Foster care in America : a reference handbook
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In a 1988 address dedicating May as National Foster Care Month, President Ronald Reagan emphasized that 'the family is the indispensable foundation of society; at its best, it performs tasks that no other entity can hope to duplicate.' All members of an immediate and extended family are important, but parents are especially essential as they bear the primary responsibility for children's physical, emotional, psychological, and social development. Dedicated parents are instrumental in building confidence, character, and self-sufficiency in adulthood. In fact, social science research over the past several decades has overwhelmingly demonstrated the importance of parental/child relationships and the beneficial influence of a stable family life on children's development and overall well-being and in preventing a variety of social pathologies (Wilcox et al. 2011). Unfortunately, this stability is absent for the large percentage of children who are removed from their family of birth and placed in the foster care system because they have been abused, neglected, abandoned, or are otherwise unable to continue living safely with their original guardians"--,Provided by publisher.