Orphanages VS Foster Care - Which are better for children? (employment, parade)

[sheena12]

I have almost never agreed with an idea of Newt Gingrich, but for several reasons, and perhaps some that are not the same as Mr. Gingrich, I have been thinking for some time that orphanages, might be a better approach to care for children, who for one reason or another, are removed from the homes of their parents.

Here is why:

1. Children deserve a safe place to live. Most families, of assorted configurations, are able, to varying degrees, to provide this.
Increasingly, there are parents and parental figures, who not only DO NOT provide this, but who abuse and sometimes kill their children.

2. Foster homes are in a way, the "Worst of Both Worlds" They are private homes, not open for inspection. They are not staffed by professionals,but by minimally trained people. So while the child is not in a home with parents who love him, he is behind closed doors, with people who most likely DO NOT. However, and home, by it's very nature, is private, Unlike a school, a home can not be inspected. (Yes I am aware that scheduled visits are made )The people in control are not co workers, they are married and or related. Every family has certain secrets. Some are worse than others.

3. Frequently children are taken in for monetary reasons. Studies have shown that the socioeconomic and educational levels of many foster parents do not differ significantly from the people from whom the children were removed. Often it is no improvement at all. And often what passes as discipline in such families, would be thought of as abusive by most people.

4. Established "Child Care Centers" ( better word than the Dickensian "Orphanages") would have a staff of trained professionals. People would work in shifts. Foster Parents must work 24/7 caring for other peoples children. Children who often do not want to be there, have been through traumatic events, and need to adjust,often repeatedly to the idiosyncrasies of families who are strangers. Child Care Centers would have a standardized and professionally planned life style, that would be predictable, and would be replicated, should the child need to be moved.

5. As I stated earlier, caring for one's own children can be stressful. Caring for other people's children in one's own home, with out time to "Clock out" must be terribly stressful. Social service agencies are asking people who in most cases, have few income options to take on a very demanding job.

6. Child Care Centers would also provide employment to MANY PEOPLE not only to one family. Minimally, workers should have at least an Associate degree in Applied Child and Adolescent Psychology, thus opening up a new entry level field of employment. Support staff, from maintenance and laundry workers, to computer specialists, dietary workers and physicians, gardeners and clerical workers, would also find employment. This would bolster our economy and provide employment to a diverse group of people.

7. Abuse can occur anywhere. But it is most likely to happen to children BEHIND CLOSED DOORS - in their home or in someone else s.The presence of multiple care givers, Professionals in recognized disciplines such as Social Work, Nursing, and Psychology, would minimize the potential for abuse and neglect.

I am really NOT interested in hearing about individual cases of wonderful, happy foster families. I know of some myself, but through the news I know of other cases where children were removed from abusive and neglectful situations only to be abused and killed while in foster care! To me this is outrageous.

I am also NOT in favor of returning children to parents as soon as possible, for the sake of "re-uniting the family". Some collections of people, who are able to produce off spring, do not deserve the name "family", and do not warrant reunification.

Past behavior is the greatest predictor of future behavior. And if mom was a conniving drug addict, with a parade of live in "boy friends" with hair trigger tempers before the kids were taken, chances are that life style is going no where.

I think that this could work.

[TigerLily24]

So, basically you favor institutionalization, like what they do in Eastern Europe.

Interesting.

There was a thread here a month or so ago that talked about how Native American children were being taken from their parents and basically warehoused in state-sanctioned facilities. The operators of said facilities got huge amounts of money from the state and federal government.
While this is only one example, it didn't seem to occur to you that institutions can be just as interested in gaining economic advantage as are private families.

Yes, there are all sorts of problems with the foster care system, however, I've no idea how anyone can compare the positive benefits of a child living in an intimate family setting, particularly if that family may ultimately provide a permanent home, with the impersonal setting of an institution filled with scores and perhaps hundreds of similarly bereft and potentially disturbed children.

Also, not sure why you would think that large institutions would be better 'policed' than private homes - ever hear of Willowbrook? There are many other examples as well.

[Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus]

Orphans are caused by Obama and his socialist policies. Vote Obama out and we will not have any more orphans.

[charolastra00]

There are group homes. My boyfriend was a foster kid. He also spent time in group homes. He was abused (emotionally, physically) in a few of his foster homes but he can't even talk to me about what happened in the group homes.

Anecdotal, to be sure. We need to find a way to both properly screen and monitor foster families while also encouraging good families to take in children. Unfortunately, as a country we are unwilling to invest in stronger foster care infrastructure. The overworked social worker with a portfolio of far too many families and children is not just a stereotype- it's reality.

[RCCCB]

Try to get them first with some family IMO.

If they have no family I would be more for an orphanage that makes them go to school and do the work than foster care where there may be less structure.

I could be wrong, but at this time it is my view and as I hear more things it could change.