Has the severity of foster child behaviors been increasing over the years? Some people, including teachers, foster parents, and workers believe that it has. There are those who attribute the increased violence to television and video games. Once the child is in your charge, it may not really matter to you how the behavior developed. What matters is how you are going to deal with it. Of course, being a foster parent severely restricts your ability to discipline the child for dangerous behaviors. Any discipline deemed as too severe, emotionally or verbally abusive, or corporal punishment will result in the foster parent being written up, or worse. All children will test their parents to find boundaries. When foster children test and the parent is restricted in reaction, the behaviors tend to escalate. Unfortunately, one of the only things you can do is call the police when a foster child’s behavior is out of control. If you think maybe you should, then you should. These are some of the things you should think about before fostering children. Which foster child behaviors are you willing to take on?

If things have calmed down at your house, by the time the officer arrives then so be it. You can thank the officer for coming and ask for a report. If things are still out of hand, the officer will handcuff the child if necessary. Either way, you have written documentation of incident. The officer may take the child to the juvenile facility or warn the child that it may happen the next time. The incident could result in a court appearance and possibly fines for the foster child.

Certainly, you can try removal of privileges such as no phone or computer time, but if your child’s behaviors are severe, that probably won’t work. With today’s system the way it is, if you need physically to restrain a child you should have the police on the way. If the child jumps out of the car to walk you had better call the police. I have known two foster families who let the child walk; both were written up over the incident. Inability to discipline is one of the main reasons that teenagers in foster care make so many moves.

When you fill out an application to foster these days you will be asked to fill a box beside each behavior you are willing to accept in a foster child. Some are fire starters, sexually acting out, stealing, runaway, self-abusive, violent, and smoking to name a few. Which of these children are you willing to accept into your home and for how long?

Photo Credit:by MikeWise