Erika Asgiersson’s article Autonomy Under 18 examines the recent publication of Hidden in Plain Sight: The Tragedy of Children’s Rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate by child advocate and professor Barbara Bennett Woodhouse

A recurring subject throughout the book is foster care; Woodhouse’s main criticism is that the system too often ignores the child’s voice when determining best interests. While most have turned away from the notion that children are objects without autonomy, her examples show that the foster care system often gets stuck in old reasoning. Lost in the system, there can be a lack of concern to satisfy a child’s need for a sense of belonging and family relationships. “Abused and neglected children in state custody have fewer rights than accused criminals,” Woodhouse argues.

Woodhouse also criticizes the foster care system for relying too heavily on removing children from their homes. While she recognizes that there are cases where the best option is to remove the child from the home, the decision must be made carefully. A recent article from Ms. Magazine shares this same frustration as it cites the overrepresentation of poor, black youth in the foster care system not because their mothers are unfit, but because poverty is the bigger issue that needs to be addressed. Poor mothers predictability have a harder time providing basic needs for their children, but as the article points out, “race and poverty should not be a barrier to raising one’s children.” Addressing poverty first will prevent children from unnecessarily being placed in the foster care system.

The book also details the wider historical treatment of children in American society:

Hidden in Plain Sight tells the tragic untold story of children’s rights in America. It asks why the United States today, alone among nations, rejects the most universally embraced human-rights document in history, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This book is a call to arms for America to again be a leader in human rights, and to join the rest of the civilized world in recognizing that the thirst for justice is not for adults alone.

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse explores the meaning of children’s rights throughout American history, interweaving the childhood stories of iconic figures such as Benjamin Franklin with those of children less known but no less courageous, like the heroic youngsters who marched for civil rights. How did America become a place where twelve-year-old Lionel Tate could be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of a young playmate? In answering questions like this, Woodhouse challenges those who misguidedly believe that America’s children already have more rights than they need, or that children’s rights pose a threat to parental autonomy or family values. She reveals why fundamental human rights and principles of dignity, equality, privacy, protection, and voice are essential to a child’s journey into adulthood, and why understanding rights for children leads to a better understanding of human rights for all.

The system is stretched so thin that many involved say they are having trouble making thoughtful matches between foster parents and their charges. Some child-welfare experts are worried they may soon be unable to recruit enough qualified foster parents, while others say the city has moved too slowly in putting support systems in place to help these older children flourish in private homes.

“It’s a good direction, but the problem is that we’re implementing the plan before the infrastructures are all in place,” said Bill Baccaglini, executive director of the New York Foundling, one of the largest of about three dozen private foster care agencies that contract with the city to find and monitor homes. “We run the risk of burning out our foster parents and losing them.”

The city is especially trying to find private homes for teenagers; however, it can be a challenge to find a sufficient number of foster parents willing to adopt teenagers.

Mr. Mattingly said the key is to place teenagers in private homes immediately on being removed from their families, because otherwise they often languish forgotten in institutions. “The basic experience we have in the field, and research supports this, is that if you work at it, you can place teens at the very get-go in foster families,” Mr. Mattingly said. “Those foster families sometimes will need additional supports, not always, and the young people will do better and achieve permanency more quickly if placed at the outset with a family.”

But the challenges of placing teenagers only grow more complicated as the numbers dwindle, since those left behind tend to have more physical, behavioral, emotional, psychological or learning problems. Some were badly abused and further traumatized by bouncing from foster home to foster home.

“Good, solid, healthy teens have issues in the best of families,” said Mr. Gutheil, of Episcopal Social Services. “But these are not run-of-the-mill, ‘I’m in a bad mood today’ adolescents. These are kids who have gone through some pretty rugged times. The notion that an adult is somehow going to take control of their lives is very difficult for them.”

To address these issues, the Administration for Children’s Services has created nearly 1,000 so-called therapeutic foster homes, which come with extra counseling services, as well as crisis-management support and more training for parents. The city has also relaxed its rules regarding kinship placement, allowing a godparent, coach or family friend to take in a child.

And foster care agencies have begun to tailor their recruiting pitches at churches and street fairs to play up the benefits of fostering a teenager, including the freedom from diaper changes and sleep deprivation. Among the most effective tools has been including a panel of teenagers who need homes in the 10-week training of prospective parents: Mr. Mattingly said that while perhaps 7 percent start out willing to take in teenagers, by the end, 25 percent raise their hands.

Source: Foderaro, Lisa, “As Teenagers Leave Group Homes, a Challenge Placing Those Who Remain” (June 8, 2008). N.Y. Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/nyregion/08foster.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss