Why Do Kids Go to Foster Homes?

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, 463,000 children were in foster care as of September, 2008. Children entering the foster care system are in need of the kind of focused and controlled care some families struggle to provide. Most children reside in foster care temporarily, with almost half returned to their own families, says a study from the Pew Research Foundation.

  1. Addiction

    • If the parents suffer from some kind of addiction--such as alcohol or drug dependency--which prevents them from putting their child's welfare first, the child may go to a foster family to receive the proper care.

    Illness

    • A parent struggling to cope with an illness--depression, for example, or some kind of disease--may find it too difficult to give her child the adequate care a foster family can provide.

    Abuse and Neglect

    • The authorities will remove a child who is suffering from emotional, physical or sexual abuse from the home and place her with a foster family. Conversely, if the parents are neglecting their child and the child's welfare, the authorities will place the child in a foster family so she may find the correct care.

    Single Parents

    • If a single parent finds herself unable to care for the child, and has no family to assist her, then placing the child in foster care might be the most sensible solution. Reasons for this could be the parent is in need of an operation or if the parent is going to jail.

    Transition

    • An orphaned child, an abandoned child, or a child removed permanently from her home, might be placed with a foster family if she has none of her own extended family available to care for her. This is a transition period while she awaits adoption.

    Respite Care

    • Often, a parent will find it hard to cope with a difficult child. Or perhaps the child struggles to cope with a troubled home life. In this case, the authorities might offer respite care--placing the child in a foster family for short periods of time to give either the parents or the child a break.

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