Foster youth who automatically are released from state care at age 18 are more likely to be evicted, drop out of school or get into trouble with the law than foster youth who are allowed to continue in care, according to a new study.
In essence, children who have been abused and/or neglected to the point where the State places them in foster care don't stop needing a support system just because they turn 18. However, in most cases, funding dries up when the foster child reaches his 18th birthday, and so, apparently, does any kind of support system.
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States and the federal government should look for more ways to keep foster youth connected to their support systems as they enter adulthood...
I have to wonder about the whole situation. How do parents – even substitute parents – raise a kid from just about any age to adulthood and not form some sort of attachment? I must surmise that the foster care system is being run in such a way that being a foster parent remains more of a job than a type of family.
Children typically remain connected with parents throughout their lives, but you don't see this kind of connection with baby sitters. To the extent that foster parents are long-term baby sitters, this bond doesn't form.
Can the State build a support system for "graduates" of the foster care system? I'm inclined to doubt it. A State system has to be regulated and governed by rules. It's because of regulations and rules that funding for foster care disappears on the 18th birthday. And I suspect the same environment is what causes foster parents to disappear when the funding dries up and the "job" is "finished".
One solution, therefore, is to get the government out of the system as much as possible. The State can, at need, take children away from their parents, but they would then enter into a "temporary adoption" arrangement. The foster parents would be legal parents for a limited term, and they would have the same rights other parents enjoy. The idea would be to create the same kind of bonds you find in other families – biological and adoptive.
Another important factor is the notion of the "family by choice". Very close friendships can assume some of the functions of a family. (I, for example, am an "adopted uncle" to three kids. I started out as a friend of the family before the kids were born, and I've been a significant influence in their lives.)
Other affiliations can provide support, including (especially) churches. Foster parents, and indeed biological and adoptive parents, should be encouraged to join a church or a similar organization. Other organizations whose members can give support to each other should be encouraged. The State can't do it all, and in many cases, shouldn't try.
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