Running Head: FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT 1

Foster Care Placement: We Don't Have the Same Genes, but we Share a Heart.

Brittany Flintosh

First Colonial High School

Legal Studies Academy

FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT 2

Abstract

This paper will explain some of the underlying factors in the foster care system. The author

analyzes the foster care system and the placement of foster children. The main topics in this

paper are the legality behind foster care and different bills that feed into the problem of not doing

enough. The author discusses how the children view the system from the inside and some of the

many problems that foster children face on a day to day basis. One main point in the research

paper is that check up on foster children are not frequent enough. Abuse is happening to these

children under the care of their foster parents and the courts are not acting quickly enough to stop

the problem before it becomes too big to handle.

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Foster Care Placement: We Don't Have the Same Genes, but we Share a Heart.

In 2012 there were 3.3 million reports of violence against children, which resulted in

251,764 children placed in the foster care system; 23,439 aged out of placement, 1 in 5 will

become homeless after age 18, only will be employed by age 24, less than 3% will earn a

college degree, 71 % of women will be pregnant by age 21, and will experience PTSD

(Soronen, 2014). The foster care system is placing children in homes that are unfit for the

children by allowing weak laws to be set in place. The foster care system is there to give children

a home that can no longer live with their biological parents. Foster care provides an outlet for

children and adults to use. The main reason is to allow a period of separate time from the

biological parents while they work through the things that made them have to give up their

children in the first place (International Foster Care Organization, 2005).

Legality

HR bill 4472, Lawmakers are trying to amend title IV of the Social Security Act to gain

an electronic system to help place foster children in homes that may not be in the state that the

foster care child currently presides in, but is the best fit for the child's needs. Sometimes the

foster care home for a child isn't always in the state they live in currently and the current

interstate placement system needs to be modernized (H.R. 4472, 2016). This bill is in need of

enactment because an electronic system would greatly help the children be placed faster and

more efficiently. With the new electronic system childrens forever homes can be found if it is in

another state and not in the one that they currently preside in. HR bill 1168 is a separate foster

care system for children of native american descent. The bill does not allow Native American

children to be placed in a home until the tribal social services agency deems that the home is
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necessary for the children (H.R. 1168, 2015). This separate system for Native American

descended children is time consuming and delays the time that a child can be placed in a new

home. The goal of a foster care system is to help the children find a loving home fast, but with

this separate system the other children cannot obtain this goal to the extent that they should be.

Currently in the US, siblings that for any reason that get placed in the foster care system are no

longer considered siblings. The Siblings Connections Act is trying to repeal the guidelines and

rules that say once two siblings are put in the foster care system they are no longer considered

siblings under the eyes of the law (S. 1786, 2013).

According to Virginia Code 16.1-282,

D1. Any order transferring custody of the child to a relative other than the childs prior

family shall be entered only upon a finding, based upon a preponderance of the evidence,

that the relative is one who, after an investigation as directed by the court, (i) is found by

the court to be willing and qualified to receive and care for the child; (ii) is willing to

have a positive, continuous relationship with the child; (iii) is committed to providing a

permanent, suitable home for the child; and (iv) is willing and has the ability to protect

the child from abuse and neglect; and the order shall so state.

Court Cases

One court case involves young sisters that were placed in the home of a family for foster

care. Check ups on the family were supposed to be as frequent as 5 to 6 times a year but there

would be periods where no one would be to check up on the family for two years or 14 months at

a time. The girls were forced to have sexual relations with their foster father. The psychiatrist

that the girls went to had suspected that the father might be having sexual relations with the

children cause when one of the girls were asked if their father made them have sexual actions
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with her she looked away and started crying, but these alleged altercations were never brought to

light. In the end the children were taken out of custody of the father (Doe v. New York City Dept.

of Social Services, 1981). There is no reason that children in the system should not be checked in

on regularly. If these young boys and girls are cared about more by the system and the doctors

along with psychiatrists took more time into examining and reporting what they find, our current

problems could be better avoided. Doe v. New York Dept. of Social Services shows the

importance of multiple checks of foster homes to ensure the wellbeing of the children. Without

checks this case is a prime example of what could happen within these homes.

The plaintiff in this case was taken away from their birth parents and placed in foster

care. While the child was in foster care, they were abused by the foster mother which was so

violent that the child ended up in a coma. The child believes that the state is at fault because they

didn't, to the full extent of their power, check up on the home situation or forward medical

records to the propor places that needed it. The court dismissed the child's case due to reasons of

non-substantial evidence and the fact that the child was taken out of custody of the birth parents

by the Gwinnett County Juvenile Court, and the child was not the court of appeals issue (Taylor

By and Through Walker v. Ledbetter, 1987). Courts shouldn't just dismiss cases because they are

not liable due to the fact that another court was the one that terminated the rights of the birth

parents. Steps should be taken to make sure that the child is safe at all costs. The court knew

what was going on inside the home and didn't do anything about it. A new law needs to be in

place so that different courts than the one that terminated the parental rights can do something to

better the child's living environment. These children in foster care need to know that there are

people out there that care about them and want to help them when they are in need of a hand to
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reach out for. The courts should not turn their backs on these kids that are being abused, they

need to find a way to help.

International and Other States

The ISS (International Social Service) works with children and international adoption. In

the years following World War II, intercountry adoption changed dramatically. A considerable

increase occurred in the adoption of children who were orphaned by war and were from

countries affected by severe economic problems and overpopulation (Selinske, Naughton,

Flanagan, Fry, & Pickles, 2001). There are ways to help children get adopted but these few

pathways aren't enough. More actions need to be taken to eliminate the setbacks and the things

that go hidden behind the scenes. International adoption is just another outlet for us to use.

International adoption can help when there are those children who couldn't use the outlets in the

american foster care system to their advantage and international adoption is the only way for

them to find a family.

Alabama follows the kinships first rule, which is that relatives are looked at first for

placement options. If it turns out that that the kinship placement is what is best for the child, the

guardian that is related to the child will receive the normal amount of money that is paid to not-

relative foster parents. Any relative that the child goes into their custody that is at least 21 can be

related to the child by means, not only of blood, but by marriage, or adoption that is within the

fourth degree. If by any means that siblings are split up the reason for which must be stated (Ala.

Code 38-12-2, Ala. Code 38-12-2; 38-12-3; 38-12-14 & Ala. Code 12-15-315(e) ).

In Virginia to determine if a relative is fit for a child to live with, is left up to the local

board. In contrast to Alabama Virginia only allows kinship in the third degree, which includes:
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aunts, uncles, niece, nephew, sister, brother, and great grandparents (Ann. Code 63.2-1242.2;

63.2-1242.3 & Ann. Code 16.1-281; 63.2-900.1).

Views from the Inside

Although the sceptic for most children's views on their foster placement are not good

ones, this article focuses on the views that are good. Policy makers do want to protect those

children who are victims of abuse and neglect, but you never know how the coin is going to flip.

The researchers did a study on these foster care children that were in large organizations like

group homes or large foster homes. 73% of the children that were interviewed were african

american, 15% caucasian, and 12% hispanic. The sample was proportionate to the population.

Around 40% of the children were confused why they were being placed somewhere that wasn't

their home, and the other 60% were aware of the situation and it was nothing new to them. An

astonishing 58% of the children had no say in where they were going/ being placed; however,

73% felt like their foster parents were trying to make them feel like they fit in (Johnson, Yoken,

& Voss, 1995). These drastic statistics show that many foster children are unaware of what is

going on and that there is an unbalanced weight of racial profiles in the system. The fact that for

60% of the children, this process is nothing new is bringing light the the general population's

eyes that something needs to be changed about the system. Renovations and new ideas for

reformation are essential if the Foster Care System wants to better the children's experiences

while in their care.

Meetings

Pre-placement meetings are important to the new family and the foster child. With pre-

placement meetings with the current foster family the new foster family can learn valuable

information about different social, mental, and other aspects of how the child lives out everyday
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life. These meetings also allow the child more than anything to get to know the new family that

they will be soon living with. The goal of these meetings is to help the transition between the two

homes run more smoothly ("Receiving an Adoptive Placement," n.d.). This is one suggestion for

some foster families to do, but is not heavily implemented and when these suggestions which

should be required are not being done it hurts the children involved. These suggestions need to

be driven into the system so the instances where children do go through the pre-placement

meetings can transition easily. Which makes switching foster homes for these foster children

much more smooth. Every outlet that is offered to help these children needs to be done in all

states. The US needs to strive for a better family environment and if foster care children are

moving around less and finding a home where they are comfortable and feel welcome, and these

meetings help, every state should be following the others states example.

Outlets for the Children

At age sixteen the children in foster care are taught about independent living. They are

taught how to live on their own because when they turn eighteen most of them will have to live

on their own. All agencies allow children to stay in foster care till they are considered an adult by

the eyes of the law and after that they are no longer allowed to stay in their care. For special

cases such as the child is going to college and is still living at home with their foster parents, they

are allowed to stay till they hit the age of twenty-one (B. Andes, Personal communication,

December 13, 2016). Theses outlets for children that want to pursue college and obtain a degree,

are essential to the child's life. With allowing them to stay in a home and gain their degree in the

long run they can get a job and make more money to better their lives in the long run. For the

year 2014 people that earned a bachelor's degree earned on average $49,9000 compared to the
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people who only had a high school education that made on average $30,000 (National Center for

Education Statistics, 2016).

Social Worker

When children in the foster care system get a bad social worker which handles

placements and other entities for the child, there is little to be done about them. Some social

workers shows signs that seem un moral. When the proper amount of steps are taken to report the

actions with the social worker nothing is done about and it flies under the radar (Teo, 2015).

There should be something done about the problems with the social workers not taking a case as

seriously as they should be. Possibly a new way of foster families and the foster child to bring

the problem to light, and in doing so a new social worker is assigned to them. Social workers

should care about the cases that they are given, they chose this profession, and if they neglect

their responsibilities punishments need to be implemented to eliminate this ongoing problem that

many foster children face over and over year after year. There is a long process to replace social

workers for foster children and most of the time the courts look over the request for a new social

worker because there just arent enough to be replacing them left and right (B. Andes, Personal

communication, December 13, 2016). Courts shouldn't just look over foster childrens request for

a different social worker but possibly work with the social worker to enforce kindness toward

these children. They all have difficult lives and a difficult social worker is the last thing they

need.

Placement Process

Making sure that wherever the child is going the adult that will be caring and looking

after the child is willing, able, and suitable. Wherever the child is going that a relative is taking

them in a background check is required for all the adults that will be living in the house and
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coming into contact with the child. This is only true in 28 state out of 50. For the children that

have relatives that could take them in, 10 states favor this and put these relatives at the top of the

list for the child to go to (Placement of Children with Relatives, 2013). Possibly if more than 10

states favor and put relatives at the top of the list, then maybe the number of children without

homes would decrease. Along with children not having a home, those children that do but are in

abusive families and families that don't care for the child could also decrease. If a child only lives

with his mother and needs to be put in foster care, first a picture and name of the child needs to

be put in the newspaper even if the father doesn't want to take the child in. The system does this

to make sure that if the paternal parent wants to take care of the child he can (B. Andes, Personal

communication, December 13, 2016).

Requirements

According to the Virginia Department of Social Services,

You must be at least 18 years of age or older to be approved as a foster parent,

attend a one-time orientation meeting to learn what foster parenting is all about,

successfully complete pre-service training, complete a home study, participate in

at least three (3) face-to-face interviews, submit a national Fingerprint Criminal

Record check, a child abuse and neglect history check, and a DMV check. provide

a physicians report verifying that you are physically and mentally capable of

caring for a child, verify that you have enough income to provide for your family,

and submit the names of three (3) references. (2016)

Single Parents

Julie is a single woman with only the money on her teacher's salary. Julie wanted to open

her home to any children that needed one. One morning she got a call that a little boy named
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Zeke who needed a home. She wasn't ready, she didn't have all the things needed for a baby like

diapers, clothes, bottles, and other necessities, but she gladly accepted the offer. Julie was told

that Zeke had been in the hospital the first few days of his life. Zekes mother was a sexworker

and was serverly addicted to meth and opiates which Zeke was also addicted to after birth.

Zekes mother was a foster child, but couldn't take care of him for obvious reasons. After Julie

took in Zeke she took in Zyler and Zoey. Zyler the youngest boy was also born addicted to drugs,

his mom was a prostitute and is in and out of jail, similar to Zekes background. Zoey was born 4

pounds, had severe scabies, and was never fed solid food by her biological parents. When you

walk into the family's home all you see are pictures of the kids that were replaced with the

previous ones that were Julies dog. Julie adopted Zeke and Zoey and is hoping to learn more

about Zylers background so she can official add him to the family (Goble, 2014).

LGBTQ+ Foster Parents

Homosexual couples offer the chance for hope, love, and a family to children that would

normally not have that chance if it were not for the homosexual couples that want to foster and

adopt. Homosexual couples show their children that blood is not what makes a family but love

and care for one another is. That is what a family should be based on; a family should be a family

if they love eachother (Tania, 2013). Children in homes where they are exposed to homosexual

people are more understanding and sympathetic. They are less likely to judge and more likely to

be compassionate and understanding to others problems, and this greatly improves their social

skills for everyday life (Friedrichs, 2013). LGBTQ+ fostering is another route that is really

important that we use as a society to place as many children in loving homes as possible. Every

way possible needs to be thought about to lessen the number of children that are still looking for

a home and need parents to look out for them. When there is love in the home children are less
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likely to be living out on the street hungry, tired, and alone, which is the exact opposite of what

the foster care system is trying to strive for.

Money

In actuality foster parents get reimbursed, meaning the government pays the family back

the next month for the expenses that were used on the foster children the previous month. It's

estimated that foster parents get twenty-five dollars a day for each child that they foster. In one

case the parents only had a child for two days where they had to but they child clothes because

she only have clothes that were too big for her. They also had to pick the child up because Child

Protective Services were too busy and couldn't provide transportation. The family within the two

day with all the expenses totalled 1,000 dollars (Hilton, 2015). There are foster parents out there

that do really care about the children that they are taking into their home and then there are some

that don't. The ones that do care and do put a lot of time and effort into caring for the child

deserve to be reimbursed more than what the government currently provides. If the Foster Care

System wants more parents caring for these children that were separated from their families, then

the people that are in charge of the systems need to work something out so that way certain

families that are doing more for the child can attain more of the government money. This is

what's wrong, money shouldn't be the problem. The U.S. spends so much money on things that

we don't need like robots that play jazz music, which the government came up with 2 million

dollars for (Pianin, 2015). That 2 million dollars could go to things that are useful and are needed

in our society like the Foster care System. The children are the future and if they don't have a

safe home, parents that look after them, and an education that they couldn't get living on the

streets, then the U.S. needs to figure out what they are doing wrong and fix it.

Amount of Foster Children

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Virginia along with Wisconsin and Indiana are three of the largest states that allow a

maximum of eight foster children at a single time. Many of the other states have a maximum of

four children. In Virginia to try and keep the children together, in certain cases the number of

children in a foster home can exceed eight. In some states like Florida they specify between the

total amount of foster children and the parents actual children which for this state is three each.

Although Florida has the ability to extend this number if the parents have the room and show that

they can mentally handle having more than six kids and are willing to do so. Similar to Florida

the state of delaware the limitations on the amount of children that a foster family can have is

five ("Limitations on Number of Children in a Foster Home ," 2013). Limitations on the amount

of children a single family can foster are guidelines that need to be strictly followed. These

numbers are put in place so there are not any children that don't get the amount of attention that

they need. When families have too many children to look after there is no way that they can

attend to every child's needs, it's just not possible. Six children is a good number to stop the

amount of foster children that one family can have and if they can handle more than that's one

less child that's waiting to be placed, and could possibly find a home where the parents would

want to adopt if the child cannot return home for any number of reasons.

Case Load

For each social worker they are not supposed to have more than 15 to 25 children per

case load. This is not how it always turns out though (B. Andes, Personal communication,

December 13, 2016). Comparing social workers to court appointed attorneys, they are one in the

same. Over worked, given too many cases, and all together not though much of. The average

amount of time that a court appointed attorney has per case is only three days (Hinkley &

Mencarini, 2016). Three days is not a lot of time when you are trying to represent a person that is
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on the stand fighting for their life. Social workers are given too many cases that are above the

recommended level and something needs to be done. Social workers are the ones that look out

for these foster children when they first are brought into the system. They need time to look over

the cases and really be about to dedicate all the time and resources that they have to their case.

They can't do this if the have an overabundance of cases and can't find time to manage and put

forth all that they can in for these foster children. The children deserve to be cared about and

have time put into each of these situations so that they can possibly have the best outcome that

they can.

Conclusion

In order to help the problem of foster care placement people need to become more aware

of the problem of weak laws and courts not being able to do enough to help these children caught

in the trap of bad foster placements. Different things can be done to help make placements easier

and run more smoothly. Many things feed into the problem that foster children face in their

homes, but if the government strives for strengthening and filling the holes that leaking in the

system, the children greatly benefit.

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References

Andes, B. (2016, December 13). Professional Interview [Telephone interview].

Ann. Code 63.2-1242.2; 63.2-1242.3

Ann. Code 16.1-281; 63.2-900.1

Ala. Code 38-12-2

Ala. Code 38-12-2; 38-12-3; 38-12-14

Ala. Code 12-15-315(e)

Doe v. New York City Dept. of Social Services (Court of Appeals May 13, 1981) (Dist. file).

Fisher, P. A. (2005, February 01). The Early Intervention Foster Care Program: Permanent

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Foster Care (FC). (2016). Retrieved from http://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/fc/

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Friedrichs, E. (2013). A Family Does Not Have to Include a Mother and a Father. In B.

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you_b_5695858.html

Hilton, M. (2015, May 06). How Much Do Foster Parents Get Paid? Retrieved from

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Hinkley, J. A., & Mencarini, M. (2016, November 03). Court-appointed attorneys paid little, do

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Native American Children's Safety Act, H.R. 1168, 114 Cong. (2015).

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2015. Retrieved from http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/12/22/7-Unbelievable-Ways-

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Sibling Connections Act, S. 1786, 113 Cong. (2013).

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