To: rxbond who wrote (81371 ) 7/1/2018 12:27:27 PM From: Honey_Bee 2 RecommendationsRecommended By
Read Replies (2) | Respond to There is no way to measure (that I know of) the suffering of children living with their mothers (father absent) in the inner cities, but there is some documentation on those in foster care. The statistics are shocking:Foster care is a temporary living situation for children whose parents are unable, unwilling, or unfit to care for them and whose need for care has come to the attention of child welfare agency staff. It is meant to be a temporary out-of-home care, though the length of time children spend in care can vary drastically. Many children in foster care live in a family setting, such as with a relative, foster parents, or pre-adoptive parents.every child in foster care. A network of professionals—which includes social workers, therapists, judges, guardians ad litem, and more—will work together with a child and his or her family to determine an appropriate case plan goal. For 58% of the children in care, that case plan goal is to reunify them with their biological parents or place them in the care of a relative. But for 26% of cases, parental rights have been terminated for one reason or another and the end goal is for the child to be adopted by a new family.every year since 2012.fell by 4%. The median age of children entering care this year is 6.3 years old.child drug abuse cases have both grown by 3% in the past year. Many state officials say the surge of children entering foster care is a direct result of the ever-increasing drug epidemic. Among the states with the biggest one-year increases in their foster care population were Indiana, Georgia, and Minnesota. Each of these states has reported extensive substance abuse problems that have continued to climb in the past few years. Indiana reported serving 29,315 children in its foster care system in FY2016—18% more than the previous year, which is the highest growth by percentage in the country. New federal laws1 and subsequent state laws require that hospitals notify child protective services of any infants affected by prenatal substance exposure, which may have contributed to the 4% increase in infants (less than a year old) entering care. In FY2016, infants comprised 18% of all children entering foster care.NPR , The New York Times , and NBC News link the rise in foster care cases to our nation's opioid epidemic. The White House and six individual states have declared a state of emergency over the crisis, with an estimated 11.5 million Americans misusing prescription opioids in 2016.2 While many states are taking active approaches to combat the opioid epidemic, more families are needed immediately to help with the influx of children.adoptioncouncil.org
