The following exercise focuses on my research proposal and what questions I will be answering in my research paper. I chose my topic after going through the steps of the last exercise that I posted to this blog and as I continue in the research process, I am aware that I am forming a thesis and a specific topic for my paper. The exercise that I am doing today will require 3 steps: An inquiry question, my primary purpose, and any prior beliefs or assumptions that I have about the topic.
Let's see where it takes me!
1.) Inquiry Question: What are the primary issues within the Foster Care Program today and how can we fix them?
2.) Primary Purposes: Explore: These are few more questions that I want to answer in my research because I find them important and relevant to my topic. I realize that there are good things about it, but what can and maybe should be changed about how the system is run in order to boost the success rate of children ending up with "good" families rather than aging out of the program? How effective is it to tell a child they are too old for a family by setting n age limit and giving them $200 dollars to live off of? What are some ways that these problems can be solved within our society? What are people doing already to fix these issues?
Argue: What theory or hypothesis about my topic is being tested? What s my tentative main claim or thesis? The theory that the Foster Care System is not flawed and is placing a successful number of children into safe homes is the theory that is being tested. My tentative thesis or main claim is that there is a better way to run the Foster Care Program and in order to fix the problems within, we have to find the flaws and issues that surround it so that children have a better chance at life regardless of where they came from and who their biological parents are.
3.) What are my prior beliefs, assumptions, preoccupations, ideas or prejudices about this topic? What personal experiences of mine will shape my feelings on this subject? Did I have knowledge about this topic before choosing it? What are my thoughts on it now?
I must admit, I feel strongly about this topic because I am studying social work as my major here at LBC. Knowing that I may work in this environment someday prompted me to find out as much about it as I can. I also have personal experience with this topic because my 3 youngest siblings were adopted through foster care into our family. In that time, I thought there was nothing wrong with the Foster Care Program because we had a successful adoption and our case did not take as long as many others do. I certainly had knowledge about this topic upon choosing it because I as I said before, I am studying Social Work as my major and I personally have been through the process 3 times as my family was in the process of adopting my siblings. My feelings about Foster Care are conflicted because I know that if we did not have it, there would be so many lost children and people would get away with anything. I know that Foster Care is necessary and can do wonderful things. It is a good program that has saved many lives and rescued many broken children. However, I know that there are issues with it on the political spectrum and the laws that are surrounding it can be impossible at times for families who are looking to adopt children. I know there are ways of improving the system and I feel that this study will help me see what the issues are and how we can improve them for the greater good of the children, the adopting families and the birth parents that know their child deserves a better life than they can provide for them.
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