Systemic barriers in social service settings have long been ignored. These challenges undermine the positive outcomes, permanency, and safety of children in foster care. Many times, the lack of communication between service agencies prevents the achievement of the goals set for children and families. Angela and David's hope is to adopt both Anton and Isaac once Kyla's rights are finished. Their current belief is based on the assumption that Kyla's rights will fail, according to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) caseworker. Kyla did not comply with court-ordered recommendations. The lack of coordination of the system and the lack of involvement of foster parents, children and schools are minimizing the needs of the family. The various sectors appear to have little accountability in providing Angela and David with services with monitored progress and appropriate case plans, resulting in a lack of cohesion between these services and the foster parents. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In light of the lack of communication between service industries, Anton and Isaac exhibited unusual behavior. According to school staff, Anton has recently engaged peers in physical altercations (biting) and Isaac has had difficulty regulating emotions (crying) during separation from his adoptive parents. The attention the children's behaviors received prompted the school's social worker to recommend parenting classes, further evoking the idea that Angela and David would be Anton and Isaacs' permanent caregivers. The lack of communication between the school social worker, foster care social worker, and dependency court social worker, as well as receiving mixed messages from both the adoptive parents and birth mother, is impacting Anton's psychological health and Isaac. Not only is the lack of communication affecting Angela and David's mental health, creating doubts about their abilities to parent these children, but also diminishing Anton and Isaac's perceived sense of security. Along with the lack of communication is the system problem of weak and insufficient engagement practices. Kyla finds herself having to balance not only the DCFS worker, the dependency court appointed attorney, a parenting class facilitator, the Transitional Housing Program (THP) worker, but she is also pressed with balancing the surveillance, substance abuse counselor, and criminal defense attorney all serve to fill a specific need. Social workers, probation officers, counselors, lawyers and other advocates are not effectively organized to provide collective support and strengthen advocacy for Kyla's needs. Inadequate systems of accountability do not provide Kyla with support that is culturally responsive to her needs. Kyla has a long history of trauma, from inadequate care from her biological mother to abandonment from her father to a domestically abusive relationship with her ex-partner. As it stands, the challenges of navigating the justice system are lengthy. However, trauma-informed commitment from Kyla's service providers impedes her ability to achieve positive outcomes in all areas. Studies have illustrated how often social workers take a biased attitude towards caregivers in the case of child welfare (Akin, Strolin-Goltzman & Collins-Camargo, 2017). The DCFS operator has.
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