Aging Out of Foster Care Essay - 1272 Words

For many teenagers, their 18th birthday is an exciting time in their lives. They are finally becoming a legal adult, and are free from the rules and restrictions created under their parents. But not all teens feel the same joy about this coming of age. For the hundreds of thousands of children living in foster care in the United States, this new found freedom brings anxiety and fear. Where will they live after turning 18? How will they get the medications they may need? How will they find a job with little to no experience? How will they put themselves through school? Aging out of foster care is a serious issue among America’s youth. Every year, 20,000 children will age out with nowhere to go, being expected to be able to survive on their†¦show more content†¦This percentage is doubled that of 18 year olds who had grown up outside of foster care (Jaudes 1171). No two children in foster care have the same background. The youths can vary by the age when placed into care, the number of times they were put into care, the quality of the home and family they lived with, and the youths own emotional outlooks (Zlotnick 539). They can develop abandonment issues due to being separated from their biological parents, and stunted emotional growth due to the trauma that foster care puts on a young child. Children need to be raised in a stable and safe environment, and while plenty of foster care parents are loving and nurturing to the child, they may still be affected by being raised by multiple families in a negative way. Every year, over 1 million children experience maltreatment, and about half of these children enter foster care (Greeson et al. 92). Those who enter foster care have usually encountered multiple traumatic events, from either their parents or another caregiver in their lives. There are different types of trauma child welfare programs focus on. They typically focus on behavioral and emotional problems and ways to correct the child (Greeson et al. 94). However, it is not as simple as the welfare programs want it to be. One first must look at the trauma history of the child, or the â€Å"Trauma History Profile†, also known as THP (Greeson et al. 97). The THP addresses â€Å"lifetime exposure to trauma and contains aShow MoreRelatedAging Out of the Foster Care System1281 Words   |  5 PagesDepartment of Health and Human Services, every year close to 25,000 youth age out of the foster care system and are faced with cold hard realities of adulthood. This does not include the youth who leave the system, which is estimated to be another 30,000. Most adolescents anticipate their eighteenth birthday, as it brings on a new found sense of independence and most importantly a time of celebration. However when foster children reach eighteen, they begin fac ing the challenges of transitioning toRead MoreYouth Aging Out of Foster Care3583 Words   |  15 PagesProject Plan Youth Aging out of Foster Care Project MGT573 Jun 18, 2006 Project Plan An estimated 9.2 million to 15.8 million children are considered at-risk in this country encompassing all ages from 13 to 19 years old. These youth are at-risk because they are at a crossroad: one leads to successful transition to adulthood, the other to dependency and negative long-term consequences. Youth typically considered or identified as at-risk are more likely to become pregnant, use drugs and/or alcoholRead MoreChildren Aging Out Of The Foster Care System1615 Words   |  7 Pagesand left to survive in foster care for an undefined period of time. Think about lingering within the system for years and suddenly loosing any kind of aid at the age of eighteen. This is a reality for thousands of children in America’s foster care system. There are kids that are searching for a home and family -- and many of them never get one. These youths are all hoping and wishing for a permanent place to go back to. The number of children aging out of the foster care system annually is a seriousRead MoreEssay about Youth in Foster Care Populations At Risk1040 Words   |  5 Pageschosen was the youth aging-out of foster care. By calling it age-out I’m referring to it as occurring both before and after leaving foster care. Nationally, there are 20,000 youth in foster care who are at the aging out of foster care. Generally, these children has been abused or neglected. There are those who feel as if foster care can have some type of impact on this particular lifestyle for these youth adults aging out of this care. Some feel that there may be some foster care homes that may possiblyRead MoreChild Maltreatment And The Child Welfare System Essay1558 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Foster care is defined as an out of home placement outside of the biological family. Individuals are placed in foster care due to some form of child maltreatment, rather it be sexual abuse, neglect, and/or physical abuse. Adolescents who age out of the foster care system are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years old who are still in the child welfare system and have not been adopted. Aging out of the foster care systems means that adolescents currently in the child welfareRead MoreFoster Care Act Essay812 Words   |  4 PagesHealth Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act (S.1797). This federal level proposed law is intended to secure access to health care for youth who have aged out of foster care and did not have health coverage. The law requires the state to ensure insurance continuity for foster youth who move to one of the 37 states that do not now permit Medicaid benefits to travel to that state and remove the eligibility restriction tied to residency in Medicaid co verage to youth who age out in another state. BeforeRead MoreEffects Of Being A Foster Child1155 Words   |  5 PagesEffects of Being a Foster Child 1 Effects of Being a Foster Child Ashleigh Martinez Arapahoe Community College â€Æ' Effects of Being a Foster Child 2 Abstract Foster care is designed to be a temporary living situation until a permanent home is available. Although there are positives of foster care, there can be negatives as well. It is important to be cognizant of both in order to prevent the potential harmful outcomes of foster care, and to make it a more beneficial experienceRead MoreThe California Youth Transitions To Adulthood Study1089 Words   |  5 PagesThe second type of studies used a more conventional variable-oriented approach to describe characteristics of the aging out population or to identify predictors that were associated with outcomes of interest. Through interviews with foster care youth ages 17 through 21, the Midwest Study found perceived unmet needs for independent living services that were compounded by mental health issues and availability of social supports (Courtney, Terao, Bost, 2004; Katz Courtney, 2015). The CaliforniaRead MoreCounseling, Psychotherapy, And Psychoeducational Group Essay1461 Words   |  6 PagesCounseling, Psychotherapy, or Psychoeducational Group In considering that a group on aging is centered on a particular theme, a psychoeducational group would be most appropriate. Corey (2010) suggests that the elderly may benefit from a psychoeducational structure as groups of this nature not only provide the opportunity to connect with members within the group, but teach members the skills they need to learn how to foster relationships and support systems beyond the group. Many older individuals, especiallyRead MoreLGBT Adoption Essay1559 Words   |  7 PagesLGBT Adoption â€Å" There are approximately 100,000 children and/ or adolescents who are in the Child Welfare System waiting to be put into foster care or be adopted† (Kreisher). The number of children living with 1 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) parent today ranges from six to fourteen million children or adolescents. Adoption is to take into one’s family legally and raise as one’s own child. Although adoption is first spoken of in the Bible, the first recorded adoption takes place