The Effect Of Foster Care Fresno CA On Children

By Arthur Wood


Approximately 800,000 children end up in a foster care (FC) home in America each year. FC is designed to help abandoned, abused and orphaned children find homes, where they are safe and can receive proper care until a more stable home environment, can be found for them. The problem is that the American foster care Fresno CA system is loosely organized and makes living situations hard on the kids involved by not meeting their individual needs fully.

Who is eligible for FC? These services are given to any youngster between the ages of birth and 18 years old. Kids are normally placed in a foster home for an average of three years. After that, a child will typically be reunited with his biological family or become permanently adopted by another family. However, some children remain in a FC situation longer than this time frame.

Why would a foster child need long-term FC? Children's services work hard to assist parents to uptake for their children. Unfortunately, in some cases, the relationships between children and their parents are so damaged that the child has no chance of receiving the protection and love that they will need to grow up happy and safe.

The fostering agency the carer's work for also have their procedures for investigating a complaint made against this type of care giver. When a complaint is made, Social Services for children co-ordinate their processes with other professionals to see into the issue. Complaints will eventually involve feedback to the professional who made the complaint.

Some examples for long-term FC would be: There are times when children come into care with the intention that they will only be in the program for a short-term, but events make it impossible for them to return home. Some families might decide to foster a child long-term instead of adopting them because they know that they will need a high-level of support for many years to come and they want to be sure to get access to it.

What happens to kids who "age out" of this program? Children who "age out" of the program may find themselves in a troublesome predicament. While some agencies and previous foster families may help these teenagers transition into adulthood, it is often difficult for the teens to find work and afford another place to live. Sadly, many end up homeless.

Statistics show that children who age-out rarely have anyone to turn to for advice or guidance once they reach the maximum FC age of 18. There are mentoring programs available to help, but these children may not know where to find such outreach programs. Many of these teens become parents themselves at an early age, and only about 46 percent of them actually graduate from high school.

What about the FC family? In almost half of all cases; 46 percent of the time, a child is placed in a FC home with strangers. This may happen multiple times over the course of the child's participation in the FC system. Some will be able to live with relatives, and still, others may be placed in a foster-home that houses a group of needy children under one roof. A foster family is given a small monthly stipend to provide for the eligible child, but this is often not enough, especially if a child requires counseling of any sort.




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