News PTSD And Foster Children

[Deleted member 541]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Researchers recently examined outcomes for 659 young adults who had been placed in family foster care as children. One of the most remarkable things they discovered was that one in four (25.2%) of these foster care “alumni” had experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the previous 12 months (Pecora et al., 2005). This rate of PTSD is nearly double that of US war veterans.

People who think of PTSD as something caused only by the trauma and terror of military combat will probably be shocked by this finding. However, if you work in child welfare, shock is probably not your reaction. You know all too well the effects abuse, neglect, and placement instability can have on children. And yet the implications of this finding for your work are huge.

As you will learn in this issue, PTSD significantly undermines a child’s well-being. Left untreated, it can put children at risk for school difficulties, attachment problems, additional psychological disorders, substance abuse, and physical illness. When the children grow up, PTSD can interfere with economic self-sufficiency. The trauma experienced by children can also profoundly affect child welfare workers.

Family support and child welfare workers and their agencies must be able to recognize the signs of PTSD and they must be prepared to respond in an appropriate and timely way when they come across it. The health and well-being of children—perhaps their very futures—depends on it.

 

[pandora]

This is interesting. I did not live in foster care but at 15 moved in with my youth group leaders. It is extremely hard on a child when your entire life changes in this way...all of your family is gone and learning to live with another family and their ways of living can really mess with a childs mind.

 

[AvoidanceRulez]

This is interesting. I did not live in foster care but at 15 moved in with my youth group leaders. It is extremely hard on a child when your entire life changes in this way...all of your family is gone and learning to live with another family and their ways of living can really mess with a childs mind.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Researchers recently examined outcomes for 659 young adults who had been placed in family foster care as children. One of the most remarkable things they discovered was that one in four (25.2%) of these foster care “alumni” had experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the previous 12 months (Pecora et al., 2005). This rate of PTSD is nearly double that of US war veterans.

People who think of PTSD as something caused only by the trauma and terror of military combat will probably be shocked by this finding. However, if you work in child welfare, shock is probably not your reaction. You know all too well the effects abuse, neglect, and placement instability can have on children. And yet the implications of this finding for your work are huge.

As you will learn in this issue, PTSD significantly undermines a child’s well-being. Left untreated, it can put children at risk for school difficulties, attachment problems, additional psychological disorders, substance abuse, and physical illness. When the children grow up, PTSD can interfere with economic self-sufficiency. The trauma experienced by children can also profoundly affect child welfare workers.

Family support and child welfare workers and their agencies must be able to recognize the signs of PTSD and they must be prepared to respond in an appropriate and timely way when they come across it. The health and well-being of children—perhaps their very futures—depends on it.

I so believe it. I have a cousin that was in it from the age of 5 on...at 14 he flipped 'em a bird, went on his own and did lots and lots of naughty stuff.His brother stayed til 18 and has been in prisons a good share of his life. But then they have their older sister who because an evangelist.

 

[anni]

I hate to start another banner flying session but it's needed. When I lived in the UK, children were taken care of. The incidence of child abuse was like what, a percent of a PERCENT of what it is here and you know why? Every child is followed, as are the parents-( at least when I had 2 babies there ). You HAVE prenatal care, an actual hospital STAY ( 2 weeks!!!) with new-mom training and SLEEP if you need it, a nurse comes to your HOUSE once a week to check on you both. I had one come, take one look at me and send me to bed for a nap while she watched the baby. The doctor coms to your house, if the baby is too sick to leave, and calls you BACK on the phone, too, when you need them.Medicine for alllll children is not a cent, on the grounds that it's not an issue-why would a country not take care of it's children?I do hear the NHS is in a bad way-so please don't write to tell me of this-I am speaking of a national attitude towards children politacally, if you wish. Valued. Hawaii is like this to a point but noone hears about it because noone wishes to pay for it- gosh, what if the citizens of our own state woke up, saw these innovations and demanded them for OUR children? Our under-funded, under watched foster care system is another symptom of not caring about our children. Certainly, there are foster parents who do- it's glaringly obvious not enough and not enough advocates who are heard, either.

Our politicians lead us down the road of 'OH NO- what if someone else gets something for FREE- don't allow THAT' and so the American public keeps buying into the Great Lie that all is well, we do not need an NHS and foster care works. Lemmings. There are many political arguments which ARE arguable, but allowing even one child to suffer in what really is the wealthiest country in the world is just disgraceful. It makes us not wealthy, just decadent. I'm unbudgeable on the matter of children. I lived for 5 years-delightful years- where children were valued for REAL,with solid, material care not just via lip-service.

Still contributing, She Cat. Good article.

 

[anni]

I spelled 'comes' incorrectly, looked for the edit button and can't find it. Please excuse- still navigating.

 

[jasmin]

So true.. I was back and forth from different foster homes from the ages of 5-13.. looking back on my behaviour as a teenager.. I recognize that the symptoms were there even then but I glazed them over extremely well, In terms of support there wasn't really anything, each time I tried it was to no avail. I was supposed to undergo extensive therapy as a child but I only ever had one session.

My GP as a teen told me that most people feel suicidal from time to time and there's nothing wrong with feeling that way.. that my insomnia that prevented me from being able to get to school was just my mind/body telling me that I did not want to pursue those studies.. that he would not give me any sort of medical assistance as he didn't see a need to. My year co-coordinator told me that If I didn't try harder to attend that I may as well leave.. so I did just that. Rawr! looking back on it gets me so angry.. but it's okay.. such is life.. things turned out anyway.. regardless of the fact that I didn't graduate high school.It's just disappointing looking back on it though particularly because I took it all on as being my own fault and I am sure there are countless amounts of other kids going through similar situations everyday.

It's a nice thought to think of a world where there is more awareness in general about ptsd, from doctors to foster parents.. but realistically as much as I would love to see it happen I don't think it is likely. Only recently in the eastern states of Australia, adults who had been abused (sexually, physically, emotionally or mentally) whilst under government care have been compensated for the crimes of others and by the state, many of the other Australian states have yet to follow suit. It is a fact that so many mistakes are made by the state children's services that cannot be accounted for or tracked, because there are so many children out there in need of protection and it is a damn hard task to keep up with it all and get funding, let alone find people willing to dedicate their time to those in need. Awareness would just be another expense in the long list of much needed things I think.I'm not sure where the rest of the world stands on this though I can imagine it would be somewhat similar.

fyi... I wasn't abused in foster care (thank goodness).. that I can recall at least and I cannot recall much, but I can say with most certainty that I wasn't to my knowledge. I do know plenty of others who were though.

 

[we r getting there]

Hi,

We just had a child in our care (in Australia) diagnosed with PTSD and reactive attachment disorder. He is a wonderful little boy, and we want the best for him as he grows (he's only 5 and been with us 2 years). Everyone kept saying he would improve (and he did, to some degree) and DOCS refused to help with supporting him, so we took him to a private assessment service, who are going to give him the support he needs right now. I sympathise with your frustration as we have experienced it on a daily basis for the past two years. I agree community services are underfunded, and I'm so glad you had a positive experience in your placement, carers should be committed to the welfare and healthy development of children in their care. I wanted to let you know there are at least two carers out there (my husband and I!) trying really hard to support the needs of children, despite the many obstacles society seems to throw at us.

Although our little boy was not directly abused in his birth home, his siblings (3 of whom are with us also) were. I believe this and the multiple separations he has experienced (8 placements in one year - that's unjustified) have led to his PTSD.

All my (foster) children believe the abuse and separation was their fault, this is something so obviously not true to me. Nothing they did would ever have warranted one speck of the abuse or contributed to the breakdown of placements. I think that will take a long time to change their minds, even with the counselling and therapy they are doing now. I hope you have had some emotional success with this - it wasn't your fault!!!
Good luck with your future, you sound like you have things under control :)

Cheers

 

[Eleanor]

Separation from primary caretakers before the age of 6 is ALWAYS a major trauma. 8 times. Yikes. Poor little guy.

 

[Pale Warrior]

The laying down of the neurons in early child hood is complex and an attachment disorder is in itself a predecator for poor outcomes in adult life. Add to that the chemical effects of neglect, poor nutrition or maternal substance abuse during prenancy. The effects on the fetus of extreme maternal stress duing pregnancy are known and need to be accounted for.

And all that impacts even more keenly on those who are yet further victimised through institutional and systemic neglect.

While many do survive the care system and go on to make their way in life, a significant number are unable to cope and end up in the criminal justice and mental health systems.

 

[712xx]

:cry: ... that is just all I can say. Broken systems are always defended by that dumb saying --'it is beter than nothing'. I'm really unsure that is true. If there were no system, then it would be up to good people who want to help, rather than bad people looking to get paid, or good people who are over worked and become bad as a result.

Ever been to an Earth Day rally? Or a fund raising hoopla? Hell, even auctions would be better than this current system. The private sector is better at handling things like this. There are bad seeds that ruin the bunch -- the government took over due to a few bad seeds ... but what about the good places? We all know the story of Oliver Twist. We don't have workhouses these days (not legal ones anyway). Were there not any good private sector boarding homes for kids? No wealthy people like Oprah who wants to make their money count for something positive? (in another country I might add:cautious:but that is her right).
:cry:

 

[Beverly G.]

Wow what a difficult topic. On the one hand you do have people who begin caring for foster children with the right motives but on the other side of that you have people who do it for the money. I worked as both a foster parent and a teacher for future foster parents and I saw things that nearly broke my heart.

PTSD is a very real problem in the foster care and adoption system. Future parents are not adequately trained on how to care for these childen, I know of one mother who actually believes that trough discipline she can teach her child to not act out when triggered. Whatever happened to compassion and understanding?

 

[Deleted member 12723]

This has been enlightening. It is all so very sad, I have tears in my eyes. We are talking about the future of so many countless numbers of children. What a tragic thing to happen. I feel so helpless and powerless.