books

FOSTER CARE CRISIS

Book examines growing Canadian problem

EVERAL MONTHS ago

! received a book, one

of perhaps 30 or 40 that
would have arrived the
same week. | glanced at the
subtitle (“The Foster Care
Crisis in Canada’’) and con-
signed it to the ranks of
some 300 others awaiting
review, deeming it to be of
little interest.

Well, Lwas wrong.

Martyn Kendrick’s incisive and
Passionate examination of the
over-burdened and seriously tlaw-
ed systems of child protection and
care in this country ts a convincing
indictment of the way we treat the
kids who. through no tault of their
own, have become the wards of
the provincial authorities.

itis a searing and poignant story
of 60,090 Canadian youngsters
who. as victims of neglect, abuse
or other forces, are consigned to
foster homes. Ultimately, Kendrick
maintains, ihey are Nobody's
Children.

Some 12,000 kids enter the
foster systems each year in
Canada, a system designed to offer
often troubled children some
measure of stability, the basic
necessities of life and. frequently,
protection trom physical and/or
sexual abuse.

In theory these children will
receive a degree of care not avail-
able in their former environments.
They will be nurtured by their
foster parents, supervised by skill-
ed professionals and provided with
the tools to realize their potential
as whole, healed members of
society.

Such, at least, is the theory.
Kendrick argues that reality is
something else entirely.

No matter how dedicated Ca-
nadian social workers are, he says,
they are too few in number, poor-
ly paid and incapable of handling
their growing case loads. In fact,
says Kendrick, “social workers ...
spend, on average, a paltry one
hour per month with the child...”

And what of the foster parents
themselves, the key child care
component with whom the
chiidren live? They are, after all,
the cornerstone of the provincial
programs.

According to studies cited by the
writer, foster parents receive litle
of No training suitable for helping
children who may have severe
emutional handicaps and require
informed assistance. He provides
the following foster adult profile.

“They are recruited from the
lower-middle class (only about 20

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the guidance or the saciid worker
concemed. Ther nianstrags Case
loads prevent this

Newly TO percent
PACED ES TONE SUEVEN asserted
that social workers didl net provide
them with adequate intonation
onassistince io dealing with ther
children.”

And who are these kids? The
“averave foster Child’ as sum:
marized by the author as:

*dkely to be a T2- year-old
mate. in Gride 7. He was admit.
ted to care atabout nine or 10
vears oF age and has had fewer
than three placements. The tamily
breakdown that precipitated his
admission into Care will continue

See Foster Page 24

LONS DALE OQ

ot toster

MIKE
STEELE g\ .

book review

percent of foster parents sought
out the possibility of fostering on
ther owe inittative): the majority
are over 40 and tack a high-school
diploma. Approximately hall ot the
foster parents have Gride Hor
Tess.”

Although it might be countered
that any deficaencies are oftset by

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