foster children

When foster care parents become discouraged with raising a foster care child it is frequently due to behavioral problems. An adolescent who has experienced a history of maltreatment is most likely to have such difficult behavior problems that lead to the disruption of placement. Many parents have a difficult time dealing with behavioral problems from a teen who has grown up in a healthy, loving environment, much less a teenager who is likely to have …

…e.g., stealing, vandalizing, injuring others), sexual acting out, and suicidality are especially predictive of placement instability (Brodzinsky et al., 1998). Pinderhughes (1996) offers a model that predicts stages families go through who adopt an older child. Her stages have been found to be valuable to the adaptive family since they normalize the challenges and frequent upheavals that many families experience when adopting a child with special needs. Her stages include anticipation, accommodation, resistance, and finally restabilization.