“Is foster care bad for children's mental health?”

The foster care system is broken, but it is certainly not damaging the mental health of children. A child placed into the system has already been exposed to so much trauma that they will have mental health issues if not treated. Being suddenly removed from any environment that you are used to is always traumatic. However, often children are placed in foster care because the situation at home was chronically not healthy either emotionally or physically, which can cause life-long consequences. Child Protective Agencies always try to place a child in a kinship arrangement first (meaning friends or family if available.) Although foster care is a less than perfect system and there are some bad homes, many children in foster care begin to show improvements in school after only a few months of being in a stable home. Children in foster care need additional mental health support to deal with the traumas that they experienced with their biological families. If mental health support is available, a child that remains in the same foster home long-term has similar outcomes to other children not in the foster care system.

The foster care system exists because the birth parents are neglecting or abusing their child. Therefore, well not a perfect system, it exists as a safe place for children to temporarily live until the natural parent is capable of providing correct parental care.