I decided to change my topic a bit. Instead of researching happiness in abused foster children I was going to take a few steps back and research happiness and well being in foster children. When I went to research the topic to find my sources a lot of links came up. I figured I would get a better amount of articles and other research if instead of just using plane Google I would instead use Google scholar. This helped narrow down the links and sources that I got. Foster care is a huge issue nowadays. Most foster children and put into homes where the foster parent already has at least a dozen other foster children. Stating the fact that everyone knows that if you take care of a foster child you get money from the government. There’s a lot of questions that can be asked as to why the amount of children in the foster care system is slowly increasing every year. Every child although if they are in foster care should be able to have the chance to achieve well being and happiness. If a child is not able to do so then their life can and will be affected drastically. For example school is a big issue. The can end up acting out in school and have behavioral issues. Seeking attention anyway they can get it. Some foster children are put through abuse and neglect.

Bruskas, D. (2008), Children in Foster Care: A Vulnerable Population at Risk. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 21: 70–77. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6171.2008.00134.x

This article was all about foster care and the effect it has on a child well-being. Stating that children in foster care have been through traumatic events and also abuse. Loosing the child’s parents or knowing they didn’t want them can have a huge impact on the child’s life. Considering they are young when this all happens. In the article it states “experience feelings of confusion, fear, apprehension of the unknown, loss, sadness, anxiety, and stress.” A child’s life is becoming a mess before they even hit puberty. The article also talks about how if a child is going through any of these feeling (named above) need to be treated as soon as possible. Or negative affects can occur such as problems with development of issues with mental health.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740904002117

This article talks about how two studies were conducted. The studies were basically about the well being of children in foster care. In most cases children in foster care don’t usually stay in one foster home for very long. This can cause the child to be unstable, due to them never being in a stable environment. In the article it states “Children adjust well to long-term foster care”. Children are happy in a environment where they know well. So having children stay in one foster home for a extensive period of time will benefit the child in the end. In the article it talked about how a study was conducted. Talking about how most children were happier in all aspects of life in the current place that they were in. Other children felt that they weren’t getting all the help that they needed, and they wanted more. This resulted in the foster child not liking their foster parent. A foster child should be happy in the home that they are in, and if they are not they should be switched to another home where they have a better chance of being happy.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/106/Supplement_3/909.short

This article talks about how that they are almost 750,000 children who are in foster care, but that’s only in the united states. Also talking about how more people are trying to push adoption so that children in foster care will not increase. Most children who are put into foster care already have mental health or developmental problems. What is even worse is that the children in foster care who do have this problems are not treated with the right care. So the problems that the child has may get worse because of the treatment they are not receiving but need. Most people would call that neglect. The article also talked about how these problems can be decreased also increasing the well-being of the child. This can be done by evaluating the foster parents more thoroughly to insure that the people they are putting these children with are able to take care of them the right way.