Foster Home Care

link: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/increase-in-foster-child-deaths-prompts-safety-pla/nbYXd/

Category: Foster care

Level of issue: National.

Problem that faces individuals and families.

Why this is important: With 8 children dying in foster care that is related to negligent abuse should be a problem that we are looking into. This number should be 0 and although we do not live in a perfect world the foster care agencies need to look more into this and solve it.

My views: I hear it is already very difficult to adopt children in the US, but maybe it needs to be even harder. These children in foster care probably already have a low self esteem for moving home to home, having different parents, and when living and waiting for a family to take them in takes a toll on them. The screening process for adopting children should be much harder for families to gain custody. In the article they do state they will do more unannounced visits to the families homes and interview all adults within the family to know that this is a suitable fit for the child. Another restraint they will be enforcing is how many medically needy foster children can live in house. I believe this is a great step in the right direction. I personally have zero relatives that are anywhere close to being needy but I have been in school with other students that need special attention and I love when a family wants to open theirs arms to these children but if it ends with the child being hurt and not getting 100% support it is not worth it for that child. He/she needs the support and love from a family that will only bring their spirits up, not beat them down.