Foster Care
Foster care is known as a very distressing period for the child due to the separation from the parents. In most case the process is known to cause resistance and conflicts and due to this reason it is very essential that the natural parents, social workers and the foster parents give full support to the child through the process of separation. For those children who contain issues on attachment, the nature of transitory of the foster care system has been illustrated as problem and this can add to greater problems or issues. The children who are taken in foster care have many adjustments to make. In order to inhibit the effectiveness of foster care, those organizations and people involved look for parents with better positive morals and who have no problems with the law. A proper and legal paper work then follows. This must be ensured since those children with different cultural background not only lose their culture but their homes as well.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Foster Care
However, despite all these processes, foster care has its own advantages also. One of its major advantages is provision of an opportunity for the child to undergo diagnostic screening. Through this, the social workers are able to evaluate the language skills of the child and the development process. Through this, the social workers are therefore enabled to provide the best treatment for the child and provide the best safe homes for the children with lack of fear, neglect and abuse. Foster homes are also meant to provide positive model. The positive model helps promote positive attitude and behaviors as the child grows, and thus preventing any unwanted behaviors that could have been adapted by the previous environment. A foster home gives the children more security and provides them with hope for the future since the new parents are ensured to have proper financial status.
Another advantage of becoming a foster parent is the emotional satisfaction since the parents get an opportunity to fully impact the child’s life. In most cases, foster care children come from disruptive homes or in other words contain those parents who cannot take care of them efficiently. Therefore, the new parents feel good since they have an opportunity of showing more love and care to this child and changing their lives to the better. It is clear that when children emotional and physical needs are met they can blossom. Therefore, for a foster parent, the feeling is even better when they realize they have initiated or facilitated these positive changes.
Foster parenting has its disadvantages also. It might get difficult for the new foster parent to answer the doctor’s questions on the physiological and medical history of natural parents. Also, failing to know the children completely may act as a barrier for the parents since they have to encourage the children into adapting into a new lifestyle. Another disadvantage is towards the financial strains of the new parents. The amount of money that was used to support the existing children cannot be enough to support the family after they add another one. Also, ensuring that all the children are comfortable and fully welcomed might take more time than expected since the parents have to ensure that both the new child and the existing ones get as much attention as possible. Children may raise conflicts among themselves especially if one feels like he or she is lacking enough attention and that it is directed to the other child. The parents therefore have a lot of work in ensuring that they bond properly with all the children and that the existing child appreciates the new one just like their own.
Role of Foster Parents
Foster parents carry out several functions to the foster children. Some of these functions include valuing their children, embracing the children, providing the children with a home free of neglect and abuse until the children are legally adapted, return to their homes or start living independently. Foster parents must have the willingness of caring and loving a child who is not of their own blood whether the child is staying for years or for a day. The foster parents have a great influence on the safety of the child and the well being despite the fact that they are not the legal guardians nor do they have the legal child’s custody. However, since they take care of the child they are termed as an important part when it comes to making the decisions for the child.
Foster Care in California
In California, application and finishing the final process of foster care take about three months at most. This depends mostly on how long the person who is intending to take in a foster child takes to submit the application details and how long he or she takes to take and clear the fingerprints and thus avail themselves for home studies. The foster parents undergo a training session which is normally arranged by the California Foster Families. The agency also organizes for the child treatment in case they are suffering from any traumas or infections.
Those who are willing to undergo foster parenting have various qualifications which they should meet. Those who are suited to give the children the greatest and effective level of care are taken for certification by the California Foster Families. In California, foster parents are normally recruited through walk-ins, word of mouth advertising and recruiting the parents through word of mouth. The parents should have a good financial back up in order to show that they can really afford to take care of the child. The person in most cases should also have a car that can accommodate the whole family including the existing children and the new ones.
Parents then undergoes through the primary process of application whereby they complete a form of application, undergo a home study, undergo a criminal statement record, medical screening including TB screening, drivers license, auto insurance, facility sketch and others. Also, the potential foster parents have to undergo training before certification for twelve hours in addition to certification of CPR and First Aid. This also includes the training of pre-certification which is given by the agency involved in Foster Care. After the potential foster parent undergoes the completion of all the documents required, then the physical evaluation of the foster home is done to check the safety. The agency involved then goes ahead in training the foster homes which have been certified in order to provide effective and quality services.
The foster parents are trained for twenty four hours and additional six hours are needed for the first year which is for recertification. From there the foster parents are trained fifteen years annually and this is given free of charge. Foster care parenting is not hard to attain in California unless an individual does not qualify the certification period. However, if one qualifies in all the certifications then it will only take the planned period and the parents will be able to take care of the child.
In conclusion, foster care is intended to take care of the child and give him or her home free from fear, crime and neglect. This can be done as long as the child goes back home, reaches an independent age or is adapted. Foster care however has its own advantages and disadvantages to both the child and the parents. The parents have to strain their finances and emotions more so as to give the children a good life and good moments whether the new child or the existing ones. The children are able to acquire homes where they can lead a peaceful life and acquire higher education which gives them future for tomorrow.
References
Barth, R. (2002). Institutions vs. Foster Homes: The Empirical Base for the Second. Chapel Hill: School of Social Work, Jordan Institute.
Chamberlain, P., & Reid, J. B. (1998). Comparison of two community alternatives to incarceration for chronic juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 624–633.
Duchnowski, A. J., Johnson, M. K., & Hall, K. S. (1993). The Alternatives to Residential Treatment Study: Initial findings. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders , 17–26.
Foster, L. K. (2001). Foster Care Fundamentals:An Overview of California’s Foster Care System. California : Assembly Judiciary Committee.
Vesecky, S., Woodward, S., & Levine, A. (2010). California Foster Care Education Law Factsheets. California: Casey Family Programs.
