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HIS 303: The American Constitution
Violations of Foster Children Rights and Benefits
Mr. Jackson-Ybarra
April 4, 2011
Abstract
Problems with the foster care seem to be across the board. But what it comes down to is what rights are being violated and what benefits are these children being left without.
Problems with the foster care seem to be across the board. Here are a few examples to make the point. In Louisiana, 21% of abuse cases come from children in foster homes. Also in Louisiana, after extensive review, it was found out that hundreds of foster children were shipped out to live in foster homes in Texas. In 1981, 57% of children placed in the Missouri foster care system were at high risk for abuse or neglect. In 1987, a follow-up was done in Missouri and found that 25% of children placed in the foster care system had indeed been abused or neglected. In Kentucky, it was found that only 55% of foster children had the mandated legal case plans. This is not anything new either. This has been going on for several decades and seems to be nationwide (A Critical Look at the Foster Care System: How Widespread is the Problem?, 1996-2005). But what it comes down to is what rights are being violated and what benefits are these children being left without.
A Foster Child’s Bill of Rights was actually written in 1973 and reaffirmed in 1983. It gives of course ten rights that foster children have including the right to safety, the right to adequate medical care, to receive proper education, the right to an attorney, and the right to make his own decisions and have visitation with the biological parents if he chooses (Foster Child Bill of Rights, 2011).
When children are handed over to the state, people automatically assume that they are going to be well taken care of in the hands of the Federal and State government. However, in many cases the children’s constitutional rights are violated (Selph, 1988). The two main Amendments that are violated when it comes to children are the First and Fourteenth Amendments. There have been cases that have discussed what rights are violated in foster children cases such as Taylor v. Ledbetter and Kenny A. v. Perdue.
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