ement is not the appropriate alternative; a placement is required where children can receive the intensive treatment and intervention they need: "As more and more children enter foster care with serious learning disabilities and emotional problems . . . placement in a group-care facility with trained staff offering specialized services may be more beneficial than a family placement" (Foster Care, 1998, p. 6).
Abused children in foster care often exhibit conduct disorders even when placed with stable, nurturing families. Such children continue to struggle with deep, emotional wounds. Besides being the victims of past abuse, the typical foster child is placed in limbo, at the mercy of various authorities, in a state known as "foster care drift." Such children become hardened to the system, knowing that the older they get the less their chances of adoption into a permanent family: "Too often, children fall victim to foster care drift, while the professionals who are responsible for ensuring their care vacillate between returning them to marginal homes and terminating parental rights to free them for adoption" (U.S. Congress, 1996, p. 18). It is not surprising then, that foster children who have been abused experience trouble with social relationships.
An abused child's acting out behavior often surfaces in the academic environment. For instance, a child who has suffered years of physical abuse might take it out on classmates by exhibiting extremely aggressive behavior. Or a child who has suffered from malnutrition might gorge himself in the school cafeteria or even steal food to take home. Such children who exhibit antisocial behavior in school might appear well behaved in the foster care situation, for fear of the consequences: "In foster care, the perception is that the parents can always call the Child Protective Services on a moments notice and say it's time to take the child away" (Brodkin and Coleman, 1996, p. 35)...