Abuse of adopted and fostered children - Straight Dope Message ...

Do you mean abuse prior to fostering and adoption, or after?

There certainly seems to be a higher percentage of children who have been abused at some point who are in the foster system than those who are in stable families, which shouldn't be too shocking when you recall that removing children from unfit parents is one way children get into the foster care system.

There is still a tendency to value biological children over other children. This is, by no means, universal and there are many, many foster and adoptive parents who sincerely love and care for the children in their families regardless of origin, but the tendency still exists when you examine the population as a whole.

Then there are Bad People who want to use/exploit/abuse/whatever kids and try to get into the fostering/adoption sector in order to obtain children for nefarious purposes. Needless to say, any reputable agency will take pains to filter such people out but I have no doubt some slip through the cracks.

Children who have been sexually abused may act inappropriately for their ages, can be (though not always) over sexualized, have trouble forming appropriate relationships, and may attempt to use sex to manipulate adults. Even if this doesn't lead to foster/adoptive parents abusing the kids it can lead to the kids being more likely to be abused by either relatives or strangers. Kids who have been sexually abused are more likely to engage in prostitution (hey, it's a way to make money and manipulate others) which could certainly be considered abuse for underage children even if they "consent" to it or actively seek it out to make money.

Children who have been physically abused are more likely to act out with violence, and may abuse other children in the home because that's their "normal" and how they learned to deal with problems, by using the same methods abusive adults used on them. Not all physically abused children do this, but statistically this sort of behavior is more likely in them.

All of which could probably be regarded as "factors why this happens" rather than statistics on how often such things actually occur.

Source: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=702949

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