ABSTRACT:
The term “foster care system” is often viewed by the masses as a system that produces children who are a burden to society. Research shows that foster care children are more likely to be unemployed, have unplanned pregnancies, be arrested, and homeless (Lockwood,2015). Knowing this, the foster care system is an organization in which the children are affected emotionally, mentally, and socially. These hindrances often deter them from continuing their lives and attending college. This research examines the number of foster care children who pursued and completed a college degree in the U.S between 1990 and 2010. This research also identifies the different obstacles a foster care youth may, or may not, encounter when attempting to pursue a college degree.
INTRODUCTION:
Children in the child welfare system are at a high risk for physical, mental, and emotional health problems, which lead to placement instability and create barriers to achieving permanency (Lockwood, 2015). The Foster Care System accept abused, neglected, or abandoned children. It exists and acts as a temporary safe haven until other housing arrangements are made. Seventy percent of the children in the Foster Care System were victims of mistreatment. Others were involved in juvenile delinquency system and 30% of all children suffer from catastrophic medical disease, or uncontrolled mental health problems. Since the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) in 1997, the number of adoptions from foster care has increased from 36,896 in 1998 to 50,722 in 2000 which then stabilized over the next decade (Testa, 2015). In the system there is a term, “Permanency”, which is designation that a permanent place to live with a family was found. Failure to achieve permanency affects a child’s transition to adulthood outside the Child Welfare System. The children in the foster care system are at a relatively lower education level, so without permanency, they are less likely to attend college without a personal goal, academic self-perception, and/or social support. When the youth transitions into adulthood, the life stage of 18 to25 years old, the new goal is to transition to independent living. It is at this life stage that one is characterized with the self-centered exploration of identity and a belonging in the world (Arnett, 2015). Furthermore, the identification of the detrimental components associated with foster children attending college are due to their emotional, mental, and social instability. This research shows that children face unyielding situations allow them to thrive or to perish under the immense defiance that they are continuously facing as they come to understand the magnitude that they hold in their life.
AIM:
Foster care children are less likely to go to college, and those who do attend college have a lower graduation rate.