Young Children Wait for Foster Homes
(3BL Media/Justmeans) Many children can spend years or even at times, their entire childhoods with foster caregivers, enjoying every benefit of the stability and support they should normally expect from birth families. All children need and deserve a strong, supportive family. Fostering provides a safe haven and allows the professionals to work, for as long as it takes, on the best outcome for the child. It is not a second-rate solution, and continues to provide a positive, long-term substitute family experience for thousands of children. Yet, for the nearly half-million children in foster care in the U.S. on any given day, the connection to a safe, loving, and nurturing family is too often lost.
The average age of these children in waiting to be fostered and loved is seven. Yet, sadly, there are few families who come forward to foster as some are traumatised by costly failed attempts to adopt abroad, and therefore may not be ready to risk fostering a U.S. child, only to lose guardianship later to birth parents whose parental rights are restored. However, things could be changing. It is possible that domestic foster care adoption will increase in America as countries like Russia and South Korea, both major suppliers of children to the U.S., seek to limit or completely ban inter-country adoption. Already, international adoptions have slowed, falling from a high of 22,991 in 2004 to 9,319 in 2012.
When vital foster systems are not available to children who need homes, then the children suffer, and the likelihood that they will come out of the system to adulthood marked by poor outcomes increases. This is why Keystone Human Services, a leader in supporting vulnerable populations since 1972, is currently seeking families and individuals who are willing to temporarily host a young boy or girl who cannot currently live at home.
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Sangeeta Haindl is a staff writer for Justmeans on Social Enterprise. When not writing for Justmeans, Sangeeta wears her other hat as a PR professional. Over the years, she has worked with high-profile organizations within the public, not-for-profit and corporate sectors; and won awards from her industry. She now runs her own UK consultancy: Serendipity PR & Media.
