Child Welfare System

Child welfare systems, which deal with adoption and foster care, have been trying continuously to find home for abused and homeless children. However, most are understaffed, underfunded or lacks the leadership to fix internal issues. Failure to provide proper medical, dental, financial services, or insurance, leads to a neglect of a child’s needs. As a result, most children end up bouncing from one home to the next and sometimes even different welfare systems. For example, children who come from struggling background, sometimes have to face more issues because their welfare system fails to provide them with essential needs.

Aside from the process of adoption, an important part of the child welfare system is foster care. Children, who are left without a home and/or family, are usually force into foster care and if the circumstances permits, a foster family. In the United States, about 800,000 abused and neglected children have spent time in foster care. The Children’s Right Organization has been pushing to reform the child welfare systems across the country, so that the adoption and foster care process becomes better for children nationwide.

What is Adoption?

Merriam Webster’s definition of adopt is “to take a child of other parents legally as your own child.” Adoption is becoming more and more of an option for couples looking for a child in their lives. Approximately 140,000 children are adopted a year, a fascinating number. As many as 100 million Americans have adoption in their immediate family (adopting, placing, adopted). While the idea of adoption is relatively new, many individuals have taken an interest in adopting a child.

But even with many individuals looking to adopt, there are even more children entering the foster care system. With more children entering the system, and people adopting, it can lead to several prominent issues. The population of kids entering the system looking for adoption has drastically increased each year. Being brought into the system does not always mean that they’ll be guaranteed a home. Fifty-two percent of the children in foster care are under the age of eight. On that of that, most kids will spend an average of two to five years in foster care.  Many kids will “age out” of the system at 18 and are left in the world without a family, any supports or a home, leaving with nothing but disappointments. The Children’s Rights organization has constantly been working to improve the adoption system by throwing adoption campaigns and by working intensely to recruit adoptive families. They ensure that when these children’s are adopted, they will be treated well and living a good life.