Foster Care

Foster Care: A Psychological War
CHARLOTTE WELDON
Copyright Charlotte Weldon 2001

“I do not remember, will never remember, how I howled and screamed he first time my mother was carried away from me” (Katz 209). James Baldwin, a former foster child testifies about being taken away from his biological home. The effects of that first home will never be able to be recalled by James or by any other foster child, but is forever etched into every child’s mental programming. It creates a part of who a foster child becomes in the adolescent and adult world. The psychological effects that result from foster care are great in number and almost too vast to provide a child with necessary treatment. Almost 600,000 children are currently in America’s foster care program. The American Academy of Pediatrics (a committee on early childhood, adoption and dependent care) states about the biological homes, “Most of these children have been the victims of repeated abuse and prolonged neglect and have not experienced a nurturing, stable environment…and often have unmet…mental health needs” (par. 2). Unfortunately, our nation’s foster care system fails to provide many children any treatment at all due to, “Heath care systems, social services systems and judicial systems [are]…frequently overwhelmed by their responsibilities and caseloads” (American..4). The state removes children from high risk situations and leaves them often only to, as asserted by the Academy, “grow up to vent their rage and pain on society” (American… par.11).
Due to the rapidly growing numbers of children entering into America’s foster care system each year, approximately 30 thousand annually, a huge demand is being placed on the system in every aspect (U.S. Department…). As a result many foster children are left to grow up without the abilities necessary to become successful in the adult world. Linda L. Katz, who works at Lutheran Social Services of Washington states, “…therapists and placement professionals…have not been adequately prepared to respond optimally to the complex needs of children in placement”(210). Effects from foster care, focusing on the psychological development of childhood, are severely untreated. Consequently, children placed in foster care suffer from emotional scars that, when left untreated, have great effects on the remainder of the childrens’ lives.
Every child undergoes challenges from different stages of psychological development. In addition to the normal obstacles, foster children are faced with other psychological demands to master. In order to experience all the emotions presented in changing homes, foster children must master and deal with feelings provoked by separation from their biological parents and the feelings resulting from being presented with new parents. They must process any consequential feelings aroused from separation of any kind from the new parents, and also overcome the fear of developing closeness with the new parents (Katz). “Whatever the child’s age when placement occurred, he/she must struggle with these four tasks of mastery while simultaneously maneuvering normal phases of childhood” (Katz 212). For younger children, a lack of time perception adds to the struggle of placement and separation
If a child is under the age of 3, after being in a home for 12 months the child usually concludes the home to be a permanent one and is able to relinquish any former emotional ties to the previous home, interpreting it as meaningless. The child renders it as real and it should not be broken (American…). Unfortunately, within our nation’s foster care system, the number of home placements on average is 3 placements per child (SC…). After the age of 3, the time span for this conclusion to be made is 24 months. Children do not process personal reliance and can not go into a new home with self reliance; they can only rely on the strength of the new family, having no perception that this home may not be permanent. They can only see the present and cannot grasp the idea of temporary versus permanent (American…). A small child becomes upset at parents leaving for only a few hours. In no way can a small child perceive and have the ability to process being taken away from parents permanently. “Observing placement from the younger child’s point of view…no placement can be truly considered temporary if it exceeds the period of time during which the child can conceptually retain previous emotional ties…a later separation will be potentially as damaging as the initial one and will inevitably lead to a diminution of the child’s ability and willingness to become attached again” (Katz 213). After so many separation and placements occur in the life of a foster child, a child becomes so scared that he or she loses all in hope in finding a permanent home.

Removing children from biological parents is a result of three main causes taking place in the original home: abuse, neglect, and drug usage. From being exposed to such an unhealthy environment at an impressionable age, many negative effects occur. “More children are entering foster care in the early years of life when brain growth and development are most active” (American… par. 6). The younger a child may be, psychological effects become even more profound. During the first 3 to 4 years of life, many traits are established, strengthened, and made permanent. These traits include personality, leaning processes, and coping with stress and emotions. “Eric Erikson provides us with one of the most useful descriptions of the developmental phases [with]…the need for the child to develop a sense of basic trust in the first year of life and a sense of autonomy by the age three”(Katz 211). When these structures go unused, they atrophy, leaving the child with little to no hope of healing these scars within the brain. In direct affiliation with the brain is the nervous system. Much activity within the development of the nervous system takes place during the early childhood years. Nerve connections and neurotransmitter networks are formed (American…). When a child is exposed to negative environmental conditions during the development of the brain and nervous system, serious effects will occur. These effects could be as small as a child not being able to make eye contact or can be as severe as a child never developing a conscience and having no conception of right and wrong. “These children may be very alert yet avoid eye contact. They are often aggressive and hyperactive, and show indiscriminate affection toward strangers…This may mean that in early childhood these children did not receive the consistent mothering necessary to develop an organized nervous system” (Katz 215). A child having no dominating parental figure during the early years of development may lead to a child never being able to receive nurture from any other person.
Most effects result from a parent’s neglect of a child and in many cases can be diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder, resulting in, “the child [being] unable to attach to a primary caregiver and go through the normal development that children must go through in order to function in relationships” (Geoghegan par. 1). It is imperative that a child has at least one stable, fully committed adult figure during the childhood development process (Katz). Without this figure, a child has no sense of boundaries and has no one to please.
Scars resulting from numerous separations and placements and no treatment of attachment disorder can be critical, sometimes progressing to the point of autism. A frozen personality (no longer able to be developed) can occur, as well as a distrust in all people with the expectation that love is inevitably followed by loss. “Such defensive stances as ‘withholding,’ and ‘I reject you first’, serve to give the child a sense of self-protection from feelings of vulnerability and worthlessness” (Katz 214). Self-defeating behavior can result from numerous placements and children have the tendency to grow up only to repeat the separation scenarios from the past (Katz). Even though children have a distorted perception of time, after a child is removed and replaced in different homes so many times he or she loses hope in finding happiness within a home environment and in turn withdraw inside oneself.
When a child emerges into an unhealthy environment into a school setting, many displays of destructive behavior take place. “Unable to tolerate delay, fearful of the future, and using activity rather than language, they quickly become labeled as classroom problems” (Kazt 214). When a neglected child who has never had boundaries set forth enters into a school scenario, he or she has no concept of boundaries being broken when committing unruly actions. A child who does not get his or her way may hit or kick or throw a chair across the room, for they are not capable of perceiving the wrong-doing that is taking place. Entering into a learning environment, many foster children do not have the ability to take on challenges. “Children who have been moved from home to home suffer early narcissistic wounds that are revealed in poor school performance. Feelings of worthlessness and difficulty in identifying with adults are formidable barriers to success in the academic setting” (Katz 214). Coming from a home with no boundaries, a child is only expected to replicate this behavior in the classroom.
As a child coming from various unhealthy environments continues to grow and enter into new stages of life, he or she may not being able to rise to a given challenge; they in turn run from any such challenge. “Too often they have major learning blocks as they avoid any stimuli evocative of painful feelings and indirectly generalize these to whole subject areas. Learning requires curiosity and risk-taking, qualities which can be too dangerous to the narcissistically damaged child” (Katz 214). As a result of experiencing repeated traumatizing events in the biological and foster home, older children who receive no treatment for psychological scaring suffer adverse effects. “Older children who have been repeatedly traumatized suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and automatically freeze when they feel anxious, and therefore are considered oppositional or defiant by those who interact with them” (American… par. 14). Lawrence B. Smith, a child, adolescent, adult and family therapist writes in The Washington Patent Magazine that, “Children with this disorder have a generalized distrust of others, particularly authority figures, who are seen as exploitive. They see themselves as defective victims of life and accept no responsibility for anything. Despite this outward presentation, internally they fell responsible for everything bad that happens” (Smith par. 1). Children receiving no treatment for the effects of attachment disorder only continue through life unable to form healthy relationships and successfully meet any sort of challenge that may be presented.
As a result of experiencing physical abuse and neglect as a very young child and receiving no treatment for reactive attachment disorder, the effects at times may be very severe. In very few cases, these foster children grow up to become sociopaths and a severe threat to society. They may murder and rape countless victims as a result of never developing a conscience in the first few years of life, having no concept of right and wrong. With the help of psychological therapy however, the results may be quiet different. On April 3, 1996, Nancy Geoghegan and her husband adopted a four year old little boy from a Romanian orphanage. “From the moment he came home, he was a whirlwind of hyperactivity – touching everything, defiant, destructive, loud, violent and rageful” (Geoghegan 1). At first, Mrs. Geoghegan did not know how to handle the little boy and began to think it was her fault, that she was not loving him enough. When he entered into Kindergarten and on to First grade, he was a constant behavior problem. She was told by an insightful teacher to research the Internet for information that adopted parents might face. At this point, she came across a list of symptoms of reactive attachment disorder. After having her son diagnosed with the disorder, he began receiving treatment. After a number of different approaches of therapy failed to improve his condition, a parenting technique was finally found. “We started out with a boy who hated the world, who suffered unbelievable atrocities. A boy who couldn’t love, trust or be joyful. We now have a child who laughs, hugs, loves, smiles, trusts – it is an amazing site to behold” (Geoghegan par. 10). With the help of therapy and correcting failed parenting techniques, other foster children, much like the Geoghegan’s little boy, have hope to overcome the negative results that a childhood of neglect and abuse may produce.

Works Cited

American Academy of Pediatrics. “Developmental Issues For Young Children In Foster Care.” EBSCOhost Full Display. Pediatrics. 106 (2000): 1146, 6p.
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Geoghegan, Nancy. What is Ractive Attachment Disorder?. 20 March 2001 http://www.attschmentdisorder.net/What_Is_Attchment_Disorder.htm
Katz, Linda L, M.S.W. “An Overview of Current Clinical Issues in Separation and Placement.” Child and Adolescent Social Work 4 (1987): 209-225
Smith, Lawrence B. “Bonding Attachment.” The Washington Post. 22 March 2001. <http://www.washingtonparent.com/articles/9712/bonding.htm
“SC Foster Care Statistics.” December 1998. 17 March 2001. <http://hadm.sph.sc.edu/Students/Kbelew/FCp6-98.gif>
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children in Foster Care 24 August 2000. 21 March 2001. <http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/stats/fc.htm>