Whats The Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team-Alex Bickart: October 2015

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Blog Entry 5: What Does The Research Suggest (The Child)

The majority of my research into the foster children came in the form of statistics about the effects of being a foster child on their future lives, as getting more personal information on what foster families are like day to day would take interviews that have not yet occurred. The statistics on the damage of foster life on children comparative to children who live with their parents is astonishing to say the least. Up to 60% of children in foster care experience some type of developmental delay, including language delays (57%), cognitive problems (33%), gross motor difficulties (31%), and growth problems (10%). Along with this, the often traumatic experiences before entering foster care leads to attachment and interpersonal issues as well as trust issues in many children. This leads to issues in foster families. Emotional detachment and the trust nobody but yourself mentality in children in the foster children leads to high turnover rates in foster families, which in turn cause more lack of trust in the foster children, perpetuating this cycle. These and other issues translate into the school setting, making it one of the hardest places for children. The constant stress of changing families among other things leads to huge issues in the school setting including "high rates of grade retention; scoring 16 percent to 20 percent lower on standardized tests; and higher absenteeism, tardiness, truancy and dropout rates" when compared to the general population.” in fact, "foster children are twice as likely as the rest of the population to drop out before graduation, and only 50% graduate by age 18." Part of this is because each time a student moves school, the lose half a year of academic progress, so when a student changes schools five times, they end up far behind their peers. along with issues in the academic setting, foster student often have issues in the social settings, as they feel stigmatized by their peers and find themselves socially isolated. With so many issues in their early life it is no wonder that their issues transfer into adulthood. “A large body of research suggests that children in foster care are among the most at risk for poor life outcomes in American society. Adults who were formerly in foster care are more likely than the general population to be homeless, unprepared for employment and limited to low-skill jobs, and dependent on welfare or Medicaid. They are also more likely to be convicted of crimes and incarcerated, to succumb to drug and alcohol abuse, or to have poor physical or mental health. Women who have been in foster care experience higher rates of early pregnancy and may be more likely to see their own children placed in foster care.” These fact paint a harsh light onto the foster system, but if it is truly the harsh reality is yet to be seen. To create these types of facts, things must be generalized, and because of that this is an incomplete picture. These are the first hard brush strokes of the portrait that is this topic, but to add the color and detail to the painting, to add the good to the bad, the stories of individuals are still required, and I look forward to seeing where they take this.

Lahey, Jessica. "Every Time Foster Kids Move, They Lose Months of Academic Progress." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/every-time-foster-kids-move-they-lose-months-of-academic-progress/284134/#disqus_thread>.

Kools, Susan, and Christine Kennedy. "Medscape Log In." Medscape Log In. Medscape, 2003. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/449673_4>.

"National Association of Social Workers." National Association of Social Workers. NASW, Sept. 2004. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/news/2004/09/perceptions.asp?back=yes>.

Hill, Amelia. "Children at Risk Because of Pressure on Social Workers, Research Finds." The Guardian. The Guardian, 6 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/06/overworked-social-workers-children-risk>.

Lips, Dan. "Foster Care Children Need Better Educational Opportunities." The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 5 June 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/06/foster-care-children-need-better-educational-opportunities#_ftn9>.

Admin. "Social Work: Low Pay, High Stress | Social Workers Speak." Social Work: Low Pay, High Stress. Social Workers Speak, 2 Nov. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.socialworkersspeak.org/cheers-and-jeers/social-work-low-pay-high-stress.html>.

Madrael. "CNN Reports Social Work Is the Most Stressful Overworked and Underpaid Job." The Madrigal Maniac. The Madrigal Maniac, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.madrigalmaniac.com/2009/11/19/cnn-reports-social-work-is-the-most-stressful-overworked-and-underpaid-job/>.

Levenson, Michael. "DCF Workers Deal with ‘shameful’ Office Conditions." BostonGlobe.com. Boston Globe, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/31/dcf/vi7CKCiGrlOHQRrAwb0NGJ/story.html#comments>.

Blog Entry 5: What Does The Research Suggest ( The Social Worker)

Oh where to begin? Perhaps I start big with the DCF and work inward. The DCF is sadly plagued with issues. Suffolk university did a study on DCF conditions and took the raw statements of workers, and the results were...terrifying. In some cases, the offices are not suitable for living in let alone dealing with small children and high stress situations in. One worker at the offices in Leominster Mass stated “cockroaches scurried across the same floor that babies crawl on during supervised visits with their parents. The office walls are “punched through, and the social workers sit in closets, the worker wrote. “Shameful.” With the DCF lawyers being given 100 cases instead of the recommended 60 and social workers being saddled with 5 more cases than even legally allowed, there are bound to be significant issues. The Office of the Child Advocate, an organisation that oversees the DCF polled social workers and this is what they found: Workers were suffering from “PTSD for fear that something could happen on their caseloads” and “ More than two-thirds of social workers said their job had caused them emotional or mental instability – and of those, 45% had taken time off work as a result.” According to the polls moral was dropping yearly, and management was not trusted. With issues like this, how could the social workers do their best? answer, they couldn't. There are so many studies I could site, so many facts to say, so many issues that left me in shock that I don't know where to turn. With studies about social worker say that “85% said public criticism of their job had stopped potential new recruits entering the profession, 95% admitted that the increased pressure meant children's health and safety was at risk because social workers were having to make key decisions based on insufficient information, and 70% of those questioned admitted having been unable to protect a child because of the constraints of their job, I simply have to stop and reevaluate life.” Raw facts are all well and good, but they are nothing without the words of the individual person. They cover a breadth of information, but an individual's testimonial provides the depth and personal connection that makes something like this worthwhile. While I could not actually interview any social worker, I have the next best thing. I discovered that if I find an article on this subject and scroll to the bottom, social workers are commenting and having entire conversations at the in the comments section. There seems to be a consensus that there are deep seeded issues in the system, in the words of one person “I’ve worked in many settings in my career and virtually without fail, administrators are out of touch or simply not qualified to supervise/manage social workers. I have a great deal of difficulty with the fact that some high school graduates have higher incomes, better benefits, less stress on the job (eg. no threats; bodily injury), have no CEU/licensure/malpractice insurance expenses. I have friends and acquaintances who are changing career directions and leaving the field altogether. As a famous man once said, “Houston, we have a problem.” In the words of another social worker “ I see a lot of stressed out/ burned out social workers, and if anyone says otherwise then they are kidding themselves. When I see these social workers, I pray that isn’t the future I’m headed for.” Things like this give validity to the facts, and in reality it is the words of a real person that will stick with you for years to come because they carry an emotion that one cannot forget. I could go on for days on this topic and someday I will, but for now I must move on and talk about some of the effects on the children themselves.

Kools, Susan, and Christine Kennedy. "Medscape Log In." Medscape Log In. Medscape, 2003. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/449673_4>.

"National Association of Social Workers." National Association of Social Workers. NASW, Sept. 2004. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/news/2004/09/perceptions.asp?back=yes>.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Blog Entry 4: Interviewing Important People in My Life

What makes a social issue even graver than it already is? When nobody knows it exists. Were I to make even the barest of a mention of abortion, gun control, or climate change to my friends, I would have a full fledged debate on my hands, but when I mentions the issues withing the DCF and the foster system, all I receive is questioning looks and the sound of crickets. How can change be effected when nobody is aware of the problem? The answer is that it can't. Luckily, some of the adults in my life have personal connections to the system and were able to give truly insightful testimonies. The overall view of this complex beast is that well, its dying. It simply is not effective enough, with ever increasing numbers of children in crisis and a fall in the number of foster families, things are not going well. The interview I will focus on today came to me completely by accident. We had a substitute named **** in AP Biology, and well...she was a talker. I was focused on my work, but I kept hearing buzz words like child, family issues, stress, and foster family. As it turned out, for the last 40 years, she had worked in the "planning room," working with troubled students. As I began to talk to her I realized she had the most amazing stories, having gone through the foster system, she had stories of her own but more importantly, stories of students today. Perhaps one of her most heartbreaking stories began with a child who every day would refuse to do his work, get sent to the planning room, and promptly fall asleep on the couch provided. This happened every day, until on the day of February break, the principle came to **** and said, you need to stop this, you can't let this kid camp out in your room, So she went to the student and said "after February break, you have to stop sleeping in my room." }"It's February break?" the child said, " Mrs. ****, what am I going to eat?" As it turned out, the child had been sleeping in a tent with his family every night, and waking up at 4:00 in the morning to ride to Newport on the bus with his mother to "go to the doctors" a.k.a. go get another dose of methadone, the drug she was dependent on. Three years later, he is still with his family, homeless, food-less, and blowing welfare money on drugs, just another child to slip through the cracks. Now how could this happen, aren't there programs in place, aren't teachers mandated to report these issues, to file a formal report with the DCF? Yes, but from there the DCF decides, they can choose to investigate a report or simply send a form letter back saying "we have evaluated the case and found it not to be worth investigating." There is simply not enough money, not enough employees, and not enough time to investigate every case. The foster system itself is troubled, one person confided that they stopped fostering children because they were afraid to be alone with them. Some children had been in the system for some time and had learned to look out for themselves. If they were angry with families, or wanted a change, they could simply say they had been hit or abused and bam, they get a new family and the old one gets a black mark. It was because of this happening that the family decided to stop fostering, and they were not alone, the number of foster families is falling and the turnover rate is excessive. My guidance counselor told me stories of foster children at our school who would be found loitering around outside, and when asked why, they would reply, "I dont know who I am going home with tonight."There is hope however, people are still trying; my uncle has been fostering a pair of children, for nigh on ten years now, at first full time, but now working in a partnership with the parents to ge the family back on their feet, but more on that later. (They are on a trip and can't be reached)

Felice, Carrie. "DCF and the Foster System." Personal interview. 2 Oct. 2015.

Grant, Phil. "DCF and the Foster System." Personal interview. 2 Oct. 2015.

********, ****. "Personal Stories About the Foster System." Personal interview. 5 Oct. 2015.

Brown, Jeff. "DCF and the Foster System." Interview by Alexander C. Bickart. 4 Oct. 2015:

Assorted Friends Who Didn't Help Much.

(Word Count Stipulations are Agonizing)