http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm
FAMILY INFLUENCE
Children who stay in troubled families fare better than those put into
foster care. Those who:
Were arrested at least once:
� Stayed with family: 14%
� Went to foster care: 44%
Became teen mothers:
� Stayed with family: 33%
� Went to foster care: 56%
Held a job at least 3 months:
� Stayed with family: 33%
� Went to foster care: 20%
Source: Study by Joseph Doyle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Study: Troubled homes better than foster care
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
Children whose families are investigated for abuse or neglect are likely
to do better in life if they stay with their families than if they go
into foster care, according to a pioneering study.
The findings intensify a vigorous debate in child welfare: whether
children are better served with their families or away from them.
RELATED: Record numbers of foster kids leave program as adults
Kids who stayed with their families were less likely to become juvenile
delinquents or teen mothers and more likely to hold jobs as young
adults, says the study by Joseph Doyle, an economics professor at MIT's
Sloan School of Management who studies social policy.
"The size of the effects surprised me, because all the children come
from tough families," Doyle says. The National Science Foundation funded
the study.
Doyle says his research, which tracked at least 15,000 kids from 1990 to
2002, is the largest study to look at the effects of foster care. He
studied kids in Illinois because of a database there that links abuse
investigations to other government records.
To avoid results attributable to family background, he screened out
extreme cases of abuse or neglect and studied kids whose cases could
have gone either way.
Studies, including those by Mark Courtney while at the University of
Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children, show that the 500,000
children in U.S. foster care are more likely than other kids to drop out
of school, commit crimes, abuse drugs and become teen parents.
His research has shown that this holds true even when foster kids are
compared with other disadvantaged youth.
MORE: Number of single men adopting foster kids doubles
Doyle's study, however, provides "the first viable, empirical evidence"
of the benefits of keeping kids with their families, says Gary Stangler,
executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a
foundation for foster teens. Stangler says it looked at kids over a
longer period of time than had other studies.
"It confirms what experience and observation tell us: Kids who can
remain in their homes do better than in foster care," says Stangler. He
says some kids, for their own safety, need to be removed from their
families, but in marginal cases of abuse, more should be done to keep
them together.
Smaller studies have found kids from abusive families do better in
foster care. "There are high rates of re-abuse" for those reunited with
parents, says Heather Taussig, a pediatrics professor at the University
of Colorado School of Medicine.
Taussig co-authored a study in 2001 that found kids reunited with
families after a brief stay in foster care were more likely to abuse
drugs, get arrested, drop out of school and have lower grades than those
who stayed in foster care. She followed 149 youths in San Diego over a
6-year period.
Taussig says case workers shouldn't assume that keeping kids with
relatives is better.
"We need more research," she says.
Doyle says foster care remains a needed safety net for some kids but he
agrees that it merits further study.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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