Due to unfavorable family conditions in life, there are very many kids left with no homes, while some are in homes where they aren’t secure or at peace. These kids are innocent, and they have the right to be protected at all costs. That’s where the agency gets in and helps the kids get basic needs up to a point where they will be able to provide for themselves upon getting a job. Some of the reasons these children grow up in foster care are negligence, abuse by some guardians, or even abandonment. One of the foster homes known in the World is the Kid’s Place (Samantha, 2017).
Name and Mission
As discussed above, the name is A Kid’s Place. It is a 60-bed home where abandoned and abused children are taken care of. The largest population is kids below the age of five. Their mission is to help children who undergo abuse and neglect grow under medical and social assistance till they are old enough to take care of themselves. The foster home is located in Brandon, Florida. Since its establishment, the home has provided shelter to over 1300 children from over 550 families. The home offers great services to the children, including family settings, love and cohesion, therapy services, education, dental services, and toddler programs for small children. All these services are provided in one place. After the children are nurtured in all areas, they can be placed with their families and relatives, and they can be adopted or live in private homes after they are 18 years old. The home’s main goal is making sure the children feel at home and being their bridge towards a great future.
Funding Sources
Foster homes are nonprofit organizations, and A Kids Place is no exception. This means they have no source of income of their own. They rely on outside sources, including the government and well-wishers. In such a facility, there are a lot of people who are employed to be paid to give certain services. There are professionals who give therapy services, workers who clean, teachers, food, and clothes, among other expenses. They all expect a pay slip at the end of the month. The home needs capital to run. According to the latest interview, their total budget for the current period was 3.5 million. The government provided 2 million; hence, there is the other 1.5 million, which is still a lot. That’s where well-wishers, religious groups, communities, and investors come in. There are very many well-wishers who are always there to support the facility. They include founding sponsors like the Bank of Florida, corporate sponsors who are represented by The Bank of Tampa, community sponsors like the Tijuana Flats Foundation, and In-Kind partners like the Ricoh.
Social Programs Related Services
Foster children undergo lots of hardship before being brought to the agencies (Linares, 2015). They undergo medical torture because they see fights and other occurrences they are not subjected to withstand. The agency must offer social services to the children. The home offers therapy services and professional mental services. The most affected part is always the mind. The agency has professionals who give excellent services to the kids to help them forget bad memories, accept themselves, and help them solve depression issues.
Eligibility for the Social Program Services
The eligibility of the services varies in this agency. They contain children who are up to 18 years old. On almost all occasions, when children undergo domestic violence, parent imprisonment, drug abuse, or neglect, the services under child protection are called, and they are the ones responsible for the allocation of the children affected to the foster home program.
Gaps in Services Related To the Social Program
There are many gaps and problems that need to be solved in these social programs. The services are less than enough. At first, there are fewer foster homes compared to the number of foster children. According to the statistics, over 3,000 children need foster care, but there are only 264 foster homes (Barth, 2017). The homes are way less. The other gap is the services. Professional services like therapy and mental services are not possible in some homes due to a lack of funding for the services. Some foster homes have got problems with basic needs like shelter and enough food. Unless all these gaps are filled, then the social program has yet to bring the required impact.
The idea to Solve the Gaps
All these problems can be solved just by two things: love and care. When the government gets love for children who are innocent, they can set some amount in the treasury, which can help build more foster homes countrywide. The main problem aside from the availability of foster homes is the finances. Everybody from the community to private investors should practice care and love and at least put some cash and resources aside to help the foster homes. If every citizen participates by first having healthy family relationships and then by being human enough to understand that the foster children are like the other children, then all these gaps can be solved.
In conclusion, this is a grave matter, and foster homes should be taken seriously. The agency A Kids Place has done everything its best over the years to accommodate and help as many kids as possible. Both the government and the private sector should be at the forefront of foster home improvements.
References
Barth, R. P., Barth, R. P., & Barth, R. P. (2017). The child welfare challenge: Policy, practice, and research. Routledge.
Linares, L. O., Jimenez, J., Nesci, C., Pearson, E., Beller, S., Edwards, N., & Levin-Rector, A. (2015). Reducing sibling conflict in maltreated children placed in foster homes. Prevention Science, 16(2), 211-221.
Samantha Mellen. (2017). http://www.akidsplacetb.org/
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