Foster care is when children, infants to 21 years of age, are not able to live with their parents or families for many different reasons. They are sent to live with relatives, in shelters or with a foster family that will watch the child until they are able to be reunited with their parents. When a child is in the foster care system, sometimes they are allowed to have monitored visits with their family, depending on the situation. Children are able to leave the foster care system by going back to live with their biological parents, getting adopted, or aging out. Foster care is a safe place that these children are able to live in .
Every child that has been in foster care has had to experience some sort of trauma or loss. This trauma can affect different children in different ways. Some children become more rebellious, some become distant or detached, there are many different ways a child can react to trauma. 1 in 5 former foster kids end up being homeless at the age of 18 and there is a higher percentage for these children to end up in prison at some point. 70 percent of female foster kids get pregnant before they turn 21 years old. Being in foster care is very hard on a child and this will affect their future. Under 3 percent of former foster kids eventually get a college degree.
In 2020, there were 214,421 foster families in the U.S. This number dropped from what it was in 2019, which was 218,927 families. The number of foster families most likely dropped from 2020 to 2023. There are many more kids in need of a home in foster care, than there are homes for them to live in, with foster families. There are around 400,000 children that are in the foster care system in the U.S. The goal of a foster family is to care for them and give them lots of love. These children have been through many hard things and need a family that will be there for them and love them.
When I am older I want to become a foster parent to help out children that need it. I think that it is important to help others in time of need. A child needs to have stability when they are growing up, it is crucial for their childhood. My family is a foster family and I think that it is a good experience because you get to learn how to live with different chlidren that come from different cultures and different famlies.
https://www.adoptuskids.org/meet-the-children/children-in-foster-care/about-the-children
https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-is-foster-care
https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects
Would you ever become a foster parent?
Have you ever met anyone in the foster care system?
Do you think that more families should become foster families?
*Please do not use any names of people that are in foster care.
Replies
Great topic choice and excellent job overall Rebekah!
I agree, I think that if there are families that want to do foster care and have the ability to do it, they should, because in the end, it could change someone's life.
I think if God put foster parenting on my heart then I would be open to it. Otherwise, I honestly have no idea what my future family will look like. I have meet people in the foster care system, and I know that it can be really hard sometimes. I thinik more people should be open to foster care, the more caring foster parents there are the more kids who grow up in loving homes.
I totally agree with you, I think that it is important for a child to grow up in a loving home with people that care for them and love them.
I think if I had the choice to become a foster parent I would. I have met someone in the foster care system and their foster parents. I think that more families should become foster families because foster kids need someone to raise them and rely on.
I would consider becoming foster parent because I would love to give a home to some kid. I don't know if I know anyone because it isn't something brought up in conversations. I definitely think more families should become foster families. It would help a lot of children.
I think that foster care is very good. If I had the choice to become a foster parent I totally would. Knowing that you are there for a child while their biological parents are not able to has to feel relieving. I think that we could always use a little bit more of everything in this world, so I do think there could always be more foster families and people willing to take children into their homes.
Absolutely, knowing that you made a difference for a child could make a person feel great because you know that you made a contribution to the world.
I do not think I will ever become a foster parent because I do not think I would be able to know exactly what the kids may like or dislike. I have never met anyone in the foster care system. I think it would most definitely be better if there were more foster families.
I don't think I would become a foster parent because I'm gonna have kids of my own. However, I respect foster parents because they're willing to raise kids that have had a hard time in life and they may be hard to parent.
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