Sami Jo Howell

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102-017
10/6/2015
Reflection #1
After reading over my paper again, I have decided that I have created an informative and
through proposal. Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done on my proposal. Some point in
my proposal are bland and short, while some are long and informative. I think I could add more
to the bland and short pieces to make them just as good as the long and informative pieces. I
think I may struggle to make this barely three page paper into an eight to ten page paper.
Hopefully I will find the research and information to get it together.
Reflection # 2
This draft is so much better than the first one. The feedback I received from Tommy,
Justin, and Mariel was extremely helpful. Some of the things I knew I had to fix already but some
of the things they mentioned I wouldnt have thought of so Im glad they pointed it out. I believe
that my proposal now is what it needs to be. I have explained my purpose, given a brief history,
made an emotional appeal (since that is a part of my purpose, it is something I should include). I
still am a bit weary about turning this into an eight to ten page paper but I am much more
confident about it now than I was before.
Foster Kids

Two young children are just waking up to get ready to school when a woman walks in
their home and tells them that today when they get out of school they wont be returning home
but to a new home with a new family. This is the day that a foster child will never forget, the day
they were ripped from their home only to be thrown into a brand new one with a family so eager
to meet them. So what is life really like for a foster child? That is what I want to know. Im
interested in this question because as I grew up, a very close friend of mine was a part of a foster
family. They had three brothers and sisters for about two years but they had a handful of different
groups of children come through their home over the years they were a foster family. I remember
one day I went over there and Brittanie, Brandon and Gabby were there, about two days later I
went over and the three were gone, only to be replaced by Tianna. I was always interested in
what it must be like to be a foster child, I would think its always a sad life and theres never
happiness but, honestly, Brittanie, Brandon and Gabby were some of the happiest children I
know. How can they be so happy and excited when they could be ripped away from their birth
mom on Tuesday and then Wednesday have a foster mom, then seven months later they have a
new foster mom. What is life really like for a foster child?
There is obviously immense research about foster children and families out there.
Whenever a family is considering becoming a foster family they typically do research on the
internet to learn more about it. I simply typed What is life like for a foster child? into Google
and on the first page I found about four government websites, and a few articles written by
previous foster children about their experience. One was written by a boy named Joe. Joe wrote
Many years ago, on a nice day, my sister and I were outdoors playing at 8: 00 in the evening.
My parents looked like they were about the cry. My parents told us that the court had taken
custody away from them and given it to D.S.S. That night my sister and I were told that we

were going to be placed in foster homes. Two hours later I was unpacking my belongings in a
foster home located in another town.* Joe is just one of many different foster children stories. I
also know two families, personally, who were foster families so I am able to have a real account
from a family whom I have met and also met their foster children.
There are many different things that can happen that make a child become a foster child.
Things like abuse form the parent/guardian, or the parent/guardian can not afford to take care of
the child. The three children that I mentioned earlier, Brittanie, Brandon, and Gabbie were foster
children simply because their birth mother and father could not afford to keep all three children.
Some foster children are in the system because their parents have passed away or are no longer
in their lives (ex. they have voluntarily left the childrens lives). Many people think that children
are in the foster care system because their parents gave them up, that is not the case. Most of the
cases are that the parent cannot temporarily take care of the child(ren) and have to temporarily
give them up with the intent to eventually receive the children back in their custody when they
are able to care for the child successfully unfortunately some cases end up with the children
being adopted. The foster care system has been like this since it began.
Here is a quick history of the foster care system, as told by the Child Welfare Information
Gateway Government Initiative.** The foster care system has been around for a while, since
1853 to be exact. The foster care system in America began because of the over-population of
homeless and orphaned children in cities like New York and the surrounding area. Then the
system was called The Orphan Train Movement. Orphans would be put on a train and sent to
foster homes across the country; most of the foster families were wealthy families who lived in
the Midwest. This program lasted from 1853 to 1929. In 1929 The Orphan Train Movement
ended and the foster care system we see now began. In 1997 the Adoption and Safe Families Act

began and this act limited the time that children could be in the foster care system before being
able to be adopted. In 1999 the Foster Care Independence Act was passed. This act aids children
that are aging out of the foster care system become self-sustaining adults.
Maybe that kid who was a new kid in the fall of your senior year of high school was a
foster child who was finally adopted, or the girl you would play on the playground with in
second grade that didnt come back for third grade was a foster child. Foster children and former
foster children are everywhere. My peers should be interested in the foster care system because,
honestly, our taxes go to into the foster care system and other programs that are utilized by foster
care families and children (ex. Medicaid). Through our taxes we pay for foster children to live
healthy and prosperous lives. Our money is going somewhere, almost all of us are unaware of
where.
I still have a long way to go on my research but I believe there is so much information
out there for me to learn and report on so that I can educate my readers. Different ways for me to
find more research on life for foster children includes interviewing those two families I
previously mentioned, or I could interview a Child Protective Services or Department of Social
Services employee since they have firsthand experience with the children as well. All of this
research Ill be able to dig into is going to give me and my audience an insight as to what life is
really like for foster children.
*[Link]
**[Link]