Essay On Foster Care
I. Essay 1: Foster Care
a. Temporary Placement: It’s very important to note that the purpose of foster care is to provide temporary care for children. This is because, for foster children, the goal is to eventually reunite children with their parents. If this hope isn’t attainable, foster care then becomes a temporary placement until social workers can find families to adopt these children and to provide permanent homes. While some families foster children with the intent to adopt them, the main intention of foster care is to provide children with temporary care.
b. Overload: In Chelsea’s presentation, she informed the class that, as of 2014, there were 510,000 children in America in the foster care system. This massive number reflects the …show more content…
overload in the foster care system which leaves social workers struggling to find placement for these children, because there simply aren’t enough homes. As a result, 20-25,000 children “age out” of the system annually, meaning they become too old to qualify for foster care or child welfare services. Social workers, if they find homes, are also faced with the difficulty of being able to thoroughly examine every foster home, so many foster children are at risk of being placed with a family with insufficient resources or ill-intentions.
c.
Careers: Another notable aspect of the foster care system is the staff. Many individuals follow different career paths with the same objective: to devote their lives to advocating for and helping children. For example, one career choice is becoming a DHS-Child Social Welfare Worker—people responsible for inspecting claims of abuse, facilitating court cases, and helping children that “age out.” Also, people can choose to be Foster Family Consultants (another form of Child Social Welfare Workers), and these employees work to find temporary placement for children in the system and to reunite children with their parents—achievable. While there are other careers that work with the system, it’s important to understand that these careers aren’t consumed with negativity, hardship, and ingratitude; these individuals are awarded for their devotion with life-changing experiences and the honor of helping so many …show more content…
children.
II. Essay 2: Buddhism
a.
Nirvana: While there are numerous significant characteristics of Buddhism, Nirvana would definitely hold a place at the top of the list. Nirvana is described as a sanctified and blissful state where those who achieve Nirvana are freed from temptation, misfortune, and secular egotism. Buddhists who obtain Nirvana also no longer die or undergo reincarnation, and they are liberated from karma. Buddhists devoting their lives to completing the final stage of Nirvana can be viewed as analogous to Christians devoting themselves to live as in image of Christ in pursuit of redemption in Heaven. Nirvana is the end-goal of Buddhists, and most all other practices are centered around the pursuit of Nirvana.
b. Four Noble Truths: The Four Noble Truths are the main principles of Buddha’s teachings: Dukkha, Samudaya, Niroha, and Magga. Dukkha, the first of the four truths, identifies the truth about suffering—it’s an unavoidable part of life. Second, Samudaya claims that suffering isn’t for nothing; Nirodha (the third truth) says that suffering will eventually end, and in the final of the Four Noble Truths, Magga, Buddha insists that fulfilling the Eightfold Path will bring such end to suffering. These four lessons represent some of Buddhists’ central values and motivate Buddhists to follow the Eightfold
Path.
Eight-Fold Path: The Eightfold Path includes the steps Buddhists must complete in order to reach Nirvana. Buddhists are expected to gain a right vision, to purify their intentions, to develop honorable speech, to act in favor of others, to appreciate life, to assert effort towards resisting evil and doing what is good, to have positive thoughts of both oneself and others, and to practice meditation and concentration. The steps of the Eightfold Path can be divided into three categories: wisdom (steps 1 and 2), morality (steps 3-5), and meditation/concentration (steps 6-8). The Eightfold Path is extremely important to the Buddhist faith, because it is by accomplishing each step, Buddhists reach their end-goal—Nirvana; therefore, Buddhists practices are centered around these expectations.
a. Temporary Placement: It’s very important to note that the purpose of foster care is to provide temporary care for children. This is because, for foster children, the goal is to eventually reunite children with their parents. If this hope isn’t attainable, foster care then becomes a temporary placement until social workers can find families to adopt these children and to provide permanent homes. While some families foster children with the intent to adopt them, the main intention of foster care is to provide children with temporary care.
b. Overload: In Chelsea’s presentation, she informed the class that, as of 2014, there were 510,000 children in America in the foster care system. This massive number reflects the …show more content…
overload in the foster care system which leaves social workers struggling to find placement for these children, because there simply aren’t enough homes. As a result, 20-25,000 children “age out” of the system annually, meaning they become too old to qualify for foster care or child welfare services. Social workers, if they find homes, are also faced with the difficulty of being able to thoroughly examine every foster home, so many foster children are at risk of being placed with a family with insufficient resources or ill-intentions.
c.
Careers: Another notable aspect of the foster care system is the staff. Many individuals follow different career paths with the same objective: to devote their lives to advocating for and helping children. For example, one career choice is becoming a DHS-Child Social Welfare Worker—people responsible for inspecting claims of abuse, facilitating court cases, and helping children that “age out.” Also, people can choose to be Foster Family Consultants (another form of Child Social Welfare Workers), and these employees work to find temporary placement for children in the system and to reunite children with their parents—achievable. While there are other careers that work with the system, it’s important to understand that these careers aren’t consumed with negativity, hardship, and ingratitude; these individuals are awarded for their devotion with life-changing experiences and the honor of helping so many …show more content…
children.
II. Essay 2: Buddhism
a.
Nirvana: While there are numerous significant characteristics of Buddhism, Nirvana would definitely hold a place at the top of the list. Nirvana is described as a sanctified and blissful state where those who achieve Nirvana are freed from temptation, misfortune, and secular egotism. Buddhists who obtain Nirvana also no longer die or undergo reincarnation, and they are liberated from karma. Buddhists devoting their lives to completing the final stage of Nirvana can be viewed as analogous to Christians devoting themselves to live as in image of Christ in pursuit of redemption in Heaven. Nirvana is the end-goal of Buddhists, and most all other practices are centered around the pursuit of Nirvana.
b. Four Noble Truths: The Four Noble Truths are the main principles of Buddha’s teachings: Dukkha, Samudaya, Niroha, and Magga. Dukkha, the first of the four truths, identifies the truth about suffering—it’s an unavoidable part of life. Second, Samudaya claims that suffering isn’t for nothing; Nirodha (the third truth) says that suffering will eventually end, and in the final of the Four Noble Truths, Magga, Buddha insists that fulfilling the Eightfold Path will bring such end to suffering. These four lessons represent some of Buddhists’ central values and motivate Buddhists to follow the Eightfold
Path.
Eight-Fold Path: The Eightfold Path includes the steps Buddhists must complete in order to reach Nirvana. Buddhists are expected to gain a right vision, to purify their intentions, to develop honorable speech, to act in favor of others, to appreciate life, to assert effort towards resisting evil and doing what is good, to have positive thoughts of both oneself and others, and to practice meditation and concentration. The steps of the Eightfold Path can be divided into three categories: wisdom (steps 1 and 2), morality (steps 3-5), and meditation/concentration (steps 6-8). The Eightfold Path is extremely important to the Buddhist faith, because it is by accomplishing each step, Buddhists reach their end-goal—Nirvana; therefore, Buddhists practices are centered around these expectations.