Question

Question: What is foster care? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What changes would you propose to improve the system?

Answer 1

Foster care is a system where children whose parents are dead or are not able to provide for the children are placed with other families to be brought up. This can be done by the government legally or informally by a family as adoption. In the case of government placing children legally, it takes care of the expenses and legality while the foster parents take care of the day today activities.

The strength of the system is that many children who are neglected or maltreated get a safe home. They get a family if they had lost their parents.

Weaknesses - If children are placed in a group setting, the chances are more that their behaviour will become negative and proper care will not be given.

When a child becomes adult, he or she is sent away from home whether they have a job or not. This is a serious issue because they will become homeless again. So what's the use of foster care?

Foster parents who take care of the children needs support from the federal agencies because at the initial stage the psychological adjustment might be a problem for the children who are put in care.

Although children are placed in foster care, government keeps watching them by periodical visits which reminds the child that he doesn't belong here.

The chances are more that children will be physically abused by the foster parents.

Changes proposed

1. Foster parents need to be monitored periodically in order to make sure that the children are safe and sound.

2. Before sending the children out when they reach 18 years of age, government should make sure that they have a job and a place to live.

3. As much as possible, children should be placed individually rather than in groups in order make sure that the child feels at home and not homeless.