Young people are placed in foster homes for various reasons. First, some of them are taken from the care of their parents maybe because their parents or guardians do not have the capacity to mold them into responsible adults. Secondly, some of them who engage in undesirable conduct are taken to the foster homes with the objective of reforming them and instilling good values in them. Most prominently, foster homes are built with the consideration that underage individuals lack the capacity to make their own resolutions or understand the full implication of their actions.
Ethical Issues
It is appalling that despite teenagers being placed in foster homes, not many people are conducting follow-ups to find out whether the foster homes are achieving the intended purpose. Research carried out by the Oregon Social Learning Center and the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center reveals that children admitted in foster homes have a high risk of engaging in bad social activities which have negative effects on their behavior and health. One of the undesirable behaviors is irresponsible sexual engagement which most of the time exposes the teenagers to sexually transmitted diseases (OSLC, 2018). It is unfortunate for teenagers to get infected with diseases such as HIV in foster homes, places where everybody believes that they would promote the best care. The research also notes that girls are at a high risk of getting unwanted pregnancies. It is because the girls are not guided on matters of relationship. For instance, a significant number of girls get pregnant after having a brief relationship with their boyfriends. It also means that the girls are not advised to use protection whenever they engage in any sexual contact.
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Secondly, some teenagers in the foster homes use drugs, which have adverse effects on both their physical and mental wellbeing. It seems that the authorities managing the various foster homes forget that teenagers are at the critical stage of their lives, where they need to be guided on how they ought to conduct themselves. Most importantly is that teenagers usually have several issues hence need someone to listen to them and advise them accordingly. If there is no one to listen to them, they tend to retract to the use of drugs to help them manage depression or other psychological condition. It is as a result of this that critics put the effectiveness of the foster homes to question. It seems that those people given the responsibility of taking care of the foster teens are either aloof from the teenagers or do not care.
Thirdly, the research establishes that foster teens have a high likelihood of being in conflict with the law enforcement agencies. According to the research, many young people from the foster homes break the law so readily compared to teenagers brought up in normal homes. Some of the reasons that make the teenagers get caught are violent behavior, drug trafficking, and criminal acts. Even when they are released, their rate of recidivism (the tendency to reoffend) is high. As a result of such conduct, many people would be tempted to ask, what exactly is done in the foster homes? Unlike in the normal homes, it seems that children from foster homes are given the liberty to choose what they think is right for themselves.
Another ethical issue is that children are usually moved from one foster home to another without knowing the psychological effect the transfers have on the teenagers. When people stay together, they tend to develop friendships or long-lasting relationships. When young people are separated from each other, they take a long time to cope with the situation. The problem in the foster homes is that the teenagers may be moved to several foster homes, some of which may be far apart. The authorities in the foster homes forget or just ignore that people need to establish social connections with each other. The constant separation of the teenagers does not allow them to make friends. As a result, many teenagers feel isolated and consequently are likely to develop mental disorders. Lastly, researchers note that most children in foster homes have poor academic performance. Unlike in normal homes, where a majority of parents are concerned about the academic performance of their children, foster home administrators or care-takers do not have that personal relationship with the teenagers. Therefore, they may not analyze the academic performance of the teens on a daily basis.
My Role in the Mock IRB
My role in the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to check whether the researchers’ study is valid or not. That means that I have the mandate of analyzing the objectives of the study conclusively before giving the researchers any warranty to commence the study. Foster homes are crucial facilities, and as such, a significant number of the members of the public would be interested in hearing the findings of the study. Most importantly is to ensure that the study follows all the ethical issues and does not expose personal information to third parties (Klitzman, 2015). Therefore, the researchers need to show how they will carry out the study without revealing private information unnecessarily. Apart from observing ethical conduct during the study, the researchers also need to reveal how the study will improve the wellbeing of the foster children, as well as some of the solutions they intend to bring forth.
Approval and Disapproval of the Study
One of the reasons I would approve the study is because it relies on empirical evidence rather than mere hearsay. The study aims to address critical issues that are of public concern. It would have been a problem should the study have only raised the issues without providing any form of a background. The authorities in charge of the foster homes would have also argued that they are being unfairly targeted by the researchers.
According to the ethical considerations, the study warrants approval because the researchers say that they will obtain the consent of the participants. All the participants are required to sign a consent form before they are allowed to take part in the study. It is important to note that the participants in the study are the foster teenagers, parents, and the authorities in charge of the foster homes. The teenagers are the prominent subject because they are being investigated for their behavior, the causes, as well as the solutions. However, the study is mostly interested in seeking the solution to bad conduct and undesirable health effects among the teenagers. It is the reason why parents are involved in the study.
In regard to the law, the researchers acknowledge that they will ensure that they report any physical or other harm to the relevant authorities in the event that a child is harmed during the study. Unlike some researchers who might try to hide any injurious caused to participants in an attempt to avoid being condemned, the researchers are ready to take full responsibility of any undesirable impacts of their study. Such an action shows that the study will be conducted in good faith. The openness with which the study aims to be conducted eliminates any skepticism that the participants may have.
Nevertheless, the study has several shortcomings. First, the researchers do not point how the parents to be involved in the study will be picked. Some of the parents may not promote the best behavior among the foster teens. The study does not also tell whether the parents will be sought around the foster homes or far away. More importantly, the researchers have not yet disclosed the racial or ethnic background of the parents. Notably, the researchers do not have foster teens with white racial backgrounds in the sample to be studied. The sample has Caucasians, Hispanics, African-Americans, and those with Indian background. The researchers do not explain why foster teens with a white racial background are missing.
As a result of the issues presented above, the study may be perceived to be biased. Secondly, if some of the parents to be involved in the study have a white racial background, the foster teens may develop undesirable attitudes towards them. It will be difficult for such parents to talk to the teens about certain matters without being branded racists. Thirdly, if some of the parents are known by the foster children as not having the best conduct or being too harsh, the foster teens may protest.
Conclusively, the objective of the study is to try to provide a remedy to the several assertions. At the beginning of the proposal, the researchers admit that the surveys that have been conducted are mostly descriptive. That means that the problem that the study intends to solve has not been studied conclusively. There is, therefore, the need for thorough research of the problem before a solution is offered. The descriptive studies did not conduct surveys of the foster children. The researchers risk providing solutions to problems that may be inexistent or insignificant. It is prudent that the researchers evaluate the problems afresh before they provide solutions.
References
Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC). (2018). Preventing Behavior and Health Problems for Foster Teens. Oregon Social Learning Center . Retrieved 15 April 2018, from http://www.oslc.org/projects/preventing-behavior-health-problems-foster-teens/
Klitzman, R. (2015). The ethics police? The struggle to make human research safe . Oxford University Press.
