NCJ Number
111914
Editor(s)
L Otto
Date Published
1986
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Narrated by Tyne Daly, this video uses actual cases to show how abused children get lost in the foster care system; are dumped by the system at age 18; and end up on welfare because they lack basic academic, job, and social skills.
Abstract
After noting that 300,000 children in the United States are in foster care, the narrator describes 2 causalities of the system: Frank, who entered New York City's foster care system at age 7 and emerged at 18 unable to read or find a job; and Johnny, placed in Los Angeles' foster care facility at age 4 after being severely abused by a stepfather and then separated from his twin brother and a younger sibling. Three examples of good foster care are shown: one black woman in an inner city neighborhood; an older couple with a grown family of their own who now train other foster parents; and an independent living program in Arizona which takes older boys and teaches them basic living skills such as cooking, maintaining a bank account, and completing job applications. The narrator concludes that two elements are needed to help children in the foster care system: a change in rules and more foster homes.