Seeking Safety,Finding Abuse: Stories from Foster Youth on Maltreatment and Its Impact on Academic Achievement

The safety of foster children and youth is the primary concern of the U.S. Department of Human Services. Yet, not all certified foster care homes offer the safety children need. This article reports the findings of a phenomenological study of foster youth reporting maltreatment occurring at the hands of foster parents. With a scarcity of studies on the abuse occurring at the hands of foster care providers, this study offers an important glimpse into the realities of life in care. Through in-depth interviews, this study reveals the harm perpetrated by foster care providers and the probable connection between maltreatment in care and barriers to academic achievement.     

Chapter 8: Foster Parents of Mentally Retarded and Physically Handicapped Children

Two surveys of foster parents find substantial numbers of current foster parents receptive to the idea of offering care to mentally retarded or physically handicapped children although the extent of the child's disability is a factor in the decision. Barriers to providing care to such children include maternal employment outside the home, foster parents' concerns about the demands that would be made on them, and their ability to cope. Foster parents appear to find agency services regarding foster care of disabled children adequate although the level of reimbursement may be too low to cover the costs of care and may negatively affect retention of experienced foster parents.     

Chapter 21: Specialist Fostering:

Specialist foster family care has quietly developed in the last twenty years and consistently reflects features of families' services providing within their homes, receiving payment for services, and are the primary service providers with social workers and other staff providing back up supervision and consultation. Matters for consideration as this programming thrust develops include distinguishing models of service which define the problem as lying with the child who is assumed to require treatment contracted with models which take a more ecological approach, clarifying the roles of foster parents and social workers, specifying the role of birth parents in specialist foster family care programs, developing the relationship of specialist foster family care to permanency planning, and identifying possible future directions including more extensive use of this type of service for adults.     

Chapter 14: Foster Care:

Specialist foster family care may be the treatment of choice for emotionally disturbed or behaviorally unmanageable children. The child and family often need a break and breathing space from each other. The child and birth parents can be involved in a treatment group, and the foster parents will be seen regularly so they may be involved in supporting the treatment goals. Biological parents will benefit from observing the foster family as role models in parenting, and practitioners are able to examine and reinforce the coping and adapting skills of the children.     

Chapter 11: Therapeutic Foster Parent:

Training can help foster parents manage reactions to the foster child, avoid stress and burnout, and cope with the difficult times so that placement is sustained. Training is necessary so foster parents will not take the child's aggressive behavior personally, will avoid becoming embroiled in power struggles, and will be less likely to become hurt or embarrassed by the child's behavior. Training will involve individual consultation by the social worker as well as participation in a foster parent group. Staff will assistn foster parents to develop behavioral management and communication skills as well as their own coping and self-control skills. Foster parents are given permission to take care of their own needs, are assisted in developing stress management skills, learn how to increase their own self-esteem, and learn to use cognitive approaches to handle their own emotions. Foster parents develop an understanding that they cannot change the child's behavior but can only change the way which they respond to the child, which may provide the child opportunities to change his or her own behavior.     

Chapter 18: Providing Competence Building and Normalizing Environments:

Key elements of the HSA service program include contracting, networking, mobilization of community resources, foster parent support systems, and respite care. Procedures for recruiting, licensing, and retaining foster homes are described and implementation difficulties identified.     

Chapter 12: Doing It in Public:

Foster family treatment programs have been developed primarily by private agencies, although public efforts have shaped the model. Public programs, however, increasingly are becoming involved in the development of programs of this kind. The Missouri Division of Family Services is one of the few public agencies to sponsor a statewide pilot program of foster family treatment. The Division's experience offers valuable lessons and practical guidance regarding the development of treatment foster care in the public sector.     

Permanency for Children in Foster Care: Issues and Barriers for Adoption

The desired outcome for children in foster care is to be reunited with their parents or to be permanently placed in a stable home. Federal and state legislation directs increased efforts by the social welfare and judicial systems in the United States to act in the best interests of the child and to identify and reduce barriers to permanency. Records from two county dependency courts in Florida were examined and caregivers surveyed to identify issues that prevented them from adopting the child in their care, and to identify services that would have enhanced the likelihood of adoption. The findings and their implications suggest that more integration of the two systems and support for concrete assistance to caregivers are paramount to facilitating adoption of children in foster care.     

Chapter 4: Principals and Theory of Adolescent Foster Care:

Central program principles of the Kent Family Placement Service are identified and related to developments in contemporary British child care. Four areas of development in the Kent Program are described-evaluation, client population, matching, role of natural families-before turning to a discusson of the theoretical basis for special foster care for adolescents.     

Re-examining Social Work Roles and Tasks with Foster Care

In order to promote developmental outcomes with children and young people and to nurture their positive health and well-being in foster care, social workers and case managers are required to direct professional attention toward both the child or young person and her/his daily living environment(s)—at home, at school, and in the local neighborhoods in which they live. When viewed from an ecological perspective, foster care environments are represented conceptually as a nested cluster of settings ranging from immediate life spaces and networks of relationships in a foster home, at school, and in a neighborhood, to organizational contexts holding a statutory duty of care for children and young people assigned looked after status, along with national policies and statutes which frame foster-care environments. This article explores how social-work roles and tasks with children and young people in foster care change as Social Workers transition from case management roles within state, provincial, or local authority departments to become Supervising Social Workers, or Team Managers of Foster Carers, or Directors of foster care services.     

Perceived Social Environment and Adolescents’ Well-Being and Adjustment: Comparing a Foster Care Sample With a Matched Sample

Previous research has demonstrated that former foster care youth are at risk for poor outcomes (e.g., more problem behaviors, more depression, lower self-esteem, and poor social relationships). It is not clear, however, whether these findings reflect preemancipation developmental deficits. This study used 163 preemancipation foster care youth and a matched sample of 163 comparison youth. Results showed that foster-care youth did not differ from the comparison sample on measures of well-being, including depressed mood, problem behavior, and self-esteem. Foster care youth reported higher levels of work orientation, but lower levels of academic achievement, aspirations, and expectations. In addition, compared to the matched sample, foster care youth perceived better social environments with respect to their important nonparental adults (VIPs) and peers, but poorer social environments relating to their parents. These differences in social environments may have offset each other and resulted in similar levels of psychological well-being for the two groups of youth. Regression analyses further showed that social environments were linked to selected adolescent outcomes, and nonparental VIPs were especially important for the foster care sample.Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine. Current interests: Cross-cultural study of adolescent well-being, at-risk youth.Received PhD in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College, Harvard University. Current interests: Role of culture, family, peers, and nonparental adults in adolescent developmentReceived PhD in developmental psychology from University of Michigan. Current interests: Cross-cultural human development; neural bases of language and mathematical learningReceived PhD in developmental psychology from University of Strathclyde. Current interests: Life-span development, motivation and developmental regulation, control and health     

Chapter 17: The Community as an Advocate for Youth:

State treatment foster care programs established by the National Youth Advocate Program are described in terms of youth served, homes established, treatment program, implementation problems, and evaluation procedures.     

The Influence of Perception on Maternal Sensitivity in Foster Care

This study examined the association between perceptions of children's care needs and maternal sensitivity with 76 dyads in foster care. Foster mothers were more sensitive to typically developing children perceived as requiring easier care and were less sensitive to children with developmental delays. Adopting foster mothers were sensitive with children requiring complex care. Older children were perceived to need more care and to be delayed in development. Nearly half of the sample were perceived to be developmentally delayed. Foster mothers were less sensitive to children with multiple placements. Perceptions of caregiving needs can influence the quality of interactions.     

Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI): A Systemic Approach to Complex Developmental Trauma

Children and youth who have experienced foster care or orphanage-rearing have often experienced complex developmental trauma, demonstrating an interactive set of psychological and behavioral issues. Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is a therapeutic model that trains caregivers to provide effective support and treatment for at-risk children. TBRI has been applied in orphanages, courts, residential treatment facilities, group homes, foster and adoptive homes, churches, and schools. It has been used effectively with children and youth of all ages and all risk levels. This article provides the research base for TBRI and examples of how it is applied.     

Child Abuse and Neglect Reports in Foster Care:

This chapter discusses "false" allegations of child maltreatment in family foster care. What is a "false" report and who reports "falsely" is considered. Foster parent beliefs, experiences and needs are reviewed in relation to how agencies respond when abuse is alleged. Areas of needed change are proposed.     

Coping Alone: Examining the Prospects of Adolescent Victims of Child Abuse Placed in Foster Care

The ability of a young person to cope effectively with stressful life events appears to be associated with their previous experiences and relationships. Young people in foster care who have histories of child abuse, therefore, may find they cannot cope effectively with the situation they find themselves in. This paper attempts to highlight the problems they face. A group of 21 young people were interviewed and were asked to complete the Frydenberg and Lewis Adolescent Coping Scales. Their social workers provided information on their past history both in care and prior to coming in to care. It emerged that the young people who had experienced physical and/or sexual abuse were significantly (p < 0.02) more likely to be/have been involved in problem, or Crisis, foster placements. Additionally these young people displayed less adaptive coping strategies than the young people who had not been abused. The most significant differences indicated that the victims of abuse were more likely to try and cope with stressful situations by themselves, while the other foster adolescents were significantly (p < 0.004) more likely to find support from their friends. Case studies, with reference to the teenager's own accounts, help to illustrate how a history of abuse can complicate the already difficult fostering processes, and can also affect the long-term coping abilities of the victims. The consequences of these issues are discussed.     

Chapter 16: PATH:

Established in 1972 in Minnesota, the PATH program is relatively unique in being a foster parent membership organization in which foster parents elect a board of directors responsible for establishing agency policies. Seven charcteristics of the program are the central role of foster parents, individually developed treatment, goal orientation, close foster parent-social worker relationship, educational support, network of support relationships, and professional expectations.     

Young Offenders' Experiences of Child Protection Services

Young adult offenders' experiences of child protection services (CPS) from birth to 16 years of age were examined using early files from various agencies. File data concerning childhood abuse and neglect, family problems (e.g., parental alcoholism and criminality), and CPS interventions were available for 78 offenders. The vast majority of offenders had been clients of the CPS, and most entered the system first when older than 13 years. Half of the offenders had been placed in foster care. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed two groups: 23 offenders with an early onset of foster care and multiple interventions and 55 offenders with a late-onset of outpatient services and a lower rate of interventions. A significantly higher proportion of the Early-onset foster care group than the Late-onset outpatient care group had records of psychological abuse and neglect, as well as of criminal and alcoholic parents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted, with parental problems and maltreatment as predictor variables and the number of interventions as a dependent variable. When parental mental health problems, alcoholism, and criminality were entered first in the regression equation, maternal alcoholism and father's criminality predicted the number of interventions. When childhood maltreatment was first controlled for, neglect and father's criminality were significant predictors. The possible linkages between parental problems, maltreatment, and CPS interventions are discussed.     

Unfounded Allegations of Child Abuse in the United Kingdom:

Until recently, little attention had been paid to foster carers as potential abusers. While this paucity of research is being corrected, an additional problem has now emerge in the form of allegations of abuse against foster carers which subsequently turn out to be without foundation. This paper will report on a survey of foster parents in the United Kingdom who were investigated for child abuse and neglect. Topics discussed will include how allegations were made, how foster parents responded to allegations, and ways in which the sensitivity and efficacy of the investigations could be improved.     

Chapter 13: Group Therapy for Birth Parents of Children in Foster Care

Psychological impairments render many biological parents of children placed in treatment foster care incompetent to meet child-rearing tasks. Service agreements identify and address critical areas of dysfunctioning but do not engage parents in a broader inventory of their parental functioning and dysfuntioning. A group method provides mutual support, exploration, and a positive child-rearing model. A clinical assessment of parenting that highlights ongoing developmental needs of nurturance and empathy, limit setting, structure, role modeling, reality testing, and separation and individuation is used to promote progress. Parents gain insight into their own overall impairments, origin of impairments, and compensatory techniques. Parents recognize broader responsibility for parenthood enhancing reunification efforts.