Foster Care
FOSTER CARE - A BROKEN SYSTEM
In the foster care system today, over 750,000 kids are placed into less than 500,000 “beds”, and almost all of these kids are separated from their entire family system, including their siblings.
The type of care these kids receive can be atrocious. It is appalling the way I have observed the system re-victimize children.
After over 10 years of providing psychotherapy to kids and teens in foster care, I have witnessed from the front lines how broken the system of care is. The system is so broken in part because it is situated within the larger societal issue of the stigmatization and marginalization of mental health and underprivileged families and children.
Many kids in foster care don’t have access to therapy. Some get assigned a therapist, but the foster parent or the caseworker struggle to get them to the appointments regularly, given the demands of the households and caseloads.
Even when children are provided consistent therapy, and are lucky enough to find someone they connect with, that therapist often soon leaves the agency because of the lack of pay and burnout.
Therefore, due to the nature of the system, there is a revolving door of foster parents, caseworkers, therapists, and other people controlling the kids’ lives, which perpetuates the losses and emotional wounds.
Many foster parents are in the system for the right reasons, and provide loving respite homes for children in care. However, there are far too many homes in which the children continuously experience trauma again and again. This system of care is one of many systems failing our children today.
Girls especially, are so vulnerable to being abused and/or slipping through the cracks.
Sometimes there is abuse or neglect in the foster home, but more often, the bigger problem is simply the rotating door of being moved from home to home, from caseworker to caseworker, and from therapist to therapist. These girls are often bounced around, with their belongings in trash bags, and experience an ever-changing landscape of their day to day world.
Because of the constant separation, these girls develop attachment issues. There is very little consistency or stability, and even less true connectedness in a support network.
My goal is to provide them with a stable support system that is consistent, nurturing, loving, and promotes their personal growth and self esteem.
A SOLUTION OF HOPE
HOPE for the Girls is a platform for creating and bringing together a sisterhood community of girls around the world, to uplift and empower one another.
My vision is to afford underprivileged teen girls, including those in the foster care system, the possibility to join this network as well. Typically, foster placement settings do not have the funding for the girls to gain access to this type of support.
My goal is to create scholarships for ALL underprivileged teenage girls, including girls in the foster care system, to provide them with a consistent lifeline, and a support network. And, to help them walk their paths, as they navigate their journey through placement.
Please contribute and give the gift of HOPE. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated.
With gratitude and love ~ Dr. Amy Moore
Comments
Post a Comment