Foster Care - Foster Care Placement

Foster Care Placement

Foster care is intended to be a short term solution until a permanent placement can be made: Generally the first choice of foster parents is a family member who is a relative such as an aunt, uncle or grandparent. If no related family member is willing or able to adopt, the next preference is for the child to be adopted by the foster parents or by someone else involved in the child's life (such as a teacher or coach). This is to maintain continuity in the child's life. If neither above option are available, the child may be adopted by someone who is a stranger to the child.

If none of these options are viable the plan for the minor may be to enter OPPLA (Other Planned Permanent Living Arrangement). This option allows the child to stay in custody of the state and the child can stay placed in a foster home, with a relative or a long term care facility (for children with development disabilities, physical disabilities or mental disabilities).

547,415 children were in publicly supported foster care in the United States in September 2000. In 2009, there were 423,773 children in foster care, a drop of about 20% in a decade.

In 2009, there were about 123,000 children ready for adoptive families in the nation's foster care systems. African American children represented 41% of children in foster care, white children represented 40% and Hispanic children represented 15% in 2000.

Children may enter foster care via voluntary or involuntary means. Voluntary placement may occur when a biological parent or lawful guardian is unable to care for a child. Involuntary placement occurs when a child is removed from their biological parent or lawful guardian due to the risk or actual occurrence of physical or psychological harm. In the US, most children enter foster care due to neglect. If a biological parent or lawful guardian is unwilling to care for a child, the child is deemed to be dependent and is placed under the care of the child protection agency. The policies regarding foster care as well as the criteria to be met in order to become a foster parent vary according to legal jurisdiction.

Especially egregious failures of child protective services often serve as a catalyst for increased removal of children from the homes of biological parents. An example is the brutal torture and murder of 17-month-old Peter Connelly, a British toddler who died in London Borough of Haringey, North London after suffering more than 50 severe injuries over an eight-month period, including eight broken ribs and a broken back. Throughout the period of time in which he was being tortured he was repeatedly seen by Haringey Children's services and NHS health professionals. Haringey Children's services already failed ten years earlier in the case of Victoria Climbié.In the time since his death in 2007 cases have reached a record rate in England surpassing 10,000 in the reporting year ending in March 2012.