Developmentally Disabled Children In the Foster Care System
Abstract
"Foster care is intended to offer a supportive family environment to children
whose natural parents cannot raise them because of the parents' physical or mental
illness, the child's behavioral difficulties, or problems within the family environment,
e.g., child abuse, alcoholism, extreme poverty, or crime," (www.encyclopedia,com) and
since this is not the case for the developmentally disabled population, this study intends
to examine the situation more fully. The study investigates the care developmentally
disabled foster children receive, the parenting techniques the foster parents utilize and
problems within the foster care system. As a result of this study, problems within the
foster homes, the Light Agency and the larger foster care system are highlighted and
analyzed in order to improve the service provided to the special needs population in the
future.