EL DORADO — Early brain development in children who come from adverse circumstances: poor living conditions, temporary housing, or unstable families; are facing high chances of being unable to adapt to the outside world and lead healthy lives — a path that close to 30 percent of the city’s population have faced.
In 2012, roughly 700,000 children in the nation were classified as victims of abuse or neglect, probably more, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2016, the number of Arkansas Children living in poverty decreased, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which measures child welfare in four domains: economic wellness, education, health, and family and community.
One factor countering child abuse in Arkansas is foster homes and willing families.
Currently there are 69 reported children from Union County in the foster care system, with an average of more than a hundred annually, said Shaneil PJ Yarbrough, executive director for the Agape House Children’s Home — the only group home in the county.
Agape House, located at 1838 Morning Star Road, is able to house up to seven children with one supervisor, and with two supervisors the group can manage eight children. A benefit of a children’s home is that it can cater to siblings who want to stay together, Yarbrough said.
A former foster child herself, she said, there’s a correlation between families living in poverty and children in foster care.
“I think a large portion of them come from a poverty stricken family,” Yarbrough said. “Just knowing what I know now, that would be something I’m willing to say is definitely a factor.”
Studies show that children living in poverty begin to exhibit lower cognitive and academic readiness, are more likely to repeat a grade, be expelled from school, are prone to chronic health problems, and it can have lasting effects on brain structure — persisting even into adulthood, according to First Focus, a non-partisan advocacy organization.
“My many years in childhood development, the formative years are zero to five, therefore in traumatic situations and abusive events it certainly can affect how they develop,” Yarbrough said.
Not all parents who live in poverty abuse their children, but it can lead to unhealthy stress brought on by difficult access to necessary resources like food, water and shelter, said Karen Langston, Union County coordinator for The Call, a Christian organization that connects families with local children in foster care.
An ongoing issue for foster children is the amount of available housing in Union County. About half of the 69 children in the foster care system are housed within the county, the other half are placed with families and group homes outside of the county, potentially in another region of the state, Langston said.
In result, the children from El Dorado who are living in a foster home outside of the county are further away from their familiar world and are ineligible for the El Dorado Promise Scholarship.
Currently, there are 22 foster care families in Union County, each with roughly 2-3 foster children. They are brought into foster care due to three main reasons: child neglect; drug abuse within the family; and traumatic family events, like evictions and deaths in the family, Yarbrough said.
In Union County, primarily children are placed in foster care because poor young families who abuse drugs are raising them, Langston said, with child neglect being the second most-likely cause.
“Very seldom do we see environmental neglect, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see it” she said.
If a child isn’t raised in a healthy environment, then people are assisting the problem that persists at the county, state and national levels.
At the age of 18, foster children grow out of the system that some have become accustomed to, and they have the option to continue into transitional housing or walk out. Most, when of age, try it alone without a grasp of their identity and make inevitable mistakes, Langston said.
“Then we have this population that’s uneducated without a family to back them up,” she said, adding later. “If this system has taken care of these kids for so long, where else are they going to go?”
This is part 3 of a series touching on poverty in the city of El Dorado. All reporting was finished as of May 16, 2017. The series will touch on issues within the city, poverty on a personal level, organizations in place to help, and an answer to an ongoing dilemma throughout the country.