Basic Outline for Project

This is the basic outline for the information I plan on presenting. I have more information than necessary for seven minutes, so I will be cutting it down. This is just an outline of everything that I could possibly talk about. This differs from the rough draft I have written because I have started to eliminate topics to condense my speech into the limited time frame.

Intro:

• collage of famous people in foster care
• Focus:
• all learned from experience in foster care
• Eddie Murphy
• humor in every situation

General Facts:

• definition
• stats

Transition

Problems:

• Abuse (just touching on)
• Mental Health
• Overmedicating
• Sex Trafficking
• Aging Out

Change:

• Alaska Reform
• Mentoring
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Foster Care to Success

• Local:
• Jack Mook
• Foster Love Project

Conclusion:

Too Much Drugs

Foster Children are being overmedicated with antipsychotic drugs that they may not need. There are concerns surrounding the use of powerful drugs in children on Medicaid. One problem is that the side effects of the drugs on younger children is not known. There has not been a lot of research done because these drugs cannot be tested on children. The reports focus on the prescription medications called second-generation antipsychotics. Five of the drugs that have been approved by the FDA for the use in children to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability associated with autism. In many cases, they are being given inappropriately. Doctors found quality of care concerns in 67% of the cases they looked at. Children on these powerful drugs were not being monitored adequately. A quarter of children were given the wrong dose and many others were given too many drugs or took them for too long. Experts say that not enough resources are directed at taking care of these kids and giving them the therapies and treatments that they need that do not include drugs. One of the main issues is money. It is cheaper to put children on drugs than it is to hire therapists, so drugs are being given out as a replacement. Doctors say they try to give foster children drugs to contain their behaviors so they do not have to be bounced from foster home to foster home. Many states are working to reduce the use of drugs in foster children, but many more steps need to be taken, along with greater oversight of the system.

Medicaid and Mental Health in Foster Care

Medicare and Medicaid is a common discussion among the United States Government. Usually when people here about this, they think of the government forcing health care upon the people. People never consider the forgotten kids in foster care who are enrolled in Medicaid and the unfortunate circumstances for them.

According to a federal watchdog, foster care children enrolled in Medicaid are not getting proper healthcare thanks to ineffective oversight by federal and state governments. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families require foster children to receive regular care, but many children have been missing these required health screenings. "State government officials are required to ensure that 'children in foster care receive periodic screenings at specified intervals throughout their foster care placement,'" but this standard is often not met. A third of the foster children enrolled in Medicaid did not receive at least one required health screening and a quarter of the foster children enrolled in medicaid received their screening late.

It is critical to the well-being of foster children that they receive needed health services since they are more likely to experience chronic medical, developmental, and mental health problems. Health screenings for foster children assess their medical, dental, hearing, vision, mental health, and other health-related developments. A recommendation of the inspector general is to expand the child and family services reviews to ensure that screenings are received in the proper timeframe. This is not the first report stating that foster children did not receive proper healthcare.

Mental health and disabilities in foster care is still a major issue. A legislation is attempting to be passed that would allow for legal guardians to be appointed to foster teens with mental illness and developmental disabilities who aren't capable of making good decisions for themselves. Right now, the law states that no one can step in to help teens make life decisions until they are 18 years of age because guardianship issues for adults are made in probate court. The proposed law states that children who have a mental-health problems or intellectual disabilities and are living with parents who do not have the means or abilities to deal with the situation must be identified by age 17 so that probate courts could start proceedings when they are 17 1/2. This is in order to ensure that kids who need guidance receive help. They would return to court at the age of 21 to see if a guardian is still needed or not. The bill has already passed in several committees. 

Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen

From the picture, Kaitlynn Campbell looks like an ordinary beauty pageant contestant. She comes from a different background than most competitors though. Campbell is a foster child. She has been living in a group home and foster care for the past eight months. She will not have to be living in those conditions anymore though. She has found a family to take her in through her preparation for the pageant. Along with winning the state's teen pageant crown, she has been awarded  four year scholarships to five Alabama universities. This shows that she will be a foster child who does go on to attend college. She told AL.com "I don't want to necessarily say that I'm different because I don't want people to feel sorry for me. I look at my story as not a story of sadness but a story of success."

Kaitlynn's journey all started with a pamphlet. Karron Standridge, a guidance counselor at Kaitlynn's school, had received a pamphlet about the pageant. She had just watched Kaitlynn receive a standing ovation from her school after singing at their Veteran's Day program. After Kaitlynn agreed to compete, Standrigde started a community campaign to prepare her for her first ever pageant. 

Teachers donated money. Evening wear was loaned to her. Donations were collected by her social worker to help pay the entry fee and other costs. She was also offered free makeup, a spray tan, and a manicure. Kaitlynn was an at-large contestant, meaning that she did not compete in any preliminary pageants. She practiced on a stage similar to the one she would be competing on. A photographer offered his services to her for free. Some residents offered pageant tips. 

All of the preparation is what led Campbell to her new home. Shelly Roach had helped Kaitlynn with her hair after she needed to restore it to the original color. She learned about the adversity in Kaitlynn's life and wanted to help more. She talked to her husband about helping the girl. Shelly says, "Our goal in all of this is that we want what is best for Kaitlynn." The Roaches have been taking foster parent classes and are preparing for Kaitlynn's first weekend foster visit. 

Every contestant has a platform for the competition. Kaitlynn's is Child Abuse and Neglect. Roach says, "She has lived her platform many years." Campbell was excited to be the voice for the kids going through hard times. She wants to use her platform as a stepping stone to change the world. At the competition, she sang Martina McBride's "Concrete Angel," which is a song about child abuse. Campbell says she wants to help kids overcome any adversity that goes along with being a teenager because she knows first-hand how difficult it is. Kaitlynn Campbell will compete in Miss America's Outstanding Teen this summer. 

Below is the link to a video of Kaitlynn talking about her Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen 2015 win. 

http://video-embed.al.com/services/player/bcpid1949044313001?bctid=4107498395001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAPLMIMAE~,kKetLjW2WxUgiRmvwWvrX1zHOEtf9iIT

Art Exhibit of Foster Care Life

A new exhibit at the Prattville Creative Arts Center and Gallery is photographer Lauren Wade's
D r i f t exhibit. This was created along with artist Onicas Gaddis. Barbara Simpson, the cultural arts and special events coordinator says the exhibit is "about a young black artist's struggle as a young boy in the foster care system and his triumphant rise as an artist."

The D r i f t collection documents the stories of former foster youth. It captures the emotion of the lives spent in foster care and the hope these young people have for a future. It gives a unique perspective on drifting from home to home. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs go to Gift for a Child charitable organization.

Foster care drift is when foster youth move through multiple homes over multiple years. Studies show that youth who experience drift while in care are more likely to have difficulty understanding the concept of family, to suffer academically and socially, and to have feelings of detachment and instability. Drifting usually leads to aging out of the system. 

The people featured in the photographs are current and former foster care youth that Wade was able to meet and interview. She says, "They have all been very successful, most of them currently attending college or are graduates of higher education, and they are all hopeful of their futures." The affects of foster care and drift can still be seen in them. Wade went on to say, "A family is meant to be stable, safe. welcoming, accepting, and loving. Drift was never meant to happen." 

I found this idea for an art gallery of foster youth as interesting. It is a unique perspective of what foster care is like and how difficult it is to be constantly moving from one place to another. It allows people to see what drifting is and what actual foster youth's opinion is on it and their situations in foster care. It brings a real life aspect to the awareness of problems in foster care because these are real pictures of kids who have experienced drifting and know what the system is like from first-hand experience. It is easier to ignore something that is a fake portrayal, but this is real words from real foster youth. This art gallery demands for awareness to be brought to foster care in a unique, artistic way. 

All of the photos used in this blog post are from the D r i f t collection. 

Homeless Child Experiment

In Spanish class, we were shown this video as an example of how we can be kind to one another and emphasize the ideas of random acts of kindness. The second I saw this video, I thought of how it relates to foster care. This video does deviate some from foster care, but by definition a foster child is a child who is not raised by his/her natural or adoptive parent, or a needy child. A homeless child would be considered needy. Many of the children in foster care end up on the streets by the time they are 18. Every year, 20,000 kids age out of foster care. Many youth who have run away had involvement with the foster care system. One of the main categories under the reasons that kids run away in family instability. In 2005, close to 11,000 foster youth had ran away from their placement. 40% of homeless people had spent time in foster care. 

Homelessness in foster care shows how reforms need to be made to better prepare those who age out of the system for independent living. Their main option should not be to become homeless. Furthering education should be an option so that they can have the opportunity to live like everyone else. Also, better background checks on foster families need to be done so that kids may be less likely to want to run away. Ways to make kids feel more comfortable in foster homes need to be found, so the amount of homeless children from foster care does not increase. 

What amazed me about this video is that the only person who stopped to help was another homeless person. He gave all he had to that kid by giving him his jacket. The man said how the homeless people had to stick together and how they had to help each other out. This could be the same thing that occurs in foster care. Foster kids stick together and work to help each other out. That is why so many of the foster care reforms are being driven by former foster kids. They want to fix the problems they faced in their experience in foster care. 

The situation in this video shows what many foster children or kids who have aged out of the foster system could face. Homelessness is an issue that needs to be further solved, along with the consequences of abandoning or aging out of the foster care system. 

Alaska Youth Call for Reform

I found this story of a recent attempt to reform the foster care system in Alaska. On Tuesday, February 17, members of the Alaska Youth Policy Summit met with legislators to share their stories of childhood trauma. The Alaska Youth Policy Summit is an advocacy group that recruits young people to talk to legislators about what they believe the problems in the state's social services system are.  This was part of the annual visit this group has to the state Capitol in order to give voice to children who are in the social services system. There were 5 presenters for this particular cause. The presenters talked about dealing with drug abuse, mental health, and being moved from place to place.

 Robin Ahqupuk is a 20 year old from Anchorage who was part of this summit. He spent 15 years in foster care and lived in 48 different homes. He wants to make sure that other Alaskan children will not have the same experience as him. He recalls how he felt like a loner and was never connected with people. He believes that the system makes children grow up too fast.

Benjamin Dahl-Rouzan is a 17 year old from Anchorage who was another presenter. He remembers dealing with multiple case workers and having to say you were doing one thing when you were really doing another. He was adopted at the age of 10, but not without spending 5 years in foster care first.

One of the main targets of the summit was the workload of caseworkers. Both boys agreed that lessening the burden of caseworkers was an improvement that needed to be made. Representative Les Gara introduced House Bills 27 and 28 in this summit. He says that, "Alaska is failing its foster youth. The state is its legal guardian; we need to treat them as we would treat our own children." Gara   understands the problems with the foster care system because he spent 12 years in it himself. He says that his experience was positive, but it did have its faults. The foster care system is declining because the social work staff is overburdened. His legislation is woking to keep foster children in the same school after moving to a different home. This would create a sense of permanency for the children. He also believes that children should be placed in a permanent home within 18 months of being in foster care.

The number of kids in foster care has increased in recent years. This is leading to caseworkers having to take on more work than one can reasonably handle. House Bill 28 proposes a $500,000 grant to support the staff of the Foster Care Independent Living Transition Program. This program currently has 6 caseworkers helping 300-400 older youth transition to adulthood. The department of Children's Services has not taken a position on the new legislations yet because they are uncertain that the new mandates on the department will be effective.

Below is a picture of Benjamin Dahl-Rouzan sharing his story at the meeting.