Foster Parent Homes

Every child deserves happiness and stability. Sometimes children are born into situations or families that are unable to provide these two things for them. When a family or parent is unable to provide for a child, the child ends up either with other relatives, homeless, or into the foster care system which is temporary placement for a minor to be given care by a certified caregiver of the state also known as a foster parent. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway, more than 250,000 children enter the foster care system every year and 60% of these children cannot return home. Since these child are entering different homes where someone who is not their own parent is supposed to be taking care of them, the child tend to have behavioral
This provides stability and a sense of family ties that is not given by foster care. When a family is considering adopting a child, they take into account things like the age of the child and behavior. Infants and younger children are more likely to become adopted as opposed to a teenager just because the adoptive parent can raise the child as their own and if behavior issues occur, they know where they came from, whereas a teenager can be erratic and rebellious because they don’t want to listen to their adoptive parent. Also children with mental health diagnoses are less likely to be adopted because of the emotional and financial cost of supporting that child (Connell, Katz, Saunders, & Tebes, 2006; Zinn, 2009).
In this study, we are looking at what factors can help children with mental and behavioral issues become adopted and can intervention of these symptoms help increase the chances of adoption. We also discussed whether or not interventions for the children increase their likelihood to become adopted and whether internalized behavior problems such a depression and anxiety predict foster home integration or adoption. These hypothesis help is determine what factors are essential for a child to go from a foster child to an adopted child with a permanent
The results were that higher foster home integration and externalizing behaviors predicted adoption but in this study, behavioral intervention did not affect integration or adoption. Externalizing behaviors were associated with lower integration in the foster homes. Integration can be affected by the child’s openness to the new caregivers but it may become hard for the child to trust or rely on any one especially since their own biological parents didn’t provide that for them. Behavior intervention affected behavior problems significantly but it didn’t affect adoption or foster home