Multiple Foster Care Placements

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I am interested in doing some research on the impact of multiple foster care placements on child development and behavior. I chose this area of research because I am very passionate about working with children and I want explore whether existing foster care programs and services meet the needs of children adequately. In addition, I feel as though foster care is a sensitive and a very unfamiliar topic for many individuals. Therefore, I want to raise awareness and educate others about the impact that foster care can have on children, in order to help enhance the current foster care programs and systems.
Foster care is a protective intervention designed to provide out of home placement to children living in at-risk home environments (Lawrence, Carlson, & Egeland, 2006). Foster care is intended to be a temporary solution until children can return to their birth families or find appropriate and permanent
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Some of these placement moves can be of positive benefit to the children concerned but for the most part they can be damaging to their life possibilities (Ward, 2009). Based on my research findings, multiple placements within the foster care system have been associated with negative outcomes for the children and society as a whole (Smith et al., 2001). These unstable placements put children at high risk for, behavioral and mental health problems, educational and attachment difficulties, and juvenile delinquency (Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000). This evidence emphasizes the need for early intervention and improved services to help increase the number of children who benefit from foster care. In addition, majority of the literature I reviewed discussed the same issues concerning the impact of multiple foster care placements on children. They included the idea that children’s behavior problems were seen both as a cause and as a consequence of placement disruption (Newton et al., 2000). This is unfortunate