The foster care crisis in America is three-fold.  There are not enough quality families in America to support the children who need them.  Further, children with emotional and behavioral issues in the system are on the rise, creating a need for additional families in this already deteriorating situation.  To make matters worse, the recession in our country is directly affecting both biological and foster families as well as provider reimbursements, frontline caseworkers and mental health.

According to Faith Bridge Foster Care, there are not enough families for the children who need them.  Researchers for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) agree.  Due to the economy today, many cases in the need for foster care are due to the homelessness, poverty and unemployment growing rapidly.  Experts believe the need for foster care will rise as the economy worsens.  “Child welfare workers,” The Foster Club says, “are already seeing a rise in reported child abuse and neglect cases, as much as twenty percent in some areas.”  Unfortunately some foster families are simply unprepared for the upheaval of their family.  It is, according to the Faith Bridge Foster Care Agency, because of frequent agency visits, phone calls, court dates, and “seemingly endless paperwork,” plus the shock that the system does not have the sufficient support they need, forty to sixty percent of foster families leave the system within a year.  Without foster families in the system, some children will grow to adulthood and be left to fend for themselves with little to no influence of family structure and minimum skills for employment without any support system to ever fall back upon.  This could begin a cycle of uneducated youth released into the world to create families that are more probable to end up in the foster system due to the lack of care, funds, structure and etc. the first time through.

Because foster children are separated from their biological families, and often times separated from their siblings, after several months there is detachment issues these children acquire.  The longer they are away from their biological families, the harder it is for foster children to rebuild any sort of relationship, whether with their families, or later in life.  Because of this, foster children can lash out in different types of behavioral problems.  According to the DHS Medication Management Work Group, three times as many foster children, as opposed to other children, end up on psychotropic drugs in low-income families.  This can make foster children even more destabilized due to the treatment of their stress symptom rather than the root of that stress.

In nearly every state the amount of money needed for foster care far outweighs the government’s reimbursement rate due to the economic crisis our country is in today.  Not only is there an issue with foster children needing better mental health facilities, treatment programs and etc, but the issue worsens because the foster care system often cuts the budget in three major areas: provider reimbursements, frontline caseworkers and mental health.  This being said, in the case of these budget cuts, there would be less training for group home staff and parental training.  With fewer caseworkers there would be the probability of foster children being in more hazardous situations and an increased risk of trauma to those children. According to CHOP, children are often placed in foster care by availability rather than a good match for foster children and their long-term needs.  Some child protective agencies are requested to send children to government recruited homes rather than professional agencies to save on money.  Unfortunately these homes are not necessarily held to a set standard to validate said homes are the best place for the individual needs of those children.  Further, with the already unstable environments of some foster children, plus the budget cuts of mental health programs such as help and crisis lines, an increase in foster children’ suicides, pregnancy and drug and alcohol abuse may follow.

In nearly every state the amount of money needed for foster care far outweighs the government’s reimbursement rate due to the economic crisis our country is in today.  According to NPR radio in March of 2010, over 1,000 children die of abuse and neglect every year; and to further chill our society, states with big deficits are cutting child abuse prevention programs when those programs are what various communities need to cut down on the ever growing death, neglect and abuse rates (some due to the recession to begin with).  And although researcher Rob Green, on behalf of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, states that the recession may not be a conclusive reason for the rise in child abuse and neglect.  The findings in November of 2010 by the researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia conclude that the economic downturn often hits the most vulnerable children and families the hardest.  It takes years of post recession for families to come back to the pre recession income levels.  Lower income families obviously take even longer to bounce back.  CHOP also explains that public programs play an incredibly important role in the keeping the families influenced by the recession in a less stressed environment, blocking more trauma for the usually already traumatized children and families involved in foster care.  In short, the most vulnerable foster children, foster families and programs supporting them would get the short end of the stick for years to come.

About the Author

As a researcher, Karen Jean Matsko Hood places her focus on child abuse and neglect and drug abuse.  She also researches to find possible solutions to these growing social problems. Hood has incorporated the studies of findings of research and drug abuse in families in her writings.  Hood’s research topics include such diverse topics as education, attachment disorder, attachment disorder therapy and treatment, the foster care system, human development, parenting, adoption, health, and historical topics.  Hood uses her B.S. Degree in Natural Science along with her research training in her Ph.D. program to conduct research on various plants and animal topics including equine, canine, and botanical research.

Hood resides in Greenacres, Washington, along with her husband, sixteen multi-racial and special needs children and foster children.  Her hobbies include cooking, baking, collecting various collectibles and antiques, photography, indoor and outdoor gardening, and the cultivation of unusual flowering plants and orchids.  She enjoys raising several specialty breeds of animals including Icelandic horses, bichon frises, cockapoos, Icelandic sheepdogs, and a few rescue cats.  Hood also enjoys bird-watching and finds all aspects of nature precious.  She demonstrates a passionate appreciation of the environment and a respect for all life.

For more information, you can contact the author at her office below:

Karen Jean Matsko Hood

507 N. Sullivan Rd. Suite LL-7

Spokane Valley, WA 99037 USA

Phone: (509) 924-3550 Fax: (509) 922-9949

karensblog.net

karenjeanmatskohood.com

by Cecelia Goodnow
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Leslie Cornaby, 16, a sophomore at Shorecrest High School
picks up a load of books at the Lake Forest Park Library on Thursday.

Like a lot of teens, Leslie Cornaby has a crowded schedule — her days crammed with homework, hobbies and an array of techno diversions. When she’s not checking e-mail, she’s cruising YouTube or scrolling her iPod to tunes by Pink or Christina Aguilera.

She’s also reading — just for the glorious fun of it — and says, “Most of my friends are readers, too.”

The Shorecrest High School sophomore may not realize it, but she’s enjoying the fruits of one of the most fertile periods in the history of young adult literature.

It’s a time of strong writing and strong sales as readers in the 12-to-18 age group rock the marketplace.

“Kids are buying books in quantities we’ve never seen before,” said Booklist magazine critic Michael Cart, a leading authority on young adult literature. “And publishers are courting young adults in ways we haven’t seen since the 1940s.”

Credit a bulging teen population, a surge of global talent and perhaps a bit of Harry Potter afterglow as the preteen Muggles of yesteryear carry an ingrained reading habit into later adolescence.

Not only are teen book sales booming — up by a quarter between 1999 and 2005, by one industry analysis — but the quality is soaring as well. Older teens in particular are enjoying a surge of sophisticated fare as young adult literature becomes a global phenomenon.

All of which leads Cart to declare, “We are right smack-dab in the new golden age of young adult literature.”

Rebirth began after 1990s

It’s a welcome development in a field that has seen ups and downs since the salad days of the 1970s — the era of greats such as Judy Blume (“Forever”) and Robert Cormier (“The Chocolate War”). By the 1990s, critics said teen fiction had grown tired and formulaic.

Now comes the rebirth.

Fantasy and graphic novels are especially hot, and adventure, romance, humor and gritty coming-of-age tales remain perennial favorites. In addition, racy series such as “The Gossip Girls” — often likened to a teen “Sex and the City” — have created a buzz.

More notably, though, there’s a new strain of sophistication and literary heft as publishers cater to the older end of the spectrum with books that straddle teen and adult markets.

King County librarian Holly Koelling has been tracking these trends as she writes an upcoming edition of “Best Books for Young Adults,” an American Library Association reference book.

“There has been an increase in the age of the protagonist, the complexity of the plotting and the content — the gravity of the content,” Koelling said. “I think it may be a reflection of a more sophisticated teenage population.”

That’s welcome news given the recent gloomy update from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which found that 12th-graders nationally scored lower in reading in 2005 than in 1992, with scores virtually unchanged since 2002.

Declines were seen at all levels except the top 10th percentile of students — the teens who presumably make up a good share of the book-buying public.

The teens who are reading welcome the growing sophistication of young adult literature.

“Chick lit and a lot of the ‘teen books’ out there are great for vacation or a quick read,” said Jennifer Schmidt, 15, part of the Shoreline library’s Teen Advisory Group, “but I think there are a lot of teens out there who like reading stuff that’s a little deeper.”

Take a look at the New York Times children’s bestseller list.

At No. 7, holding strong after 46 weeks, is “The Book Thief,” a Holocaust tale narrated by Death and written with stunning beauty by a young Aussie author, Markus Zusak. It was published in Australia as an adult title.

At No. 5 is Ellen Hopkins’ new novel, “Impulse,” the tale of three suicidal teens who meet at a psychiatric hospital. Like her meth-addiction novel, “Crank,” it’s written in a challenging format — free-verse poetry.

Then there’s “Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation,” the 2006 National Book Award winner for Young People’s Literature.

Set in Revolutionary War-era Boston, it’s a searing, audacious tale of racial experimentation that the author describes as part of “a 900-page, two-volume historical epic for teens, written in a kind of unintelligible 18th-century Johnsonian-Augustan prose.”

Obviously, teen lit is fast outgrowing its bobby socks.

“It’s not just ‘Sweet Valley High’ right now,” said Hayden Bass, a librarian at the Seattle Public Library’s downtown Teen Center. “The quality has been pushed way up.”

Turnaround reasons cited

As for which came first — the surge in quality or the receptive audience — no one is entirely sure.

“It’s both at once,” said Nancy Hinkel, publishing director at Knopf Books for Young Readers. She likens the phenomenon to a “snake that’s swallowing its tail.”

Reflecting the field’s growing stature, the National Book Foundation in 1996 expanded the National Book Award to include not only fiction, non-fiction and poetry, but also a category for Young People’s Literature.

Four years later the American Library Association created the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature — big brother to the better-known Newbery and Caldecott medals for younger readers.

Pierce County librarian Judy Nelson, president of the national Young Adult Library Services Association, said the move reflects the “ever-increasing volume of excellent literature for teens.”

Today’s creative ferment is a sharp change from just a decade ago, when Cart warned that young adult literature was being gutted by chain-store marketers who were supplanting librarians and editors as arbiters of taste.

Horror and other pulp series prevailed, most titles were aimed at ages 11 to 14, and older teens were becoming an “endangered species” in the marketplace, Cart chided in his 1996 book, “From Realism to Romance: 50 Years of Change and Growth in Young Adult Literature.”

Reached by phone in Indiana, Cart laughed softly and said, “That was then and this is now.”

There are many reasons for the turnaround, not least the sheer size of the teen population — well over 30 million kids with ready cash in their pockets. Called Gen Y or Millennials, they trail only the baby boomers in number.

“The publishing world has recognized that teens have a lot of disposable income, and they’re willing to spend it,” Nelson said. “They buy books. They (especially) buy paperbacks.”

They also visit the library. In the King County Library System, teen fiction now circulates at a higher rate than adult fiction.

“In the summertime, the shelves in my teen section are almost empty, which is great!” said librarian Rick Orsillo of King County’s Shoreline branch.

The staying power of books is especially remarkable given the lure of YouTube, MySpace and other techie diversions. Shrewdly, the book world is meeting teens on their own turf, with libraries creating MySpace pages and publishers advertising on popular teen sites.

Noting that the Web has been used to “hype, announce and promote books,” Cornaby, 16, the Shorecrest 10th-grader, said, “I don’t have to go to my school’s library anymore to find out what the latest books are, and I can also get a book on audio and put it on my iPod if I really want to.”

Seeking teen input

Finally, teens are actively shaping the literary scene, as more libraries — including the Seattle Public Library — form teen advisory groups to attract young readers and help influence collections.

Publishers sometimes use them as focus groups, and the American Library Association solicits teen input before it votes on its annual list of Best Books for Young Adults.

In January, the Best Books panel, meeting at the ALA conference in Seattle, heard from about 40 Northwest teens — many of them from the Shoreline group led by Orsillo, a member of the panel.

Zeno Dellby, 16, with a gray watch cap pulled down around his ears, marched to the microphone to support crowd favorite “Octavian Nothing,” saying, “I thought it was wonderfully grim and unusual.”

Victor Li, 17, panned “Inside Delta Force,” saying, “The writing was slow-paced. It just dragged on.”

Feather Osborn, 15, pitched “Wintersmith,” wooed by the humor of satirist Terry Pratchett. “Terry Pratchett,” she said, “is simply a comic genius.”

Their comments wowed Angelina Benedetti, a King County libraries manager and Printz Award panelist. She said later she was shocked the teens talked more about “Octavian Nothing” than stereotypical chick lit.

“They finally have something to challenge them,” she said. “It is really a golden age.”

by Jason Fitzpatrick
Source: Lifehacker

“What the hell, you got a room in your house just filled with books? That’s stupid,” was one of the many memorable quotes from my first semester teaching in a school filled with at-risk and impoverished kids. Right now you’re reading a productivity and technology blog. You’re no stranger to literacy and you read for enjoyment. All day every day you process thousands upon thousands of words to make meaning of and enrich your world. As an educator both at the high school and collegiate level, I’m confronted again and again with children and adults who are only semi-literate nearly drowning in a world they can’t process the way you and I can. Somehow, every year I find myself with hundreds of students that regard reading a book the same way they regard getting kicked in the groin. If a student makes it out of their formal schooling only semi-literate, their passage into adulthood is painfully crippled. All the social programs in the world won’t be able to stabilize that person’s life as much as the confidence that being a competent and literate adult would.

You would be hard pressed to find an organization that has done more to advocate and foster literacy than Reading Is Fundamental. It isn’t a new charity and it won’t win awards for being trendy. It has, however, consistently won awards for being extremely efficient with its funding, receiving an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy and being ranked among the best 100 charities in the country according to Worth magazine. Consider the following spattering of facts about the state of illiteracy in the US and the economic impact of it:

• Nearly 50% of the adult US population reads at a 7th grade level or lower. Nearly 25% has reading proficiency so low they cannot read instructions on medication bottles, the manual that comes with a piece of machinery, or a newspaper. This means roughly 40 million Americans cannot do something as simple and critical as read the handout a pharmacist gives them that warns them of lethal drug interactions.
• 62% of parents with high socioeconomic status read to their children every day. 36% of parents with low socioeconomic status read to their children every day.
• The average lifetime earnings of a person holding a Master’s degree or higher is $1,500,000 higher than that of a non-highschool graduate.

Reading Is Fundamental sponsors more than 20,000 programs in the United States, which fall into several categories to meet the needs of different segments of the population. The following are three types of programs offered by Reading Is Fundamental that I strongly support and feel have the biggest impact on the communities in which they are implemented.

Books For Ownership

Books for Ownership is a program that encourages children to take ownership of their literacy by giving them ownership of books. Many of my students over the years have told me that they’ve never owned a single book. How can a child be expected to feel any sense of ownership over their own reading ability or growth if they don’t even own the most fundamental tools involved in the whole affair? Books for Ownership puts books into the hands of children and their families, and sponsors community literacy activities to encourage engagement with books.

Shared Beginnings

If you grew up in a literate household, you learned how to pass on literacy just like you learned how to tie your shoes or prepare your own food, by watching the adults in your life. The best time for a family to break a generational chain of illiteracy is with a new child. Shared Beginnings is a program that helps young parents foster literacy in their growing children. In a helpful and compassionate setting parents are helped to overcome their own reservations about reading and encourage a love of reading in their children through reading sessions, songs, reading related games, and other activities that help to stimulate a young mind and form a positive association with reading. Shared Beginnings is a wonderful solution to a problem I have often encountered as an educator: a student who thinks that reading and education is stupid because their own parents have passed on their own trauma from school and illiteracy onto their children. One of the most wonderful things about the Shared Beginnings program is watching a parent experience the excitement of reading through their child, recapturing the excitement they may have never had themselves.

Family of Readers

Family of Readers starts at birth like the Shared Beginnings program, but continues even longer into the elementary years. There is a heavier emphasis on encouraging growth and independence among the adults in the Family of Readerprogram than in Shared Beginnings. Parents are involved in forming committees to select reading material for their children and communities with the guidance of a literacy counselor. They are trained on how to educate other parents about the importance of literacy, recruit them into the programs, and how to plan activities that are book-centric.

So what can you do? Money goes a long way towards staffing programs and filling delivery trucks with books. Volunteering in a local literacy program goes even further. A child you share a love of reading now can be one less student sitting in front of me giving up on before they even begin because the words on the page make no more sense to them than cracks in a sidewalk. When you sponsor literacy both through your money and actions you sponsor another person entering into a world of potential.

For more information about Reading Is Fundamental, from its half century history of successes with literacy to how you can become involved in literacy programs in your community check them out at rif.org.

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