Risk Factors Of Foster Care
Out of 2,699 children in foster care, about thirteen percent take one or more psychotropic drugs. That is higher than the roughly four percent of children nationwide taking such drugs. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services in the year 2002 estimated the rate of abuse, and dependence on alcohol and other drugs used to be significant. |
The study also described the risk factors for drug use by adolescents and suggests an urgent need for treatment of adolescents in foster care.
The stress hormone levels alter in maltreated foster children as they are more likely to be abused in these houses than in their own homes. Many foster children move between families and homes. This constant mobility increases the likelihood of getting abused, especially when they get an ill-tempered foster parent who cares less about them. The children develop behavioral problems as they move through many homes and schools which makes it hard for the foster parents to handle them.
Many children end up in foster care not because they were abused or neglected by their own parents, but because a random visit by a social worker, who decided that the parents could not handle a child with certain special needs. These children in foster homes are on different and large amounts of medication for their behavior issues, or their troubled mental state. When the child turns eighteen, he is pushed out into the world to take care of himself. With no exposure and adequate resources, the youngster finds it extremely difficult to manage his life.
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