This document provides an overview of issues within the substitute care system based on interviews and research. It discusses why children enter foster care, historical background on foster care, requirements for foster homes, common types of abuse in foster care, and stories from former foster youth about instability, abuse suffered, and challenges of aging out of the system. The document calls for reforms like increased support for biological families, reduced caseloads for social workers, and ensuring safety and permanency for children in state care.

1. Hawa Rose Tucker
10 Dec. 2015
1

2. Personal Interview
2
Stewart, Sheletha. Personal Interview. 12 Nov. 2015.
I asked, what does advocacy mean to you?
She expressed, “advocacy. That means I am willing to speak and work on the
behalf of someone who needs help.”

3. Points Of Discussion
● Thesis
● Fundamental Information
● Corruption & Abuse
● Aging Out
● Adoption
● Solution
● Conclusion
3

4. Thesis
4

5. My position
Although the Substitute Care System was designed to provide alternative care for
children coming from troubled homes, there are severe problems with the system where
they fail to protect these children from harm.
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6. Fundamental Information
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7. 7

8. Why do Kids Get placed in foster Care?
❏ Family abuse, i.e sexaul abuse, physical, and mental
❏ Family abusing drugs
❏ Family abusing alcoholic beverages, i.e alcoholic
❏ Neglect, i.e failure to provide adequate food, clothing or shelter
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9. 9
These kids become the Ward of the State; belonging to the government

10. Historical Background
❖ Foster care started way back in the 1500’s.
❖ In 1636, at the age of seven, Benjamin Eaton became this nation's first foster child.
❖ Foster care was created in the U.S. in the early 1850’s.
❖ It was created by a minister by the name of Charles Loring Brace
❖ He created it for the great amount of homeless kids from immigrants coming to the
U.S. Many of these immigrant children were sleeping in the streets.
❖ Children were sent to live with wealthy families.
❖ When they came of age, they were able to leave.
10

11. Before foster care there was?
➔ Early Christian church records which indicated orphaned children lived with widows who were
paid by the church.
➔ Almshouses; orphanage homes where children didn't learn a trade and were exposed to
unsanitary conditions and abusive caretakers.
➔ The Orphan Train Movement
➔ At this time, children were placed into these homes because their parents or guardians were
deceased rather than because they had been abused in their home, as child abuse was largely
socially accepted and legal.
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12. 12

13. 13
Today these are called group homes.

14. 14
Brace started the Orphan Train Movement where over 150,000 orphaned children in New York
City were sent by train to farms across the country, primarily in the Midwest. Once sent to the
farms, some children were treated with love and respect, while others were treated as slaves,
were abused, and were often required to work long hours.

15. What Is Foster Care?
❏ Foster care is a safe place to be if a child cannot live with his/her family or
on their own.
❏ Foster care is meant to be temporary
❏ Children enter foster care because of neglect, abuse, family crisis, or the
child is acting out at home.
❏ Children are encouraged to maintain contact with their families until they
can be reunited.
❏ While the child is out of home, Social Services is working to provide
services so that the child can return to their parents.
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16. 16

17. Requirements for foster homes
There are some specific requirements that have to be met in order to become a foster parent
Age: Must be at least age 21 to become a foster parent.
Health: The foster family must be physically and emotionally capable of caring for children, and have no alcohol or
drug abuse problems.
Must be a US citizen, legal Permanent Resident of the US or lawfully present in the US.
Ability and Motivation: They must have willingness to cooperate with the agency in providing services needed and
carrying out the foster care plan and case plan.
Safety standards: Have a home that can meet basic fire, safety and sanitary standards. Must pass a home study.
Must complete the application process and Pre-Service Training.
Space: Have enough room (and beds) in the home for a foster child to sleep, have privacy, and keep his or her
belongings.
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18. 18
Anybody can become a foster parent

19. Children Need:
● love
● support
● stability
● nurturing
● guidance
● help
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20. Corruption & Abuse
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21. The Reality
The system is not so great..
➢ Children in foster care are moved around sometimes on average 2-8 times
a year to a new home or facility
➢ Some are separated from their siblings and they never see them again.
There are..
➔ High incidences of abuse
➔ High incidences of runaways
➔ Increase in homelessness after they age out
➔ High dropout rates for Middle and High School students
➔ Lastly, the child spends their whole life in the system
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22. 22

23. The Child Welfare Funding (States)
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★ Federal funding for foster children, encourages states to maintain children in foster care rather
than make it their goal to reunify these children with their parents or work towards helping the
biological parents before foster care is even considered.
★ Assistant Secretary (of the federal policymakers) Wade F. Horn has testified that, “[1] A state
that is successful in preventing unnecessary removals or in shortening lengths of foster care
placements actually is apt to receive less Federal funding than a State where children remain in
foster care for long periods of time.”
★ In 1997, Congress put in place Adoption Incentive programs which has helped to increase
adoption rates in states. It gives states a financial bonus for each child adopted out of foster
care. Congress has since increased the bonuses to states for adoptions of older children and
children with special needs.

24. 24
Safety
N
et?
O
r Trap
Door?

25. The Overflow of Children
The primary problem with foster care is that they deal with an enormous
number of children coming into the system, most of whom are from low-
income or minority families.
● Stewart, Sheletha. Personal Interview. 12 Nov. 2015. Ms. Stewart is in charge of the DSS Links
Program in the Guilford County District. Links is a foster youth program that help prepare
children ages 13-21 with independent living skills to guarantee a smooth transition to
adulthood once they age out of the system. I asked, what would you change in the system?
She expressed, “less paperwork that comes along with being a worker and smaller case loads.”
+ Some Social Workers are responsible for as many as one hundred children, a figure
significantly in excess of the court-approved ratio of twelve to twenty cases per worker.
★ A study determined that some Washington, D.C. social workers were so overwhelmed by their
caseloads that they failed to investigate cases for extended periods and removed children from
their biological homes without making reasonable efforts to provide the families with services
that would prevent the removal of the children. 25

26. 26
So many slip through the cracks

27. What do caseworkers do?
1. Create a plan for the child
2. Help get family on the right path
3. Makes the decision when the child gets to go back to their biological
family
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28. 28

29. Do caseworkers care about the children?
❖ Some of them do, but there are some out there that could care less about
the kids, because to them it's just a job.
❖ Social workers only get paid 40 hours a week, anything over they don't get
paid for.
29

30. Foster Care Abuse
Types of Abuse
➔ Neglect
➔ Threat of harm
➔ Physical abuse
➔ Sexual Abuse
➔ Mental injury
30

31. The Lydia Joiner Story
Meet Lydia Joiner a former foster child.
She lived her entire life through the system
● Her mother had Paranoid Schizophrenia
● She got behind the wheel and said there was somebody after her
● She was racing down the road and slammed her car into a tree
● Lydia and her cousin went through the windshield and that was the reason why they were
taken away
● They were placed into their first foster home at 7 years old and were separated because they
wouldn't follow the rules in the home
● By the time she turned 18 she had lived in 35 different places, had 18 social workers, and she
anchored herself on movies.
● She lived her life and learned her values and morals through watching television and it saved
her life. 31

32. The Lydia Joiner Story
Meet Lydia’s cousin.
Lydia was able to beat the odds, but what happened to her cousin?
● By the time she was 14, she got pregnant and it was by a drug dealer
● By the time she was 15, she was in prison b/c she was caught with cocaine
● By the time she was 16, she dropped out of High School
● By the time she was 18, she was raped and murdered, left on the side of the road covered in
pine needles
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33. 33

34. Bridget's Story
Meet Bree
She lived her life through the system and was adopted the year before she
graduated
● Her parents were fighting and her dad stabbed her mom in the leg with a knife
● He pushed bridget and busted her head open and also stabbed her in the arm
● Bree got into foster care at 6 years old
● She’s been in 14 foster homes and 3 group homes
● Her little brother and her lived in one foster home for 5 years and were separated after plans
for adoption failed.
● Bree became depressed and started cutting and burning herself.
● She developed an eating disorder and was placed on 20 medications
● At age fourteen, she developed an addiction to ecstasy, crack cocaine and heroin
● She got help at 16
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36. How safe is the service?
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➢ During a recent two year period, one foster child died on average every seven and a half weeks
in the state of Arizona. Four of them were reported as having been "viciously beaten to death"
by their foster parents.
➢ In Sacramento, California, a man was charged with raping and murdering one of his three
foster children, a 16-year-old girl. He was arrested after holding the other two children at
gunpoint during a standoff with police.
➢ This goes to show how vulnerable and unprotected these children are in the hands of their
supposed guardians who should be there to protect them.

37. 37

38. Diana Holden’s Story
Meet Diana
A former foster child and author.
● At 3-5 years old, she was in a foster home and was sexually abused by the foster mother
● Her biggest problem was that her caseworkers did not believe her and her complaints would
fall on deaf ears.
● She’s been in 23 homes that all abused her
● One out of 23 homes eventually got shut down
● The rest are still in operation today
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40. 40
The Survey
During my time collecting
survey answers, I have asked
twenty teens to honestly answer
these questions to the best of their
ability and not based off someone
else’s response. In fact, some of
them seemed well educated on the
subject matter. The survey is
composed of five questions based
on my senior project topic
“Corruption in the Substitute Care
System.” The questions are
worded the way they are because
my goal was to understand how
high school teens viewed children
in Substitute Care.

41. Aging Out
41

42. Background
➔ As foster children prepare to leave care, they need support and services to help them begin the
transition to adulthood, prepare for work and personal responsibilities.
➔ For those who’ve been in foster care for 2-3-4-5 years, are not going back home to their parents
in the abusive or neglectful situation, and have not been adopted, being told that within a
number of months they are going to be living on their own is a scary thing.
➔ Studies of youth who leave care without a safe and permanent family reveal consistently
negative life outcomes.
42

43. 43
Go, and be free

44. ➔ Aging out refers to foster children who reach the age of 18 and are no longer wards of the state
and/or no longer eligible for benefits under the foster care program.
➔ Most of them are put out into the world on their own without the housing, financial assistance
or emotional support they need. And many struggle with the ups and downs of depression.
➔ In 2010, 29,000 youths or 10% of the children existing in the system at the time were
emancipated or “aged out” from foster care at the age of 18 without a safe and permanent
home.
Current Situation
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45. 45
The Outcome
● Over 27,000 youth age out every year
● 25% of those have a high school diploma
● Only 6% go on to higher education
● 20% of females are or become pregnant
● 75% get government aid with no education

46. 46

47. Life after foster care
According to the Child Welfare League of America
➢ 40% become homeless
➢ 56% are unemployed
➢ 27% of male children end up in jail
➢ 60% are convicted of crimes
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48. Adoption
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49. 49

50. The System said Let's Fix It
Research studies dating as far back as 1959 expose serious flaws in the foster
care system.
● Permanency planning was a scheme developed in the 1970s by child advocates who sought to
address some of the system's most serious problems. Under permanency planning, child welfare
authorities attempt to place each child in a permanent family and home. Before they result to
this, the authorities try to return children already in foster care to their natural parents. In cases
where such a reunion cannot be put into effect, permanency planning seeks children for
adoption.
● Freeing a foster child for adoption requires either that the natural parents voluntarily relinquish
the child or that a court of law formally terminate parental rights.
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51. 51

52. The Process of Adoption
➢ Termination of parental rights is a necessary step toward adoption for foster children who are
unable to return to the home of their unfit parents.
➢ Prospective adoptive families don't have to have a lot of money or own their home.
➢ Parents can be married or single.
➢ A prospective adoptive family must demonstrate that they can provide a permanent home for a
child or a sibling group, and that they can provide a safe environment and support the child’s
physical health, mental health, and educational and social needs.
➢ Choose the type of adoption
➢ Select an agency, a private or public agency
➢ Complete a home study and background check
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54. Factors to be considered
Several factors for judges to consider during termination proceedings are:
★ The length of time the child has been out of the biological home
★ The strength of the child's past relationship with the natural parent
★ The child's response to current visits and trial stays at home
★ The strength of the child's psychological relationship with foster parent(s), if
such a relationship has been formed
★ The child's wishes, depending on his age
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55. Solution
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56. Help The Biological Family
More programs must be made available to provide individual and family
therapy, parental skills workshops, and other family-oriented services to keep
the family intact long before foster care services are considered or become
necessary.
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57. 57

58. Conclusion
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59. 59
These children are the future, and they are the responsibility of the society.

60. This topic is relevant to society because today too many children are being
placed in care. These individuals come from all types of backgrounds of
abuse. The goal is to see that they grow and become productive adults in our
society. The only way to achieve that is to give these individuals the proper
support, stability, care, and nurturing.
Why Is My Topic Relevant?
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61. 61
So that they can break the cycle...

62. 62
References Cited
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care/foster-care-background-and-history.html>.
County, Jefferson . "Qualifications to Foster Care or Adoption." Arapahoe - Douglas - Jefferson Counties Collaborative Program for
Foster Care&Adoption. N.p., 2012. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.collaborativefostercare.com/qual.htm>.
Atwood, Thomas. "Foster Care: Safety Net or Trap Door?." Backgrounder #2535 on Family and Marriage. The Heritage Foundation,
25 Mar. 2011. Web. 3 Jan. 2015. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/03/foster-care-safety-net-or-trap-door>.
Harte, Twain . "Foster Care Or Should That Be Care-Less?." Kidjacked. n.p., 24 June 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2015. <http://kidjacked.
com/fostercare/>.
Thoma, Rick. "A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:." A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:. HTML GIF, 25 Nov. 2005.
Web. 3 Nov. 2015. <http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster03.htm>.
Soronen, Rita. "We are abandoning children in foster care." CNN Opinion: We abandon thousands of foster case children a year. CNN
U.S. Edition, 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/16/opinion/soronen-foster-children/>.