Abstract
A child being put into the foster care system comes with various trials. This begins with the foster child's original household dynamic either consisting of neglect or ill-treatment. Other cases being a parent who may not have the capacity to raise the child. To contextualize the creative arts and how they may benefit foster children, this review uses research collected from previous literature to examine prevalence rates, a child's needs, at-risk youth, how the brain reacts to the creation of art, music therapy, and its effects on foster youth, including after-school programs and support that is provided to children that implement the use of creative arts. Significant findings were compiled about the arts activating parts of the brain, consistently stimulating the same three neurotransmitters (oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine). Furthermore, the implementation of the arts in foster children's lives can reverse social and developmental delays they may have encountered as a result of trauma.
TopIntroduction
The foster care system has had a notorious reputation of infrastructures being overcrowded; the ratio of children to attend to versus the number of workers available strikingly differ. This leads to the exhaustion of workers and overlooked children (Clausen et al., 2012). This can contribute to the desensitization of individuals leaving a child's life without proper notice. Further abandonment issues encountered by foster youth can lead to instability of future relationships (Clausen et al., 2012). Foster children are a very high-risk population, many encountering abuse, mistreatment, rape, mental illness, lack of medical care, etc. Foster youth are placed into situations where they must grow up quicker than others due to a large sense of independence at an age range where children are not typically able to defend themselves in society. Having a lack of individuals to look up to in their lives, inner-city foster youth have often looked up to music artists as role models due to the consistency music can have in one's life, contrary to what this demographic may be used to (Camilleri, 2007, chapter 8, p. 94). There is a large inconsistency in quantitative data collection in the foster care system due to data not being reported or offered to the public, with the statistics being disclosed within seven to sixteen-year increments (Roehrkasse, 2021). This begs the question of whether this population will continue to receive the services they need and if policies will be set into place to assist this demographic.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Oxytocin: A neurotransmitter that oversees attachment, bonding with others, and decreasing stress.
Serotonin: A neurotransmitter that can assist in stabilizing mood.
CA: Creative Arts.
Frontal Lobe: Located in the front part of the brain, the frontal lobe has to do with cognitive functions such as emotions, memories, solving problems, etc.
Occipital Lobe: Located in the back of the head, the occipital lobe has to do with perception, assisting in the way one views the world such as color, movement, etc.
DMT: Dance and Movement Therapy.
Parietal Lobe: A major lobe of the brain that has to do with sensory information such as touch, taste, etc.
At-Risk: An individual who may encounter life-threatening or negative events in the future because of previous circumstances (Camilleri, 2008 AU45: The in-text citation "Camilleri, 2008" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. , p. 17).
Social-Emotional Functioning/Development: The ability for an individual to be able to communicate and build relationships with others in their lives such as a parent, friends, and significant others.
Prefrontal Cortex: Assisting in the creation of one’s personality, deciphering and understanding behaviors of self and others.
Dopamine: A neurotransmitter that helps in the feeling of reward and pleasure.