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Flaws in Foster Care
In April of 2012, my family grew astronomically in size literally overnight. We went from a family of five children to eight and my mom didn't spend a single second in a hospital. Although my family had adopted before-- my then six year old brother Kooper-- this time was different. Instead of adopting one three year old as we had with Kooper, we received not only a three year old but a four year old and a seven year old as well; all sisters. Lets just say things became crazy quickly. As my family grew to love these precious angels, we began to come across rather large obstacles along the way not only making life harder on the girls, but on the whole family as well. Honestly, we were not prepared to deal with them.
Before the adoption of my three sisters Maggie, Malia and Makenna, my family embarked on the journey that ended with finding my little brother Kooper. A three year old, freckle faced, squished nose, orange haired, pudgy little boy who to us was rather a mystery. He lived in the same foster home ever since he was eight months old. Although his education lacked greatly and his vocabulary seemed rather small, he had been cared for in a loving home. The transition was hard but nothing we had not prepared for and soon enough I and my family were wrapped around his soft, chubby little finger. The adoption process had gone quite smoothly with Kooper and after the six months of trial foster care he was legally adopted into my family. This positive experience paved the way for future adoption experiences.
Two years later my mom came across the Wednesday's child story on three little girls. In Idaho Wednesday's child is a spotlight on children in foster care broadcasted on the news to help children become adopted. With in two weeks my family had a home study done (which typically takes 2-3 months) and our name along with three hundred other families was put into the application process to adopt the girls. After weeks the committee had narrowed the pick to 3 families, mine being one of them. After another week my family was informed we were chosen to be the girls new family, a family they had never before met. It was an exciting time as we prepared to have these three new additions to out family. However, there was nothing that could quite prepare us for what was yet to come.
We spent one day with the girls after the and after those twelve hours were expected to decide if we wanted to continue with the adoption process. Of course we agreed and the next weekend the girls were placed into our home. The complications and difficulties both emotionally and physically started as soon as the girls entered  into our home. The frustrating part was that many of them could have been helped or prevented if the foster care system took the initiative and more closely evaluated the situation at hand.The Idaho State Foster system should evaluate the physical and emotional status of children prior to their adoption process. Better state involvement will not only benefit the children of the state but also adoptive families.
The first area where the foster care system needs to improve is in the medical examinations. Once parental rights have been terminated it is critical that all current and past physical problems are closely looked into. Termination of parental rights occurs by a judge typically after 18 months of children in foster care and parents have not improved their situation and their legal rights to their children are taken away (Moe). This then grants all legal custody of the child to the state health and welfare system (Dickerson). Once the state has legal power it is pertinent that all physical examinations, checkups, blood tests and DNA tests. This is so there are no more unknown cause of illness, birth defects and any other physical characteristics that seem the list bit out of the ordinary.
Many may say doing all medical tests may damage the child, but it is better for them in the long run. It is better for example to draw a small vial of blood in order to eliminate the possible risks of disease or defect than to remain ignorant of a possible condition that may end up a life threatening condition.
The next needed change to the foster system is takin action. This however does not simply mean to slap a metaphorical bandaid over the affects of the issues, but rather to try and fix the cause of the problem. Taking initiative and solving a problem may require a medical procedure, but in the long run it will be more beneficial to a child. Proper medical action not only will benefit the children's lives with a healthy start but also assist in the actual adoption of children. A prospective family will be much more willing to adopt a child with a health condition that has been addressed than a mystery. The fact of the matter is 50% of children in foster care have chronic medical issues (Adoption Statistics). Many of which can be not only helped but minimized and completely treated with proper medical action (Foster Care Facts).
My adopted siblings were a contributor to the sorrowing medical statistics. All three of my siblings had chronic medical issues when they came into our home. The youngest two had chronic sinus infections that left their noses faucets to a consistent stream of green sludge along with ear aces that left them crying almost every night. They were both on three different medications and they seemed to not be helping the situation. Once my family was allowed to make medical decisions for the girls we had tubes put in all their ears and within weeks the sinus and ear infections stopped almost completely. Along with that, the middle child Malia was born with her left eye blind and there was no known reason. We had blood and DNA tests performed to determine the problem. We soon discovered she had Peter's Anomaly which often associates with heart, lung, and other import organ abnormalities. This scary discovery was accompanied with the discovery that Makenna had Turner's syndrome -- a genetic defect on the X chromosome-- which not only can have serious other medical issues but also affects her learning ability and ADHD. With this new found knowledge, my family immediately had the girls tested. Luckily they had no life threatening conditions. We were lucky, but not all foster children are. All these medical tests my family had performed could have legally and easily been done while the children were in foster care. If their situation had been different (like many other children) the delay in medical attention could have led to life-threatening conditions.
On any given day there are 400,000 kids ranging from 0-18 in the foster care syatem (Foster Care Facts). This large number often leaves resources stretched thin. The limited resources do give an understanding to why there is such a lack of attention and detail to children in the system. According to the US foster care coalition, the Social Security Act allows for an annual 4 billion dollar budget on foster care. This accounts for approximately $10,000 for each child in the system annually. However, there are also state and grant funding that provide the system with more money. All children in foster care also are covered under medicaid (US Dept. of Health and Welfare). Although the funding for the system is rather limited, it would actually save the government money by solving children's medical issues rather than pay for the expensive medications (Adoption Statistics). It is necessary that the children of today are healthy as possible so they can lead better and more happy lives in their future.
Another flaw in the foster care system is the lack of communication between foster care providers and prospective families. According to the Foster Care Reference Center, the state (Idaho) is legally responsible to inform families of all conditions both physically and psychologically relating to the child (Foster Care Facts). However, as explained above if the full status of the child is unknown, it is rather difficult to inform a prospective parent of possible issues. If foster care providers have limited knowledge of a child's circumstances they will not be able to properly inform a parent.
Along with troubles in communication, many things told to adoptive families seem to be only part of the truth. Many of the things they do know seem rather sugar coated. The fact of the matter is 80% of children in foster care have serious psychological issues (Adoption Statistics). One of the trials in foster care that adds to these serious issues is that the average child in foster care is moved in homes several times over the average 2 year stay before adoption or reunion with biological parents (Foster Care Facts). This constant transfer of children from home to home not only has phycological repercussions but also a loss of information. As a child goes from home to home not all knowledge pertaining to the child's status is transferred with them.
My siblings (the three girls) were moved into four different foster care families during their years in care and were separated from each other for several of those times. Not only did this lead to serious detachment disorder in the children, but left them with no sense of trust and permanency. Also there seemed to be a lack of information on the previous two years of their life; leading to a larger confusion when they were placed in my families home.
Along with the lack of information provided to my family the information we did received seemed to be quite sugar coated. Before adoption we and were told the oldest child-- who had received the most abuse and neglect-- was a 'difficult child'.  The only explanation for her behavior was her rather rocky past. However after many doctors visits and therapy, my family discovered she had a severe case of ADHD (partly because of the turner's syndrome) and a also delay in her learning. This newfound information helped my family better deal with the difficulties of raising Makenna and made coping with the stress much easier. If the state had done the work my family did prior to her adoption, Makenna could have had earlier educational intervention along with help pertaining to her ADHD. Also my family could have better prepared for the situation and a year of confusion and failed attempts to solve problems could have been avoided.
Similarly to the struggles of dealing with medical issues in foster care, the system is stretched rather thin in their attempt to care for all children and manage phycological problems as well. Despite this struggle the state system does put therapy and helping abuse victims (like my siblings) cope with their past high on their priority list. They do not sell children short on attaining a stable mental condition and use highly qualified therapists to do so. However, this is not enough. Talk therapy can only do so much for certain children and it is often times necessary to determine underlying causes of psychological issues rather than aiding the affects of them. If Health and Welfare spends more time and energy solving the core issues many children will better progress towards a healthy mental state. When more information is known and situations are better analyzed the adoption process will become a much smoother process for both adoptive families and children.
All in all the foster care system has rather large flaws in the way things are run, especially when it comes to foster to adoption cases. The main purpose of foster care is to the future reunion with biological families (US Dept. of Health and Welfare). Thus the foster to adopt process is not the main focus. Only 20% of foster care cases end in adoption and therefor it makes sense that it receives only a small focus (Adoption Statistics).This however needs to change. Children in the system placed for adoption often times are faced with the most terrifying past; riddled with physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment and much more. The fact of the matter is, these children are being swept under the carpet. One reasoning for this is the ideology that some foster care providers have. Many feel because children will soon be moved onto the next stage in the process their problems will become someone else's.
Out of all foster care adoptions.  20% of fail. Along with that sobering statistic,10% of children in the system age out, thats 40,00 per year (Dickerson, Mardi). (Meaning they turn 18 with no family ties). They are then alone in the world. That is a sobering idea! If the system changes part of their focus to the children in difficult circumstances, perhaps their lives and the lives of many other families will be changed dramatically.
The entire foster care system needs an overhaul start to finish. In foster care there is a serious lack of attention to the needs of the children and families. However, many adoptions go smoothly without too much turbulence through the boat ride of adoption; like my families' adoption of Kooper. On the other hand many others have tilde-wave size obstacles.  Perhaps if the system is redirected, many of these life changing disasters will be avoided. Then less children will be swept out into the unforgiving sea of the world without a strong family lifeline. In order to make this change law makers, social workers and foster families need to take action and make sure children in care are properly evaluated and taken care of. Also, families need to be properly informed and better prepared for the trials of adoption ahead. If action is not taken the foster-care system will continue to fail children. If this happens the future will be failed as well.