CUNY Brooklyn College Children and Teens in Foster Care Paper please read the 2 vignettes for the david and janelle and provide answers to the 5 questions

CUNY Brooklyn College Children and Teens in Foster Care Paper please read the 2 vignettes for the david and janelle and provide answers to the 5 questions listed for each and utilize the “probes” noted. David
David (age 13) lives with his foster father, Mr. Knox, in a small apartment in a busy, low-income, urban
neighborhood. Prior to moving in with Mr. Knox, David lived in various group home facilities for
children who are severely emotionally disturbed. Although David is considered “SED,” he was well
behaved during our interview, attentive to questions, and articulate. Mr. Knox had established a clear
behavior management system with strict rules and logical consequences for both negative and positive
behaviors (similar to systems that David knew from his experiences living in group homes). Mr. Knox
also communicated that he wants David to express himself creatively within his home. When David
moved in, they spent time together building a loft for David’s bedroom so he could have a “hangout area.
Mr. Knox and David also painted his bedroom in ways that David wanted. David feels that his room is
“really cool.” When asked who he considers part of his family, David identified Mr. Knox, his biological
mother (who he sees weekly), and biological sister (who he also sees weekly).
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Questions:
1. What are the positive aspects of David’s experience in out-of-home care?
2. What are your concerns?
3. How would you address your concerns?
4. What services or community resources would improve the quality of David’s experience?
5. What ethnic/cultural considerations seem particularly relevant?
Probes:
1. How do you imagine being severely emotionally disturbed impacts a child’s experience in out-of-
home care?
2. What lessons could other foster parents learn from Mr. Knox? What could you do to facilitate and
support the positive work of foster parents caring for particularly vulnerable children?
3. What is the short and long term value of the loft-building activity? What are other ways to achieve
similar goals during a child’s transition to a new home?
Janelle
Janelle (age 11) lives with her grandparents, two younger cousins, and a two-year-old foster child in an
urban public housing development. She has lived with her grandparents since she was removed from her
biological mother’s care at age seven. She refers to her grandmother as “mama,” her grandfather as
“papa,” and all of the children in her home as “sisters.” When asked who she considers part of her
family, Janelle identified an exceptionally long list including everyone in her household, aunts, uncles,
cousins, her biological parents, friends, church members, and neighbors.
Over the course of the interview, Janelle offered several images depicting her relationship with her
grandmother: “We are best friends because we love to do everything together, especially shopping… My
mama knows all the stuff that kids want like pizza and ice cream… We always like to go places together
because we laugh at all the same things… I always feel loved in my mama’s family… I can’t imagine
being anywhere else.” Similarly, Janelle reported enjoying the almost daily contact that she has with her
biological mother. Janelle’s biological mother frequently picks Janelle up from school. They typically
spend afternoons together, sometimes with Janelle’s grandmother. To Janelle’s dismay, she sees her
biological father infrequently. While Janelle regularly spends time with her biological mother, Janelle
wants and expects that she will live with her grandparents until she is grown.
Janelle lives in a neighborhood with an unusually high crime rate, but she reported that she has never
witnessed drug deals, nor a range of violent events in or near her home. She said, “There is bad stuff
happening, but my mama makes sure nothing bad is going on out there when I go outside to play.”
Moreover, Janelle reported feeling “almost always” safe at home and in her neighborhood.
Janelle has positive expectations for her future. She wants to go to a college in Atlanta where her uncle,
aunt, and grandparents attended. She said that she wants to be a doctor. Her grandmother appears to
have played an important role in shaping Janelle’s future expectations: “My mama told me that I’ll be
good at whatever I decide to do. I can do whatever I put my mind to.” At the conclusion of the interview,
Janelle’s grandmother brought out Janelle’s certificates and report cards. She also showed us an article
written for a local paper about grandmothers as foster parents.
Questions:
1. What are the positive aspects of Janelle’s experience in out-of-home care?
2. What are your concerns?
3. How would you address your concerns?
4. What services or community resources would improve the quality of Janelle’s experience?
5. What ethnic/cultural considerations seem particularly relevant?
Probes:
1. What are some concrete ways that you could support Janelle (and her caregivers) to increase the
possibility that Janelle will, in fact, achieve her future goals?
2. What lessons could other kinship foster parents learn from Janelle’s grandmother? What could you
do to facilitate and support the positive work of these relatives?
3. Janelle lives in a very unsafe neighborhood, although she does not experience it as such. What
strategies do you think her grandparents apply to make her feel so safe? Had you been the child’s
placement worker, would the neighborhood conditions have influenced your placement decision?

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