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Thread: I need voices and opinions!

  1. #1
    God/dess Bella21's Avatar
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    Default I need voices and opinions!

    Okay, I'm doing a group paper about children of migrant workers. We each had a foster kid to tutor this semseter and the teacher wants us to tie foster care into it all. So, I have that particular section (the likening it to foster kids one). So far, I have:

    -They get shuffled around a lot.
    -They often fall through the cracks.
    -They are often misunderstood.
    -There is no stable home life.
    -Real world problems (such as food, clothing and shelter) are prevalent, putting scholastic goals on the backburner.

    I need to fill up a page and a half or so... anyone have anything to say? If anyone here has been/is in foster care... do you want to talk about "falling through the cracks" (or anything else)? We discussed it a lot in class but I wasn't taking notes.
    If you think school is hard, try being stupid.

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    Featured Member snoopy's Avatar
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    is your particular section "foster care" type issues of migrant workers' children as the overall topic?

    maybe some discussion on who's really watching the kids while most of the parents work. i have to think it's some kind of communal/kibbutz system of caregiving while the worker parents go out in the fields or factories. is the surrogate/teacher parent doing a sufficient job?

    maybe some discussion on how they're real modern-day gypsies in essence. ok, that's a bit of fluff.

    how about contrasting it to typical foster care that we know? i.e. foster care is usually with strangers taking in children. whereas the migrant worker foster care seems to be a traveling community with (maybe, i'm guessing here) designated caregivers, like the kibbutz example i suggested above. hth

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    Rather than take ALL of those things and try to just present them, you might consider taking ONE of them and making an argument for its truth.

    For example...

    "Real world problems (such as food, clothing and shelter) are prevalent, putting scholastic goals on the backburner."

    Use this as a thesis for you paper, and then find support for your thesis by researching this topic for evidence that it is true.

    Believe me, your prof will be pleased that you did this.

    If you need help on writing such a paper, go to this link...

    http://comp.uark.edu/~tstarks/paper.html

  4. #4
    Sitri
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    Well, where do I start... as a recovering foster child.

    Conceptually, people view foster homes as a neutral area that is nuturing and safe and the "real" home and parents are negligent and the situation is unsafe.

    In some cases, the foster home is a warehouse for these children existing to collect the monthly payment. While there are foster homes that genuinely want to adopt foster children, the courts have the children in a limbo for years as the rights of the parents are discussed and the right to adopt them can't be granted.

    I don't know why I started to reply to this. Any generalization is probably wrong when applied to any specific situation involving the real parents, the social services beaureauacy, the courts, the child(ren), and the foster parents.

    I would probably approach the concept of foster care with what its objective should be and how it goes about fulfilling those objectives in relation to the individual child it is attempting to protect and develop.

    Sorry for the spelling. Good luck.

  5. #5
    madmaxine
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    Here are my opinions, being personally informed of the plights of both foster kids and migrant farm workers:

    *Education is neglected because most farm workers & their dependents go back to their country of origin during the off-season (for example, Mexican farm workers return to Mexico for the winter.) IF the family places a high value on higher education for their children, they will often send the kids to live with relatives permanently residing in the U.S. so their school years are uninterrupted.
    IMO foster kids face more of a struggle in being displaced locally...in CA sometimes they are not allowed back into their old school district and have to be moved to another local school, causing alienation and stress.

    *Yes it's true both children of migrant workers and foster kids "fall through the cracks." With no stable background to pull resources from, they have to struggle to meet their basic needs. Foster children may face a harder path than migrant worker's children if the abuse that put them in foster care was substantial. There's 2 great non-fiction books about an abused girl- "One Child" & "The Tiger's Child" by Torey L. Hayden that illustrate the inner turmoil & depression of a displaced child, Sheila. (Sheila was bright enough to go to college but she chose to work at McDonald's- she was utterly alone in the world & needed to support herself.)

    * Ultimately, there are many success stories from both groups. IMO the civil rights movement and the tight-knit culture of Mexican families has allowed many children of humble means to succeed in life. & Some of my friends who spent time in foster care became very independent and resourceful out of neccessity.

    & Here's a little graphic for the report:

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    God/dess Bella21's Avatar
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    Well, it's not so much a full paper so much as putting together a bunch of info (we all took topics and then designated one person to put the paper together so that it makes sense but he doesn't have to write anything himself). Yes, it's sort of cheating but no way can 6 people really get together and just write a paper together.

    Max, that was really informative! Thanks

    Sitri and Snoopy, so you're talking about a sort of contrast between the family-ties that children of migrant workers would have compaired to the lack of family for foster kids?
    If you think school is hard, try being stupid.

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    God/dess PookaShell's Avatar
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    You could maybe add....

    -Confusion about their identity because of a lack of stable role model

    -A feeling of inadequacy for being put in a "being passed around" kind of situation

    -Emotional problems as a result of anger/hurt/lack of understanding of why they don't have a stable "family unit" like they may see their peers having, or over whatever the situation was with their biological parents

    Hmm. If I think of any thing else that might be helpful I'll come back.

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    Featured Member snoopy's Avatar
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    Default Re: I need voices and opinions!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bella21 View Post
    Sitri and Snoopy, so you're talking about a sort of contrast between the family-ties that children of migrant workers would have compaired to the lack of family for foster kids?
    it could be something like that. my viewpoint was that maybe "true" foster care like max presented would not be as good as foster care of the migrant group-family.

    i'm assuming a lot of things (e.g. groups of families travel together somewhat, caregivers are known the the worker group, etc.) though as i'm not very knowledgeable of the migrant worker world. but i figure a little blurbage of comparison and contrast (if you know or can somewhat support the view) can easily fill the 1.5 pages of your portion of the paper.

    the editor's position is the worst imo. i'd rather just bang out a small portion than try and tie together five people's ramblings. good luck on the paper!

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