“Draft:Disability in the foster care system”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Foster care is the service provided to children who have been removed from the custody of their biological parents, and placed in another individual's care. Children with disabilities in the foster care system are one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States, yet little attention is focused on their challenges^[1]. There is a disconnect and lack of coordination across agencies and programs, calling into question the advantage of government efforts^[1]. According to the National Council for Adoption, the number of children in foster care has dramatically increased every year since 2012^[2]. Foster care is a temporary living situation for children whose needs are not being met and have acquired attention from Child Protective Services. It frequently happens that children with disabilities are placed into the care of a foster family due to a lack of healthy children^[4]. Studies suggest that at least one-third of children in the foster care system have disabilities, ranging from minor developmental delays to significant mental and physical impairments^[3].

History

Evident throughout history, societies have confined the disabled and the abandoned using methods of institutionalization. The United States saw enormous social transformations begin to take place in the 1960's, including the Disability Rights Movement and an increase in the amount of children entering the foster care system due to an increased awareness of child neglect and abuse^[4]. The Child Welfare Reform Act that passed in the 1970's, directed social services to prevent out-of-home placements whenever possible, in attempts to one day reunite the child with his/her family or find permanent placement when necessary. In the cases of disabled children, research indicates that disabled children are significantly more likely to experience abuse than their non-disabled peers^[5]. Studies reveal that the relationship between most foster parents of disabled children lacks emotional intimacy, harmony, and an overall low level of satisfaction with relationships^[6]. Moreover, emotional intimacy is much more evident in foster parents with non-disabled children and families with biological parents^[6].

Services for caregivers of youth with disabilities

Few child protection investigators and caseworkers are provided with sufficient enough information and training to ensure the assessment of children and youth with disabilities, often resulting in an underreporting of events, inappropriate placement decisions and inadequate provision of services for these children.^[3]. In some states, services and outcomes aren’t monitored consistently or recorded at all, rendering children with disabilities definable only within and between systems^[3]. This makes it extraordinarily difficult for policies and services that adequately meet the needs of these children, to develop. Moreover, foster parents of children with disabilities seldom receive any specific training, and rarely are they referred to programs and resources that may be available in their area^[3]. This leads to issues when looking for a family to adopt a child as well as increased rates of adoption disruption and dissolution^[3]

Effects of placement

Overall

In general, children with disabilities are statistically shown to be at a higher risk for negative foster care experiences and are significantly more likely to experience placement instability^[3]. On average, children who enter the system with special needs have already experienced more than 14 varying environmental, social, biological, and psychological risk factors prior to placement^[3]. Many children entering foster care have preexisting mental and physical disabilities, and their time in the foster care system differs from children without disabilities. There is a tendency for foster parents to place an excessive number of demands and responsibilities on their foster children with disabilities, which stems from inharmonious upbringing on the basis of high moral responsibility^[6]. For many, it can be difficult to discern between the demands to the child and his/her actual abilities, thus increasing the risk of a child’s psychological traumatization^[6]. A study in 2016 revealed that 19% of foster parents of children with disabilities want the child to have feminine qualities, and this alteration of parental aims depends entirely on the child’s gender^[6]. In the case of a girl, it is common that parents become indulgent in hyper-protection. For young boys, the result is often emotional rejection and unconscious hostility^[6]. Studies from 1998 also revealed that many caregivers carry feelings of embarassment towards a child in the system with a developmental disability, as well as view them as "different" than other children^[7].

Foster children with disabilities are more likely to remain in the system for a longer period of time than healthy children. These children face a higher instability rates with placement, as well as have a higher chance of moving between foster cares. Studies show that placement disruption is more likely to occur with children that have cognitive disabilities and caregivers can no longer monitor the child’s conduct. The inability of the caregiver and child to form a relationship that meets the child’s psychological needs can lead to placement disruption^[7]. Furthermore, children with developmental disabilities were also found to have a longer stay in the foster care system^[7].

Short term

Foster children with disabilities face challenges that affect their time in the system as well and the opportunities and experiences they will have prior to leaving the system. Children with disabilities in foster care are at a higher risk of being maltreated, taking psychotropic medications, being institutionalized, and experiencing more difficulty in school^[23]. Additionally, these children are more likely to experience placement instability or stay in foster care longer than abled children. While in foster care, children with disabilities are limited with the supportive services they receive, which can affect their success educationally, socially, and mentally. A study from 2006 states that only 16% of children with disabilities in foster care receive the educational services they qualify for^[23]. The lack of special education for individuals who are qualified can result in increasing difficulty succeeding in a regular classroom. Additionally, foster children with disabilities often miss school due to court hearings, problems with educational records, and are often behind in classes due to problems with transferring credits^[23]. These setbacks can accumulate and result in these foster children struggling to receive a sufficient education at all.

Children in foster care do not always receive the medical services they need. Foster children are often deemed ineligible for services such as consistent medical care, vaccinations, and specialized care they may require^[23]. Many health care providers do not accept Medicaid, which adds to the difficulty of giving the children proper care. The foster children are often placed on long waiting lists or simply denied care. The absence of crucial medical care can lead to worsening conditions for the children, or toughen the time of the children during their time in the system.

Long term

Children with disabilities in foster care may face numerous obstacles prior to leaving the system and transitioning to adulthood. Studies show that these children are at a higher risk of homelessness, drug abuse, infringing on the law, and physical/sexual assault once out of the foster care system^[8]. Additionally, these individuals are more likely to experience difficultly finding jobs, housing, and sufficient health care due to the lack of resources provided for them. These factors lead to increased difficulty with adapting to society and various communities.

The lack of appropriate services for these children can hinder their ability to receive an education prior to leaving the foster care system. Many children with disabilities do not receive the educational services they need, such as special education classrooms or extra time taking exams. This can lead to the children falling behind and having difficulty continuing an education. Disabled children in foster care have a lower chance of pursuing a higher education^[28]. In 2014, a study showed that 9% of children with disabilities would attend four year colleges, and approximately 5% would attend business, technical, or vocational school^[9]. This directly connects to the troubles these individual’s face when their education is jeopardized in their earlier years.

Parent-child relationships

Emotional intimacy with children is most evident in families with biological parents and foster parents of healthy children^[6]. There are many plausible explanations for this, including the fear of losing the foster child, insufficient information and confidence in their care of them, projection of the parents’ own unwanted qualities, and discord^[6]. The lack of psychological preparedness to undertake the task of caring for an orphan (especially with disabilities), causes a stark discrepancy between expected situation and reality. The interaction between foster parents and children with disabilities is characterized in such terms as minimal demands, lack of emotional intimacy and psychological acceptance, discord, low parental authority, and insufficient satisfaction with relationships^[6]. These qualities are the very factors that provide stability to a foster family, rendering it impossible to improve the effectiveness of these relationships without a thorough understanding of a child’s needs and disabilities.

Challenges and solutions

Youth with disabilities in the foster care system often come into contact with a variety of systems throughout their journey to adulthood, rendering them “multisystem” youth^[1]. The systems they may encounter include but are not limited to: child welfare, health/mental health, dependency court, education, juvenile justice, and labor systems.

Insufficient federal and state investments

Despite more children receiving special education due to improvements made to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), laws and policies are far from perfect and many youth are still neglected and without the supports they require^[1]. Investments are imperative in the research necessary to inform relevant policies and practices. The government is additionally responsible for the reduction of stigma and an influx of knowledge about this population by funding the support of campaigns aimed to raise awareness^[1]. Furthermore, it is important that the federal government invests in foster parents to enhance the safety and permanence of children with disabilities^[1]. One of the leading issues with the inflexibility of federal child welfare, is the forced placement of children into the system when their requirement of special services cannot be afforded by families^[1]. In 2001 it was estimated that parents placed over 12,700 children into either the welfare or juvenile justice systems so that their child could receive adequate mental health services. Congress has yet to enact the Keeping Families Together Act, which aims to provide states with the grants to build the infrastructure that would best serve youth with cognitive disabilities while more efficiently keeping them with their biological families^[1]. Far too many youth experience a disconnect during their transition to adulthood, and no amount of research can adequately account for all the possible outcomes and illustrate how much youth with disabilities in the foster care system have fared^[1]. A step in the right direction would be the implementation of more extensively researched programs to aid in the lives of these children, as well as a simultaneous increase in awareness, conviction of this reality, and desire to not just see change, but make it.

References

1. ^¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncd.gov/publications/2008/02262008|title=Youth with Disabilities in the Foster Care System: Barriers to Success and Proposed Policy Solutions|last=Vaughn|first=John|date=|website=National Council on Disability|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}
2. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/blog/2018/01/stats-show-our-nations-foster-care-system-is-in-trouble|title=Stats Show Our Nation's Foster Care System is in Trouble|date=2018-01-04|website=National Council for Adoption|language=en|access-date=2018-12-11}}
3. ^¹²³⁴⁵⁶{{Cite web|url=https://www.childrensrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/forgotten_children_children_with_disabilities_in_foster_care_2006.pdf|title=A Case for Action for Children and Youth with Disabilities in Foster Care|last=|first=|date=|website=www.childrensrights.org|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-12-11}}
4. ^{{Cite web|url=http://ohioaap.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Simms-Health-Care-Needs-of-Children-in-the-Foster-Care-System.pdf|title=Health Care Needs of Children in the Foster Care System|last=Simms|first=Mark|date=|website=ohioaap.org|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-12-11}}
5. ^{{Cite journal|last=Stalker|first=Kirsten|last2=McArthur|first2=Katherine|date=2012-01-01|title=Child abuse, child protection and disabled children: a review of recent research|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/car.1154|journal=Child Abuse Review|language=en|volume=21|issue=1|pages=24–40|doi=10.1002/car.1154|issn=1099-0852}}
6. ^¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹{{Cite web|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1114695.pdf|title=Peculiarities of Relationships between Foster Parents and Their Foster Children with Disabilities|last=Aslamazova|first=Liliya|date=|website=files.eric.ed.gov|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-12-11}}
7. ^¹²{{Cite journal|date=2011-11-01|title=Children with behavioral, non-behavioral, and multiple disabilities, and the risk of out-of-home placement disruption|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213411002432|journal=Child Abuse & Neglect|language=en|volume=35|issue=11|pages=956–964|doi=10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.06.004|issn=0145-2134}}
8. ^¹²³⁴{{Cite web|url=https://www.childrensrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/forgotten_children_children_with_disabilities_in_foster_care_2006.pdf|title=Forgotten Children|last=|first=|date=|website=www.childrensrights.org|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-12-11}}
9. ^¹{{Cite web|url=https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/children/foster.php|title=Children with Disabilities and Foster Care|website=Disabled World|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-11}}