The word foster means to bring up with care.  Foster care is intended to be a temporary living arrangement.  It is supposed to be a separation between the child and the parent and a chance for them to be able to work out whatever caused the child to be in foster care so that when and if the child returns home, they would return to the family life that they deserve..  Foster care can be in a foster home with many children or it can be with a foster parent who allows the child to come into their home.  Even a family member can be the child's foster parent.  There are many different types of situations for foster care.  Some of them include: abuse, biological parents who are incapable of caring for a child, dead or missing biological parents, parents who are being judged or in rehabilitation without another parent to take care of the child, children who are in trouble with the law and parents are given the choices between giving them to a welfare agency or taking care of the situation like adults, and teen parents who want a second chance at education and can't handle both school or work along with a child.
    Sometimes foster care is not described as ideal, but it is better than living with an abusive or incapable parent.  Foster care has been described as drastic social surgery.  It gives the parent(s) and the child a time to work out their problems and the parents to become a better parent.  The child welfare agency is in charge of the legal portion of the foster situation, but some biological parents don't agree with the foster care step.  If the step is completely necessary, the parents can be forced to go to court and the judge can rule for the child to be placed in foster care without the parents' consent.  After the child has been place in foster care, there are still some serious questions that need to be answered.  These are: How long will the child remain in care?  While he or she is living away from home, will there be any visits with the natural parents?  If so, how often?  Where will the parent or parents visit with their child and how long will the visits last?  What steps do the parents need to take before the family can be reunited, that is, before the child returns home?  How will the child welfare agency or the court recognize that these steps have been taken?  If it looks as though the child will never be able to return home, would adoption be an option?  If adoption is not a possibility, what kind of long term arrangement will best suit the child?
    In one study, just over 50% of the children placed in foster care returned home within six months.  However, a quarter of the children in the same study had been in foster care for at least 2 years.  Many of the children who enter foster car never live with their original parents again.  Certain parents cannot give the child the love and care that they need.  The children deserve something better.
    At birth, a child becomes part of the family and home of the biological parents.  Being a parent involves more than just having the child.  One recent theory that has influenced child welfare planning is that of the psychological parent. The psychological parent is not only the person who meets all of the child's needs, but also gives the child the warm affectionate feeling, their trust, and the feeling of being wanted by someone.  The child feels that the psychological parent is the person that they can trust and always count on.  They are the  child's parent whether they are blood related or not.  In most cases, the biological parents becomes the psychological parents unless some other adult takes on the role.  If the child is in foster care for a long time, the foster parent may become the psychological parent.  This will most likely happen if the child is put into foster care as an infant or at a very young age.  Some social welfare planners believe that the most important thing that people can do for children is to make sure that they stay with the psychological parent.  They say that providing a child with the security of living with someone they trust and know they are loved by is a lot more important than the rights of the biological parents.
    Other people who are interested in child welfare have a different way of describing how important security is for children.  They believe the foster care system should be more interested in finding every child a permanent home.  This is known as permanency planning.  Permanency planning became a US law in 1980 when the Congress passed House Bill in 96-272, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Reform Act.  This law states that every child has the right to a permanent family atmosphere.  It requires that the child welfare agencies make a definite plan for a child's future when they take the child into foster care.  It should identify a specific living arrangement as the goal for the child.  It should also spell out the steps that the caseworkers and the child's biological parents will take so that the child is able to live in that permanent home within some reasonable time period.  According to the PL 96-272, the decision about a permanent home should be decided by the time the child has been in foster care for 18 months.  In most cases, there is two kinds of permanent living arrangement.  These are:  the child may return to his or her parents and the parents will give up their parental rights and the child is able to be adopted by a family.
    If you or anyone you know is in a situation at home where they are being abused or their parents have left, you need to tell someone immediately.  Sometimes the people in bad situations don't accept that what their parents are doing is wrong or they want to somehow protect their parents by not telling anyone.  If you know someone like this, you need to talk to them and tell them that both the person in a bad situation and his or her parents need help.  Tell them that they deserve to be loved and that they deserve a better life.  If they still don't see the dangers, you need to tell an adult about it.  The adult will know who to call and what to do.  Even though you may not think that there are very many children in foster care or in bad tough situations, the federal government estimated that 276,000 children were in foster care as of 1987.  I admire the children who have come out of bad situations and have had the courage to go on in foster care.

Hales, Dianne. The Encyclopedia of Health: The Family .  New York, New York: Chelsea House
    Publishers, 1988.