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The History of The Foster Care System

Introduction

One of the greatest gifts in life is growing up in a stable, safe household. Most people

take this for granted. Unfortunately, for over 400,000 children in the United States, that gift is

has not been given. These 400,000 children are placed in the foster care system (Child Welfare

Information Gateway 2). The United States foster care system is specifically designed to provide

out-of-home placement as well as additional living arrangements for children whose parents are

unable to provide stable care for them (Braxton et al. 47). Although this welfare program is

intended for temporary use, this critical service can be provided until the adolescent is a legal

adult at the age of 18. There are multiple reasons for why children end up in the welfare or foster

care system; however, child abuse/maltreatment is one of the most common causes of ending up

in a foster care situation. Child maltreatment is defined by the Child Abuse Prevention and

Treatment Act (CAPTA) as “serious harm (neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional

abuse or neglect) caused to children by parents or primary caregivers” (Child Welfare

Information Gateway 2).

The Basics of the Foster Care

The Foster Care system receives and investigates reports of possible child abuse and

neglect, arranges for children to live with kin or foster families when they are not safe at home,

and arrange for reunification, adoption, or other permanent fixtures for children who leave foster

care (Child Welfare Information Gateway 2). According to Patricia A. Schene, Ph.D., associated

with the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver, “Historically,

for over 100 years, there has been governmental conflict over child abuse. The nation’s two
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missions of rescuing children from abusive or neglectful families, and creating efforts to support

and inform the abused children’s families has been prominent” (Schene 23). This governmental

standpoint has created a basis for the many laws and acts to tend to both missions. The child

rescue goal has resulted in the children mainly being placed into other non parental care by the

foster care system, such as group homes. In contrast, the governmental family support mission

focuses on improving the social and environmental effects of the at-risk households, such as

homes with abuse as well as drug influences (Schene 23). The primary responsibility of child

protection is in the hands of the Public Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies. The CPS

agency receives, investigates, and responds to reports of child abuse and neglect. The CPS have

been created and morphed by the federal leadership; however, they are state funded and

governed (Courtney 1).

The Welfare System in The Past

The legal basis for efforts to protect the disadvantaged children has been in practice since

colonial times. One of the first signs of forming systems/laws to protect the at-risk youth is The

English Poor Law of 1601, which placed public responsibility for poor children on the local

townspeople. Another doctrine known as the ​Parens Patriae​, “the ruler's power to protect

minors” was viewed as a reason for government intervention into a parent-child relationship,

leading to enforce parental duty or supply substitute care for the child. Mainly, these efforts were

aimed at the children from the poorest families and those who were orphaned, abandoned, or

unsupervised (Schene 24).

As urbanization, industrialization, and high immigration rates led to more opportunities

for the poor, rates of homelessness among children became a prominent issue. A young minister
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in 1853, Charles Loring Brace formed the Children’s Aid Society, which rescued the homeless,

starving youth of New York City. Over 75 years, the success of the program led to 150,000

orphans to safe Christian homes in the rural areas of the Midwest, where they were used for labor

on family farms (Schene 25).

Between the years of 1830 and 1860 orphan asylums, commonly known as orphanages

became the nation's predominant method of caring for dependent children. By the 1880s,

however, orphan asylums were facing heavy criticism, usually accompanied by arguments that

favored placing children with families (Hasci 167). It was only after 1875 that the world’s first

organization, The New York Society for The Prevention of Cruelty to Children, fully committed

to child protection was established. Prior to this organization, many abused children were not

provided with governmental assistance or protection. Criminal prosecution and jail time was the

only solution to penalize the abusers.

For example, in 1869, a father in Illinois locked his blind son in a cellar in the middle of

winter. The Defense Council argued that it was up to the father to undertake his own actions to

discipline his own son. This is a prime example of children’s welfare not being prioritized.

Ultimately, a greater force stepped in. The Illinois Supreme Court disagreed, stating “authority

must be exercised within the bounds of reason and humanity. If the parent commits wanton and

needless cruelty upon his child, either by imprisonment of this character or by inhumane beating,

the law will punish him” (Myers 449).

Rural states relied on family placements for the dependent youth. In Ohio, from 1866 to

1899, 50 farmhouses were established. Children were given the opportunity to stay with farm

families who provided shelter and food. For each child, the government was to pay one dollar per
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child per week (Schene 25). As seen in this early example, these homes were the first time in

history that the government had had paid people for the out-of-home care for children.

Foster Care Laws in The Last Century

The Social Security Act was one of the most influential laws that changed the foster care

system and provided the legal framework for the child welfare system. In 1935, as a part of

President Roosevelt’s New Deal to save the nation from economic ruin, Congress passed the

Social Security Act. This act created the aid to Dependent Children, which provided millions of

dollars to states to support poor families (Myers 453).

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is another significant act that

has impacted the Child Welfare System. Enacted in 1974, with many amendments, this act

represents the federal government's pledge to protect children from abuse and maltreatment. This

law provides limited funding to states for child neglect prevention, prosecution, identification

and treatment activities, while also developing standards for receiving and responding to child

maltreatment (Courtney 4). “In order to receive CAPTA funds, states must meet a certain

number of requirements such as: enacting statutes that define and prohibit child maltreatment,

establishing a child maltreatment reporting system, and designating an agency responsible for

investigating child maltreatment” (Schene 23). These requirements had created a baseline for

states to be able to help the parentless and maltreated youth (Myers 459). Amendments or

changes in the Act, such as the Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless

Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness, which was added to the CAPTA Act in 1989

reinforced the Act’s emphasis on child safety. According to the Child Welfare Information
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Gateway, this act was last reauthorized on December 20, 2010, by the CAPTA Reauthorization

Act of 2010.

The Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance program provides funding to states

for administrative costs of out-of-home care for children who were removed from families that

were unwilling or unable to care for them. This title also gives subsidy payments to the parents

of children adopted from state-supervised out-of-home care. Amendments to Title IV-E,

beginning in the late 1980s, have added funding for independent living services intended to help

foster youth make a successful transition to adulthood (Courtney 4).

Conclusion

Providing youth with resources and out-of-home care is quite complicated and has

required the passage of multiple acts and laws. With the best intentions dating back to colonial

times, there have always been program or guidelines to help parentless or maltreated youth.

However, delivering an unflawed foster care system is difficult as the psychological strains of

constantly changing homes and families can really affect the youth. The governmental approach

has been very technical, but taking in account the mindset of the hapless youth is a tough task.

With the kindness of foster parents, many homes have been found and multiple lives have been

changed for the better.

Word Count: 1378

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Works Cited

Braxton, Claudette, and Elvia R. Krajewski-Jaime. “Exploration of the American Foster Care

System: An Experiential Account.” I​nternational Journal of Interdisciplinary Social

Sciences​, vol. 6, no. 1, Mar. 2011, pp. 47–56. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=73343658&site=ehost-live.

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2017). ​About CAPTA: A legislative history.​ Washington,

DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.

Child Welfare Information Gateway.​ Foster care statistics 2016​. Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. (2017).

Child Welfare Information Gateway.​ How the child welfare system works.​ Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. (2013).

Courtney, Mark E. "Child Welfare: History and Policy Framework." ​Encyclopedia of Social

Work.​ June 11, 2013. NASW Press and Oxford University Press,. ​Accessed on ​30 Nov.

2018,

http://oxfordre.com/socialwork/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefor

e-9780199975839-e-530​.

Hacsi, Tim. “From Indenture to Family Foster Care: A Brief History of Child Placing.”​ Child

Welfare​, vol. 74, no. 1, Jan. 1995, pp. 162–180. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asm&AN=24227229.

Myers, John E.B. A Short History of Child Protection in America. ​Family Law Quarterly​, vol.

42, no. 3, Fall 2008, pp. 449-463.

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https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/insights_law_society/ChildProt

ectionHistory.authcheckdam.pdf​.

Schene, Patricia A. “Past, Present, and Future Roles of Child Protective Services.” ​The Future of

Children: Protecting Children From Abuse and Neglect,​ vol. 8, no. 1, Spring 1998, pp.

23-38. ​http://thesociologycenter.com/GeneralBibliography/vol8no1ART2.pdf
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