Stress in the Foster Home

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Abuse in Foster Care

Abuse in Foster Care

There were several studies conducted in the early 1980s that indicated that child abuseoccured at a higher rate in foster homes than in the general population. Although those studies may not be valid today or give an accurate impression of foster care in general, it is a fact... child abuse does occur in foster homes.

Most foster parents are good people who become involved in the program because of a genuine desire to help children. Most have had homestudies done to see if they "have what it takes". This information has been reviewed at least by the person doing the study, but often several people have participated in that final approval decision. And lastly, most have received at least a basic level of training to help prepare them for what is to come. So, you have to wonder, how could this ever happen?

Evaluating Applicants

One obvious conclusion is that sometimes the process just doesn't do a good job of evaluating applicants and people who shouldn't become foster parents are licensed.

As one who evaluates those applicants, I know it can happen for different reasons and most of the time, there is no one to blame. I have often said to my colleagues that after the evaluation is done, I wish I could look the applicants in the eyes and know for sure that this is a potential abuser ormolester. If I could do that, I would be outta' here in a minute and would be making millions of dollars a year... because everyone would want to hire me as a consultant. Unfortunately, for me and the children of the world, I don't have that skill.

Next page > Causes of Stress > Page 1, 2, 3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Emil Baldwin, Jr. is a retired social worker in West Virginia. He was a foster care/adoption homefinder for 19 years. His articles and fictional stories on the subject have been published on the Web, in print, and used as training material. He has a Web site at http://go.to/emilville and publishes a humorous email newsletter on a weekly basis.

Comments

I think that you should have focused your article on the extraneous causes of stress in the foster home. From my 10 years experience as a foster parent, I have to say that most of our stress comes from the lack of professionalism given to foster parents and the paltry funding that is paid. You can't take care of a child on $400. a month and I think that's more than other states pay. We need benefits, insurance, discounts from car agencies and other financial support from the public and private sectors. Not enough attention is given to this factor and, when it is, when foster parents have a real voice in the community, you'll see fewer problems in foster care homes. A hot bath, even talking to the kids about their behavior doesn't cut it when you can't buy them the clothes they need or afford day care so you can go to work and make an income. Social services justdoesn't get it that someday, foster parents are going to say enough, we can't do this anymore without more financial support.

Posted by: Tina Albert at 02/17/2006 05:05 PM

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