A Childs Journey Through the Foster Care System
The paper and diagram below describe the typical progression a child makes through a state welfare system. Each figure in the diagram below links to a specific decision point described in the paper, which begins immediately after the diagram.
This chart provides a model, which highlights typical decision points on a child 's journey through the current foster care system. Although the format is based on federal and common state law and practice, nevertheless it is only a model. Laws vary across states, as does the capacity and practices of child welfare agencies and courts to manage their caseloads.
This paper describes the typical progression a child makes through a state 's child welfare system. Each state 's child welfare agency is responsible for ensuring the safety and well being of children. Child welfare systems have several chief components:
· Foster care full-time substitute care for children removed from their parents or guardians and for whom the state has responsibility. Foster care provides food and housing to meet the physical needs of children who are removed from their homes.
· Child protective services (CPS) generally a division within the child welfare agency that administers a more narrow set of services, such as receiving and responding to child abuse and neglect allegations and providing initial services to stabilize a family.
· Juvenile and family courts courts with specific jurisdiction over child maltreatment and child protection cases including foster care and adoption cases. In jurisdictions without a designated family court, general trial courts hear child welfare cases along with other civil and criminal matters.
· Other child welfare services in combination with the above, these services address the complex family problems associated with child abuse and neglect. They include family preservation, family reunification, adoption, guardianship, and independent living.
· "While 542,000 children were in foster care
This chart provides a model, which highlights typical decision points on a child 's journey through the current foster care system. Although the format is based on federal and common state law and practice, nevertheless it is only a model. Laws vary across states, as does the capacity and practices of child welfare agencies and courts to manage their caseloads.
This paper describes the typical progression a child makes through a state 's child welfare system. Each state 's child welfare agency is responsible for ensuring the safety and well being of children. Child welfare systems have several chief components:
· Foster care full-time substitute care for children removed from their parents or guardians and for whom the state has responsibility. Foster care provides food and housing to meet the physical needs of children who are removed from their homes.
· Child protective services (CPS) generally a division within the child welfare agency that administers a more narrow set of services, such as receiving and responding to child abuse and neglect allegations and providing initial services to stabilize a family.
· Juvenile and family courts courts with specific jurisdiction over child maltreatment and child protection cases including foster care and adoption cases. In jurisdictions without a designated family court, general trial courts hear child welfare cases along with other civil and criminal matters.
· Other child welfare services in combination with the above, these services address the complex family problems associated with child abuse and neglect. They include family preservation, family reunification, adoption, guardianship, and independent living.
· "While 542,000 children were in foster care
Bibliography: 442 U.S.C. 5106g. 5U.S 8The AFCARS Report #8. 9Kathy Barbell and Madelyn Freundlich, Foster Care Today (Casey Family Programs, Washington, DC, 2001), pp 14Foster Care National Statistics April 2001 (2000b). 15Steve Christian, A Place to Call Home Adoption and Guardianship for Children in Foster Care, p.28 (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2000) 16State of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury, Foster Care Independent Living Programs (1998). 171994 Green Book (Washington, DC: U.S