Why do foster parents abuse

Rickman had plenty of reason to be on the defensive. At the time she made her claim there had been three horrific cases of child abuse, two of them fatal, in less than a year. All of them involved foster parents who adopted the children they allegedly abused.

Had the alleged abusers in even one of these horror-story cases been birth parents there would have been a wave of attacks on efforts to keep families together. Politicians would be railing about the state supposedly putting family preservation ahead of child safety — and there would be a foster care panic , a huge spike in needless removals of children.

But even after four cases involving foster care, no one is asking whether Iowa should re-examine its take-the-child-and-run approach to child welfare — the state removes children at one of the highest rates in the country.

To help ensure that no one takes a close look at wrongful removal and how it endangers children, Rickman offers up her alternative facts. Rather these are the official results when DHS investigates allegations of abuse in foster care — in other words, when DHS investigates itself. Other states get similar results when their child welfare agencies investigate themselves — and their child welfare officials make similar claims.

To see the extent to which DHS buries its head in the sand about abuse in foster and adoptive homes, consider the most recent case: There were 68 reports; an older sibling even posted video of the abuse on Facebook and gave it to authorities.

But no one responded until the older sibling gave the videos to a newspaper. But compare those figures to studies done by independent researchers. In some cases, they went back and pored over case records. In other cases they really did ask former foster children what happened to them. This does not mean that all, or even many, foster parents are abusive. I seriously considered not fostering anymore. The thing she was most angry about, though, "was the fact that I was completely abandoned by the agency when I needed support the most, and that I had not been told this would happen if an investigation occurred.

In the end Nixon decided to continue fostering on the condition that all future MAPP training in her county strongly emphasized the risks of false allegations foster parents face and the procedure agencies must follow when a report against a foster home is accepted.

Her agency continued to place children in her home. Below is a brief overview, but we encourage you to learn more by following the links we give and by talking to your licensing worker. It is a conflict of interest for your supervising agency to conduct the investigation.

Cooperate with both your supervising agency and the investigating agency to complete the investigation and resolve issues of concern. Know and exert your rights as you deem necessary. Remember this is not a "win-lose" situation and DSS is not your adversary.

Together you can partner to maintain foster children in a safe, nurturing, permanent home. To view references cited in this and other articles in this issue, click here. One Foster Parent's Story. Before a child is placed in your home , write the placing agency and specifically ask that any history of physical or sexual abuse of the child be documented in writing.

If the child has had several foster care placements, ask whether the child has ever made an unsubstantiated report against a caretaker. Insist on a written response. Keep this response for your records. Insist on written placement agreements. Do not accept a child into your home without a placement agreement stipulating the agency's expectations, roles, goals, plans, and information on the child.

Develop a pre-placement "questionnaire" to be answered before you accept a child into your home. Information you should collect includes: the reason the child is in foster care, a description of the environment in the child's home at the time of removal, whether the child has been sexually abused, the child's previous history and experiences in foster care, the status of the child's siblings, words or behaviors to which the foster family should be sensitive, etc.

Keep written records. Take notes on the child's progress and daily events in your home in a spiral notebook. Entries should consist of descriptive observations, not opinion "His temperature was Use a new page for each entry, put a date at the top, and mark through the rest of the page at the end of the entry.

Always keep a copy of materials you share with your agency. Build a relationship with birth parents. Developing a positive, respectful relationship may reduce the chances that they will make baseless allegations against you. A good way to demonstrate respect is to ask for birth parents' advice as a means of giving them back some control--for example, ask them about the child's food preferences, or how they prepare the child's favorite meals. Be part of the team serving the child.

Supreme Court justices have cited us, along with incarcerated people acting as their own lawyers. The type of reporting we practice takes persistence, skill and, above all, time, which is why we need your support.

The funds we raise now will allow us to commit the time and attention needed to tell stories that are driving real change. We could not do it without you. Please donate to The Marshall Project today. Your support will help us reach our goal and will go a long way toward sustaining this important work. Eli Hager is a staff writer covering juvenile justice, family court, indigent defense, fines and fees and other issues; he also works on the "Life Inside" series of essays by incarcerated writers.

He was a Livingston Award finalist for his investigation of the for-profit prisoner transport industry and is a three-time finalist for the Education Writers Association awards. A nonprofit news organization covering the U. Life Inside. The Language Project. We Are Witnesses. Regional Reporting. Death Penalty. Juvenile Justice.

Mental Health. Politics and Reform. About Us. Filed a. A mother with her son in South Carolina in January. He was taken from her and placed in foster care only to be returned weeks later. Mike Belleme for The Marshall Project. The children usually arrived in the dead of night, silent and terrified. This story was published in partnership with Searchlight New Mexico. Sara Wong for The Marshall Project.

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