9 Chapter 9 Exploring Canadian Foster Care

            Readers must understand foster care in Canada to better help them understand Nora Watts character and her relationship with her daughter throughout the book The Lost Ones. Nora Watts and her sister were in the Canadian foster care system growing up and it has had an impact on who she has become. Nora lived in foster care during impactful years of her lives influencing the way she chooses to handle her own daughters’ situation. Studies have shown some of the physiological impacts living in foster care can have. Understanding the foster care system will better help readers analyze and understand some of the situations and decisions that Nora Watts makes based off her upbringing in that situation.

In Canada today there is an issue with the foster care sector and having enough qualified foster homes available for the increasing number of foster kids. In an article regarding foster care, the author Ziminski states, “Recent reports have suggested there is a “foster-parent crisis” in Canada, citing a drastic lack of qualified foster parents relative to the number of children in need of foster homes. The president of the Canadian Foster Family Association, Sheila Durnford, said the foster parent shortage has reached a crisis point nationally, with several jurisdictions routinely forced to house older children in hotels” (Ziminski). This is an increasing problem in Canada because of the lack of foster homes kids are being sent to other places to live such as hotels. The foster-parent crisis helps show how the quality of living for the foster kids can be rough as they grow up during such influential ages. Nora is a former alcoholic and the habit can be pointed back too her upbringing and she felt the need to have alcohol fill a void in her life. Nora living in the foster care system got to see how the “foster-parent crisis” was an issue because she had been moved around herself into different people’s care.

The state of foster care in Canada can also help explain how many kids within the system get overlooked. In an article by New York Times, Clifford, talks about the harsh reality of being poor and trying to support your family. This was a similar situation as to what could’ve happened to Nora. Clifford wrote about a struggling mother and said, “For most parents, this scenario might be a panic-inducing, but hardly insurmountable, hiccup in the long trial of raising a child. Yet for Ms. Joefield and women in her circumstances — living in poor neighborhoods, with few childcare options — the consequences can be severe. Police officers removed Deja from her apartment and the Administration for Children’s Services placed her in foster care” (Clifford). Nora gave up Bonnie so a similar situation like this did not happen to her. This article helps give real insight into the struggles that people in the child care system face with little to no options for help.

Even from a parent’s perspective, they can tell the physiological effects that being in foster care can have on the kid. The foster care being in such disarray in Canada only makes matters even worse. Nora’s daughter, Bonnie, is an example of a kid who has struggled with emotional, mental health, and behavioral issues. Although Bonnie was adopted at such a young age and never met her mother, she still suffered from the same effects many of these kids suffer. An article done by a medical group reported, “Twelve to 14 percent of adopted children in the United States between the ages of 8 and 18 are diagnosed with a mental health disorder each year, and adopted children are almost twice as likely as children brought up with their biological parents to suffer from mood disorders like anxiety, depression, and behavioral issues”. (Guarino). At the beginning of the book Bonnies new parents have called Bonnie a chronic runaway because this was not the first time she has run away from home. The emotional problems can be attributed to the issue of not being raised by her biological parents and the side effects that come with it.

Foster care also is becoming more unsafe as the number of qualified foster homes has dipped. In an article about the increased deaths in government care dove into the controversial topic. The author Stewart explained, “In British Columbia alone, deaths of children in care jumped from 72 in 2008 to 120 last year, while critical injuries skyrocketed from 120 to 741. In Alberta, within the span of 14 years between 1999 and 2013, 741 children died while in care or while receiving child welfare services. Since 2013, another 71 children have died. These deaths and injuries result from suicide attempts, overdoses, sexual and physical abuse. But they are only the tip of the iceberg, as a far larger number of young children in care suffer emotional and psychological damage” (Stewart). These statistics are alarming and show a possibly reason why Nora gave her daughter up. Nora being in foster care herself gave her daughter up knowing that if she could not support her that she would be taken in and put in the foster care system. Looking at the statistics and how unsafe it has become shows why that may not have been an option she wanted to deal with. Also, if the statistics show the dangers of children in care you think that the police would be more worried about a “chronic runaway”. The fact that the police were not too involved with her missing daughter and the parents reaching out to her proves to be enough to get Nora to try and track her daughter down.

It is tough knowing about the foster cares situation and wanting to give your kid up to the system. Nora was a foster kid herself and as the articles stated lead to poverty and emotional issues which we both see in Nora’s life. With the rising dangers of the foster homes it is also understandable for Nora to give up her kid when she was living on the streets. If she was unable to support Bonnie, then she would’ve been sent to the broken foster system. Nora seeing how the system had worked for her firsthand has led to the decision of giving Bonnie up. When she finds out her daughter is in trouble, the mother instincts turn on in order to make sure her daughter was safe despite having no connection with her.

In conclusion, the deeper knowledge of the foster care system in Canada helps the readers better understand the characters in the books. Nora Watts was in foster care with her sister growing up and this knowledge allows the readers to have a bigger emotional connection and empathy for Nora and her current situation. Now that foster care is becoming even worse over the years due to lack of government involvement, readers can understand why Nora may have wanted to give Bonnie up and try to avoid Bonnie ending up in foster care like she had. With this gained knowledge the readers will have increased ethos and personal connections for some as they read the book.

Work Cited

Clifford, Stephanie, and Jessica Silver-greenberg. “Foster Care as Punishment: The New Reality of ‘Jane Crow’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 July 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/nyregion/foster-care-nyc-jane-crow.html.

Kamal, Sheena. The Lost Ones. William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.

Stewart, Riksen. “Deaths of Children in Government Care Skyrocket in Canada.” Deaths of Children in Government Care Skyrocket in Canada, World Socialist Web Site Wsws.org

Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), 6 Sept. 2017, www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/09/06/cafc-s06.html.

Team, The Meadows Web. “Adopted Children Often Face Mental Health Struggles as Young Adults.” Claudia Black Center, 30 May 2017, www.claudiablackcenter.com/adopted-children-often-face-mental-health-struggles-as-young-adults/.

Work Ziminski, Devon, et al. “Child Welfare in Canada: More Federal Assistance, Less Oversight Compared to U.S.” The Chronicle of Social Change, 6 July 2016, chronicleofsocialchange.org/news-2/a-tale-of-two-systems-minimal-oversight-of-child-welfare-in-canada-compared-to-u-s/19433. Cited