investigation screening (CBI/Background check)
We have a specific list of what eliminates someone right away, what is negotiable and what is acceptable. Obviously, someone with a felony history in drug or child abuse would not be allowed to be a foster parent. Someone with a DUI that occurred seven year ago without further indicators of drug/alcohol abuse is negotiable. In any case that is questionable, we take that question to a team of experts (supervisors and child welfare administrators) to present the facts of a person’s life as we know them to determine if they could/should become a foster parent for a child in the custody of Denver Human Services. Denver Juvenile Court might also make some decisions in this specific area. Other screening tools might include the medical screening by a doctor. The state has specific mandates that each foster home MUST have such as X number of feet per person in the home. # of bedrooms, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, child proof accommodations (age specific), etc.. Each certified foster parent must attend 27 hours of training specific to parenting children who have been abused or neglected. Trainers assess each participant and even encourage participants to self-select themselves out of the process if they do no feel that they can meet the challenges of being a foster parent. Each family must submit to a very extensive home study and something known as the SAFE Questionnaire (parts 1 & 2). This provide the home study social worker to assess the parenting style, personal psycho-social-emotional history of each applicant in the home who is over 18 to ensure that they are mature enough to care of children. Once the applicant becomes certified they are assigned to a foster care support worker when ever they have a child come into their home. The Caseworker is there on behalf of the child, the foster care support worker is there for the foster parent. This is also another area that should maintain a screening of the foster parent’s progress in their ability to address the child’s needs.

We also have a child placement desk that attempts to match the expertise/preference of the foster parent with the needs/age of the child.



5. What is the hardest age group to adopt?
In Denver, I would say that is probably the ages 13-18. This appears to be the largest group of kids that we would like to target to adopt. Next would probably be sibling groups. We want very much to keep siblings together, but not everyone has room for large groups of kids. Denver and other counties around the state are working together to launch a campaign to address this state wide. There are MANY things that we are working on. We recently had a panel of 10-12 teen foster kids that have left the system come and share what WE could do differently. Denver is also going through ALL the old records for these kids to see if there might have been SOMEONE that demonstrated interest when they were removed. Perhaps they were not eligible to care for a child at the time, but now they might be.


6. Besides CHAFEE how else are the kids prepared for life on their own?
We have begun addressing life skills training at age 13 of EVERY child who comes into care, instead of a couple of months before the child ages out of the system. If they reunify, then they do so with more life skills. We have developed boards that address ways that teens can be better prepared; these boards are made up of teens to represent teens. Bridging The Gap is an excellent agency that is part of United Way that focuses primarily on helping teens learn the life skills that they need. The housing authority has an agreement with Child Welfare agencies to address the needs of kids that exit the system at age 18 and have no place to go. Bridging the Gap also sponsors things like “Take a foster child to work day” so that kids in the system might experience and explore many different kids of career choices. Legislation and the system has made it much easier for kids to receive money to go to college. Bridging the Gap has a money saving program that they will match EVERY dollar that a child in foster care saves.

7. What steps are taken to make sure foster kids are getting the education and academic help they need?
See question # 3. Denver has an educational liaison that trains caseworkers and schools and teachers the laws that came out of the American Disabilities Act that identifies that if a child has a disability (ADD/ADHD; learning; emotional; physical; mental; or behavioral) they are entitled to receive an education that takes that disability into consideration. THIS is a very important part of caring for children who are being protected AND we help them plan for their future.

RJA #12a: Annotated Bibliography, Part 3

Child Welfare Information Gateway. "Child Abuse and Neglect." Child Welfare Information
Gateway. Children's Bureau/ ACYF, 2009. Web. 12 Apr 2010. .

This website gives me the statistics on child abuse and neglect. It provides the definition for child abuse. It breaks it down and gives definitions of physical, emotional, sexual, and parental substances abuse. It give the definition of neglect and of unsafe envinroments.

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Ashby, Cornelia M. Child welfare [electronic resource] : HHS actions would help states prepare
youth in the foster care system for independent living : testimony before the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Accountability Office. 2007. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgibin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=gao&docid=f:d071097t.pdf

This periodical article addresses independent living that the CHAFEE program. It tells about what the program does and how they go about it. It also adresses money saving. This was a little hard to read but gave me some of the information that I needed.

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Gibson, Jennifer. "What Might Have Been." Foster Club. Foster Club, 2009. Web. 11 Apr 2010.
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This is a story about a foster child named Jennnifer Gibson. It tells us how her and her siblings got removed from her mother. This was due to being in unhealthy environments. There are many stories like hers on foster club that are very moving.

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"Length of stay for children existing in foster care." Child Welfare Information Gateway. Web.
15 Apr 2010. .

This is a gragh of how long the kids are staying in the system. It breaks it down into groups of months and shows percentages of how many kids stayed in for how long. It shows that the greatest percentage it of those kids who enter and leave the system in a year or less. The lowest percentage is for those kids in the system for 5 years or more.

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Long, Jeremy. "Jeremy's Story." Foster Club. Foster Club, 2009. Web. 11 Apr 2010. .

This is another story from the fosterclub. It is a story about a boy named Jeremy Long. It tells of how his father help him captive in the basement with no proper funiture. Then of how once he finally got out his mother ended up not being able to take care of him either. This is a story of neglect and child abuse.

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"Newsroom Facts Sheet." American Humane. American Humane Association, 2010. Web. 15
Apr 2010. .

Here I got exact definitions for emotional abuse and physical abuse. These were able to help paint a better picture of what each one is. It had a lot of other definitions and statistics that had to do with abuse.

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"Timeline." The History of Foster Care. Web. 11 Apr 2010. .

This is an image of a timeline for foster care. It starts with the Children's Aid society in 1853. It lays out acts throughout the years. It ends in 1999 when they changed the law to allow serivces through foster care till 21 year old.

Monday, April 12, 2010

RJA #11: Annotated Bibliography part 2

Dinnage, Rosemary, and M.L. Kellmer Pringle. Foster Home Care Facts and Fallacies. London, WI: Longmans, Green & CO LTD, 1967. 71. Print.

This book is full of studies done throughout many aspects of foster care. The one I found useful to my paper was a study done by Grace B. Cohagan titled Adoptability. It investigates if and/or when 100 kids in the system had ever been up for adoption. 77% were apart of families that could probably never provide a good home for them. 92% of the kids surveyed had never been given the status of “adoptable” at any point since they had entered the system.

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McDonald, Thomas P., Reva I. Allen, Alex Westerfelt, and Irving Piliavin. Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Foster Care: A Research Synthesis. Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America, Inc., 1996. 42-44. Print.

This book looks at and does case studies looking at the long-term effects on adults who have been through foster care. They looked at adult self-sufficiency, behavioral adjustment, family and social support, and personal well-being. What I found most helpful to me was there study done on educational achievement. It stated that only 35% had not finished high school, 65% received their high school diploma, and 25.7% went to college.

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"Foster Care." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6th. Columbia University Press, 2007. Web. .

This entry on foster care gives you the basic definition of foster care. It says that it is the “care of children on a full-time, temporary basis by persons other than their own parents.” It also goes into reason why children are removed from the home. It talks about temporary care and permanent care and the general outcomes of both, like going back to their biological home or getting adopted.

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"EVT Program F.A.Q.s." EVT Program. ORPHAN FOUNDATION OF AMERICA, 2003-2010. Web. 11 Apr 2010. .

The EVT website tells about the program and what they provide. They give federal grants to previous foster care kids who have been adopted after the age of 16 or aged out of the system. These grants can go up to $5,000 dollars a year and the money can be used for tuition, books, supplies, and living expenses. Besides being a previous foster care kid all they need to have a high school diploma or a GED and be attending college.

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Child Welfare Information Gateway , . "Foster Care Statistics." Child Welfare Information Gateway. Children's Bureau/ ACYF, 2009. Web. 12 Apr 2010. .

This website is a good source of statistics on the foster care system. I learned that 510,000 children were in foster care as of Sep. of 2006. I also learned that 46% of kids in foster care are in a foster home that has no relation to them compared to the 24% that were placed in a relative’s home. It even stated that 49% of kids that left the system in 2006 had only been in the system for 1 year or less.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

RJA #10c: Ideas for the Application Project

* I could write a journal entry(ies) from the point of view of a foster kid

* I could write a news story on the positive things that foster care provides

* I could write a story about the life of a foster kid

* I could write a journal entry(ies) from the point of view of a foster parent

RJA #10b: Progress Report for Argumentative Paper

What I have done
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* outlined my paper with all my arguements and counter arguements
* read Issues in Foster care
* read Finding Our Place
* read Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Foster Care
* read Foster Care: Facts and Fallacies
* Went through Mile High United Way's website
* Talked to Mary Overington from the Denver Human Services Dept.


What I Sill need to do
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* finish reading my sources (6 more)
* group all my information by my arguements
* compose my paper
* compose my bibliography

RJa #10A: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1

"What We Do: Overview." United Way. Mile High United Way, n.d. Web. 4 Apr 2010. .

This page on the Mile High United Way Website provides everything you need to know about their program. It provides history and credentials of all the things they have done and do. It also maps out how they plan on making a difference through three areas: school readiness, youth success, and adult self sufficiency. It also tells the step to how they go about it: to invest, to convene, and to innovate. They also mention that they provide success stories of people who have gone through their program and videos.

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McCaslin, Nikki, Richard Uhrlaub, and Marilyn Grotzky. Finding Our Place: 100 Memorable Adoptees, Fostered Persons, and Orphanage Alumni. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010. 38-40, 169-73, 249-54. Print.

This book gives me the success stories I need for my paper. It gives a 100 people who have been through the system in one way or the other, yet they were still able to do great things. I looked specifically at those who went through foster care and the three that stood out were Oksana Baiul, Alexander Hamilton, and Marilyn Monroe. It tells you the persons achievements, their family origins, what facilities they were in, education, and significant relationships. This book will help me get my point across.

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Kelly, Greg, and Robbie Gilligan. Issues in Foster Care: Policy, Practice, and Research. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd., 2000. 81-2, 98-103, 179-81. Print.

This book gives a lot of information covering every aspect, positive and negative, of the foster care system. I will be using it to give information on children leaving foster care and avoiding abuse in the system. It also gives some points as to when foster care is successful. It provides the facts, gives statistics, and even has studies that have been preformed on the matter.