Foster Care is governmental system is which children are placed into a group home, a private state certified family setting or a court approved family member.
Children are in foster care because they or their families are going through a crisis. Children may be entered into foster care voluntarily or involuntarily. Voluntary placement may occur when a child’s parent is unable to care for a child. Involuntary placement occurs when a child is removed from their parents because they are unsafe, abused or neglected. In the US, most children enter foster care due to neglect.
A key goal of foster care is to ensure that children live in stable, lifelong families, since secure attachment to at least one parenting adult is crucial to healthy child growth and well-being, but the main goal is to reunite children with their biological parents. Foster care is meant to be temporary — until a parent can resume parenting, or a relative / adoptive family agrees to raise a child.
Foster Care is not a situation to take be taken lightly. The circumstances that children endure before, during and after removal can cause major damage to a child’s mental health. Children need love, comfort, and support. Children are truly our future and everyone within the circle of foster care needs to have the best interest of the children at heart.
What does foster care mean to you and your family?