The Systematic Mistreatment of Children in the Foster Care System: Through the Cracks / Edition 1

by Lois Weinberg

Overview

The Systematic Mistreatment of Children in the Foster Care System tells the stories of 10 children in the foster care system from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and the efforts by advocates to find them permanent places to live, appropriate schooling, and other essentials they need to survive. The children’s case studies highlight the difficulties in placing and maintaining them in healthy living situations with supportive educational, mental health, and other services. The book shows how children fall-sometimes over and over again-through the "deep cracks" that exist within and between the various agencies of the multi-agency system of care that was designed to help them.

Appropriate placement and services for children in foster care typically requires the coordination and collaboration of several agencies, including the juvenile court, child protective services (CPS), school districts, and departments of mental health (DMH). The Systematic Mistreatment of Children in the Foster Care System shows how these agencies frequently fail to meet their legal obligations to children in the system and what can be done to address these failures-and the outcomes they produce.

The Systematic Mistreatment of Children in the Foster Care System includes:

an introduction to the child protective services system

the general route by which children in the United States are removed from their parents’ custody because or abuse and neglect

the major components of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the problems in getting foster children’s educational needs met

the difficulties in securing stable out-of-home placements

strategies for stabilizing home placements

problems in funding for out-of-home placements

strategies for advocating the removal of children from inadequate out-of-home placements

legislation and practices for bringing about needed policy changes

and much more

Equally valuable as a professional tool and as a classroom resource, The Systematic Mistreatment of Children in the Foster Care System includes introductions to specific issues presented in each chapter; case studies that illuminate the issues presented; subsections for each case study chapter entitled "Prevention," "Intervention," "Advocacy Considerations," and "What Had Gone Wrong;" boxed items highlighting practical strategies, laws, and other relevant information; and a conclusion and summary of each chapter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789023933
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/01/2007
Series:	Maltreatment, Trauma, and Interpersonal Aggression Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	354
Sales rank:	1,048,140
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lois A. Weinberg, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and Counseling at California State University in Los Angeles, where she coordinates the CSULA-UCLA joint doctoral program in special education. Prior to joining CSULA in 2002, Dr. Weinberg was the Education Specialist at a nonprofit law office serving poor and low-income individuals with disabilities, where she provided advocacy for students in special education proceedings with a focus on children in the foster care system. She was also a Lecturer at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Dr. Weinberg co-directed the Education Initiative Project, a collaborative project in Los Angeles County designed to reduce educational barriers for foster children. With a grant from the Stuart Foundation, she works to help California counties improve the education of children in foster care. She has published numerous articles and made presentations across the country on the education of children in foster care, policy issues and services for children with emotional and behavioral disorders, and other policy issues in special education.

Table of Contents

Preface.Acknowledgments.Chapter 1. The Child Protective System. Chapter 2. The Educational System. Chapter 3. Sharon: Preventing Placement in a State Psychiatric Hospital. Chapter 4. John: Struggling to Stabilize Placement with a Parent. Chapter 5. James: Stabilizing Placement with Relatives. Chapter 6. Silvia and Carlos: Placing Siblings Together in a Foster Home. Chapter 7. Robert: Living at the County Emergency Shelter. Chapter 8. Debra: Supplementing the Appropriate Program. Chapter 9. Patty: Funding a Unique Program. Chapter 10. Anthony: Advocating for Foster Home Placement. Chapter 11. David: Working with a Court-Appointed Special Advocate to Reunite. Chapter 12. Directions for Change. Notes. References. Index.

What People are Saying About This

Mary A. Falvey

A poignant account of the enormous difficulties and challenges facing children in the foster care system. . . . AN IMPORTANT 'WAKE UP' CALL TO ALL about the desperate situation that children and youth find themselves in when the system acts as their parents. . . . AN ESSENTIAL AND REQUIRED READING for all in education, mental health, child advocacy, and those within the juvenile justice system. (Mary A. Falvey, PhD, Dean, Charter College of Education, CSULA, Los Angeles, CA)

Miryam J. Choca

INTELLIGENTLY STRUCTURED. . . . A VERY USEFUL PRIMER FOR NEW PRACTITIONERS IN CHILD WELFARE. (Miryam J. Choca, Director, California Strategies, Casey Family Programs, San Diego)

Tom Parrish

COMPELLING AND A MUCH NEEDED CONTRIBUTION to a topic sorely in need of greater public scrutiny and discussion. . . . Provides a vivid account of how poorly far too many children are served through the Foster Care System. . . . PROVIDES COMPELLING CASE STUDY EXAMPLES of what happens to children in foster care and PROPOSES SOUND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REFORM. (Tom Parrish, American Institutes for Research, Palo Alto CA )

Alice Bussiere

ZEROES IN ON THE MANY HEARTBREAKING WAYS THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM CAN FAIL CHILDREN IN THE GREATEST NEED. . . . OFFERS HOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT BY DESCRIBING INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS, PROMISING PRACTICES, AND DIRECTIONS FOR CHANGE. . . . Will help policy makers, administrators, and the general public understand how and why foster care creates rather than solves problems for too many children and their families. . . . OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO ATTORNEYS, COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES (CASAS), AND OTHER ADVOCATES looking for guidance on how to navigate the court, child welfare, education, mental health, and other systems that affect children in foster care. (Alice Bussiere, Staff Attorney, Youth Law Center)