Social Needs of Children in Foster Care

Question: Write a research proposal on Social needs of children in foster care. Answer: Introduction The following research proposal will be based on the Social needs of children in foster care. Foster care is a temporary care unit for children aged up to 18 years provided by trained and authorized foster carers often called foster parents (Halfon and Klee 2015). The children required for foster care can be from any cultures, religion and social background. Background of the study In the present era, foster care for children has become quite familiar and popular to the parents and families over the worldwide. There are no specific requirements for the parents and children to avail the foster care or foster parents but there should be genuine reasons to the parents who opt for the said service (Raman and Sahu 2014). Availing Foster care can be for various reasons like professionally involvement in job of parents, complications in the situation of family in terms of domestic violence or alcohol misuse or sexual abuse (Conn et al. 2015). The following research study represents the social requirements for the children in foster care. Rationale of the study Foster care is a temporary home or ward for the children who are either not safe with their families or being neglected by the parents generally in the early years of their life (first 3 to 4 years) when the brain development of children are most active and efficient (Dozier, Zeanah and Bernard 2013). However, in certain foster units where children are supposed to nurture and to be provided with the required social needs, tend to be abused and face social traumas that affect them mentally and emotionally (Flannery, Beauchamp and Fisher 2016). Therefore, the study will help to identify about the social requirements for the children in foster care that should be adopted by every foster home. Research Aim and Objectives The aim of this study will be to analyze the relationship between children and foster carers/ foster parents trust in order to identify the impact of social needs of the foster children. Objectives: To identify the basic social requirements that needs to be provided to the well development of foster children To identify the tools and means for providing services by foster care unit in order to fulfill the social need of the children To identify the processes to be followed by the foster parents and foster carers to build the trust among children and their parents To recommend some possible ways that will help to improve its foster service in Australia Research questions: The questions of this research will be as under: What are the basic requirements of the foster service in order to provide better development of children? What kind of tools and means foster units should use for fulfillment of the social requirements of foster children? What are the processes to be followed by the foster service in order to build the trust between children and parents? What are the possible ways to improve the foster service in Australia? Literature Review Background and the importance of the social issue: Foster care has become an integral part of the society in context to provide care and protection to the children who are not able to live with their family in their own home (Edelstein et al. 2016). According to the studies and other research on the issues for the children under foster care brought to the notice are developmental issues, mental health issues, and emotional development efficiencies. Further examination disclosed the high number of children in U.K is in foster home whereas 30 to 50 % of the children are suffering from the lack of basic requirements from the foster parenting (Szilagyi et al. 2015). Apart from this, an association named Australian Foster Care Association has been formed in support to the foster carers, children and their families (Hyde et al. 2016). Further, it has also been noticed that due to increase in number of children who are in need of out of home care service there are limited number of foster service providers are available. Identification of the factors that affect social issues of the children in foster care: On the observation of the studies in regard to the issues faced by the children in foster care it can be said that the children face and suffers from certain basic issues in their growth. Issues in terms of mental development issues, basic habitual issues, timeliness etc. are certain drawbacks that children have to face in foster care (Lee and Lee 2016). Jackson Foster, Beadnell and Pecora (2015) commented that Foster care is a temporary care unit or ward which may be harmful for the child as continuous change in place and care taker that hinders the knowledge and skill growth and development. Apart from these issues, children may also face difficulties for the mental growth and sense of timeliness in the foster home as well as lack of family attachment (Linton et al. 2014). Requirements of the social needs for the children in foster care: In order to overcome the issues laid in the above section, the proposed research study will be carried out so that the children are able to receive whatever they deserve to get. Foster carers are required to focus on the mental and emotional development issues so that children are able to learn and grow as per the skills required (Harkin and Houston 2016). Additionally, the foster carers are also required to focus on the protection on the children so that their education skills, knowledge nurtures, and children feel protected. Further, foster carers and service providers should also have knowledge about handling children in order to provide them with good basic knowledge and education as well as care and protection (Jee et al. 2015). This research study focus on the basic issues that the foster carers are required to provide to children who stay away from their family. Developmental issues: This is an important issue among the young children, who stay away from their family. They are required to provide care and protection so that children in foster home feel protected and eventually, help to develop their mental health (Bick et al. 2015).In countries like United States, United Kingdom, Australia, there are around 500,000 children using foster home on account of being victim for the continuous abuse and maltreatment (Bauernschuster and Schlotter 2015). Hence, it is very important to educate the parents apart from the children so that they do not face these challenges. Timeliness issues: Another issue that will be taken care of is to maintain timeliness and discipline among the children. As foster care is a temporary care unit, constant mobility of children affects their timeliness and discipline growth required for normal growth of children (Garg et al. 2015). On the other hand, in some cases children are given foster care because of professional work of the parents due to which they have to travel. Therefore, the biological parents should understand and avoid travelling especially for the children in their first 5 years so that the parent child relationship is nurtured (Troller Renfree et al. 2015). Upon the survey it has been observed that children aged between 0 to 8 years have the fastest capacity in brain development and emotional health development, hence it is very important for the parents to take care and enhance the growth and development of children in their early years itself. Psychological stress issues: This is a vital issue for the foster children because children often face negligence, avoidance, abuse, grief and that is the reason they put in the foster care home (Stookey et al. 2015). In order to overcome these emotional grief and sorrow, foster service provider may conduct parent child session and spread awareness about the psychological condition and depressing state of the mind of children (Feldman et al. 2014). Moreover, the research study will also focus on the emotional quotient that children should have depending on their age group so that next step of counseling becomes easier and systematic. This step might be helpful for the better growth and happiness among children. Foster care units may also create awareness among the family and public about the education and knowledge that is required for the well-being of children so that they overcome the emotions of grief and sorrow due to which they have to undertake the service of foster parents (Havnes and Mogstad 2015). Moreover, the research study will focus on the basic and social issues of children growth and development like developmental issues, psychological stress issues, sense of timeliness, and attachment with the family issues. Gap between the previous researches and the current study In the previous study, researchers mainly focused on finding the issues of the foster cares that affect the children growth and development whereas this research study will focus on identifying the particular issues affecting children and ways to resolve them. On the other hand, previous research study was based on the general terms of foster service while this study will focus on Australian territory so that the issues can be resolved region wise. This study also focuses on the education and general awareness between the biological parents and families in order to enhance and nurture the relationship with their children by conducting surveys, interviews and questionnaire session with the family and children of young age. Conceptual framework Figure 1: Conceptual framework (Source: Created by author) Research Methodology This research study will follow a specific methodology in order to achieve the aim of the research proposal mentioned in the above chapter. Additionally, the methodology will be inclusive of certain philosophy, design and approach of research that are particular in context to the case of the study. At the same time, the methodology will also specify about the data collection and analysis techniques along with the ethical considerations. Types of investigation This part of research methodology will indicate the particular philosophy, design and approach of research based on which this research will be continued. In case of research philosophies three principal types of philosophies are followed positivism, realism and interpretivism. Among all the mentioned research philosophies, the study will select the positivism philosophy and the reason behind this is the positivism philosophy follows a structure that minimizes the chances of variance or huge change in the variables. This philosophy follows some strict laws and rules that make the study more structured. At the same time, the positivism philosophy helps to analyze the research data in a logical and quantitative way. Therefore, by using the positivism philosophy this research will be able to analyze the data mathematically. On the other hand, this research study will use the deductive research approach between the two available research approaches deductive and inductive research approaches. The important reason behind choosing this approach is that the deductive research approach helps to get to the point result of research. At the same time, the deductive approach is very much site and cost saving, which is not possible in case of inductive approach of research (Jee et al. 2015). Therefore, by using the deductive research approach, it will be possible to complete the study within the limited and available time and costs. In case of research design, the study will focus on the descriptive research design than the explanatory and exploratory designs because the descriptive research design helps to conduct the study based on the existing literature and theories (Bauernschuster and Schlotter 2015). Further, the descriptive research design helps in detailed investigation hence it will help in get result that is more prominent within the minimum time. Data collection methods In order to gather data for conducting this research study the researcher will adopt both the primary and secondary data collection process. In case of primary data collection process, the study will be done by collecting data through survey session with the group of respondents considering various sources of books, journals, websites (Havnes and Mogstad 2015). On the other hand, the secondary data will be collected from various authenticated websites, journals, articles and books that will help the researcher to get the factual data regarding the research topic. Sampling technique and sample size This part of the study will follow the probability and non-probability sampling methods. In case of probability sampling, the simple random sampling method will be followed that is used to choose the sample for survey because in case of survey, the population will be too vast. However, in case of interview, the non-probability sampling technique will be followed. Further, the research study will be continued by sending survey questionnaire to 90 foster children aged between 10 to 18 years and it is expected that at least 70 children will respond. Therefore, the expected sample size is 70 foster children. Apart from the survey questionnaire, in case of interview, the expected sample is 20 foster parents. Data analysis technique In this section of the study of research, the researcher will use the quantitative and qualitative techniques of data analysis in order to analyze the data in detail. The survey data will be analyzed with the help of quantitative data analysis technique and the interview data will be analyzed with the help of qualitative data analysis technique. Ethical consideration This section of the research is the most important part of the entire study that will be conducted in the process of the research. There are certain steps that will be considered in order to avoid any ethical issue in the study. Before the start of the research, proper permission will be taken from the authority and at the same time, the reliability and viability of the data will also be considered as well as the confidentiality of the survey and interview participants will also be maintained during the study. Research Limitation However, while conducting the research there are certain limitations that the paper will face that is time constraint. It has been observed that the available time for this research study will not be sufficient. However, it will be tried to complete within that limited period only, which will be quite challenging. Another limitation will be the limited availability of cash funds. The available funds for the research project will be also much less than the required cash, which will a big limitation for the study. Timeframe Table 1: Gantt chart (Source: Created by author) Expected Outcome It is expected from the research study that the researchers will be able to achieve the aim and objectives of the study as well as the positive relationship between foster service providers and children will also be identified. Apart from this, the researchers will be able to identify and explain the social requirements every child is supposed to get in foster care. However, it may also be determined that the parents are also responsible to certain extent for the upbringing and fulfillment of basic requirements in terms of emotional and mental development of their children. Reference List: Bauernschuster, S. and Schlotter, M., 2015. Public child care and mothers' labor supplyEvidence from two quasi-experiments.Journal of Public Economics,123, pp.1-16. 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