Home: Where You Grow

By Becca Sharp
11-15-15
English 111

I.

II.

Introduction to Major Research Paper

A. The notion of home; the home you live in shapes you into the person
you are today.
B. The notion of home impacts each and every person in different ways,
positively or negatively.
Body of Paper
A. Relationship: My camper was my summer home; it wasnt just
another bed or trip we took.
1. Camping is not just a trip, its a memory, a relationship.
2. Family bonding happened on these trips
3. Memories of the trips and the camper were ripped away from me.
4. Transition from relationship to concept through not taking the
notion of home for granted.
B. Concept Analysis: The notion of home and safe place can be ripped
away at any moment.
1. Home life impacts who you become
a. Joshua Becker says his home taught him to get on the floor
with his kids for bonding
b. It taught him what a loving, lasting relationship is.
2. It can be taken away at any second.
a. It once happened that a girls father died and her house was
never the same because he was what made it her home
(Definition).
b. Foster children get taken out of their home and put into
another home and have to adjust to that.
3. Every individual has his or her own view of what a home is or
what it should be.
a. Mine is because of the morals my parents taught me and
they taught me that family is everything.
b. When I came to college, I had to adjust to my new home
away from home.
4. Everyone has his or her own interpretation of what home is.
a. Home can be anything you want it to be, it could be, the
airport or a library, a garden, or a hotel (Where).
b. A home can be just a person that some one is bonded to.
5. Transition from concept to causes through the importance of having
a stable home
C. Cause/Effect: The intention of the foster care system is to move
children to a better environment, surround them with better people, and
lessen the amount of bad experiences; however that is not always the case.
1. Foster care placement can have lasting affects.
a. The children placed in foster care are four times more
likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, and ten times more

likely to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder than other

children (Wildeman and Emanuel).
b. The group was three times more likely to have mental
health needs and four times more likely to have been
treated for a sexually transmitted disease compare to the
national average (Doyle 1584).
2. Children placed in the foster care system are naturally going to have a
harder life ahead of them
a. They undergo investigations for abuse and neglect.
b. Children that are abused are 3 times more likely to die
during childhood (Doyle 1584).
3. Story of Caroline entering the foster care system (Impact).
4. Not having a stable environment can be very impactful for these
children, or young adults.
a. Children that dont have a normal amount of attachment to
anything or anyone are said to be free from moral restraints,
which concludes that they will resort to delinquency (Ryan,
Testa, and Fuhua).
b. Even Carolyn involved herself in delinquent activity
(Impact).
c. Even though some children have good levels of attachment,
there are still a significant amount that are not attached.
5. Sloterdijks interpretation of relationships through bubbles.
III. Conclusion: The principle of having a strong environment can impact the
people we become, even if its just a camper as a summer home.

Some people think that camping is just going on another family trip but to me its
not just that. Camping is much more. It was that warm feeling inside when you climbed
into your bunk at night with the smell of campfire in your hair, or the left over sand in
between your toes from being at the beach all day. It was the waking up to the sound of
people walking around outside by your camper and the smell of pancakes cooking on the
griddle. My camper was my summer home; it wasnt just another bed or trip we took.
Someone once defined home, as, Be it ever so humble, it's more than just a
place. Its also an ideaone where the heart is (Definition). Each person is going to
have their own definition of what home means to them and why it is important. The home
you live in can either impact your life positively or negatively depending on your
situation. The family surrounding the person or the environment can impact it. The reason
why it is important and the causes of the situation are unique to every individual. The
home you live in shapes you into the person you are today.
My camper was a 30-foot beauty. There was a big bed for my parents. A fold out
couch, 2 bunks, a table that folded out to a bed and a full bath. In the camper there was
many unforgettable things. We had this ancient Candy Land game that is hands down my
favorite game ever. It was in the camper for years and years and every trip we took we
had to play at least one game of Candy Land or the trip wasnt complete. We also had the
bunk beds, which were notorious for causing arguments among the kids. Nate, my
brother, always called the bottom one because he claimed he was too big to climb all
the way to top bunk. Then, Hannah my sister yelled out that she gets the bed that folded
out under the table because shes the middle child so she thinks that she can have
whatever she wants. Which left me, the one with the shortest legs in the family, to climb

all the way to the top bunk. One night, just out of spite I accidentally slipped and
kicked Nate on my way up, which led to a wrestling match that got us in trouble but was
well worth it.
When we go camping, its always a routine to get the campsite set up. We all
have our specific jobs we do and we perform them like a well-oiled machine. Nate helped
dad get the camper off the hitch and jacked up, Hannah helped get the green grass
looking carpet out for under the awning, Mom backed the camper into the site just where
she wants it, and I tried to move the picnic table to where Mom wants it. I usually ended
up failing because Im just one girl and I cant really drag a picnic table across a campsite
by myself.
The last camping trip with my family that I can remember was in the summer of
2006. The first night at the campground we took a lap around the loop to check out all of
the other campers and to take it all in. On our walk we gathered some kindling for our
fire so we can make dinner. Our favorite camping meal to make is Hobo pies over the
fire, so of course we did that. After dinner was done we went out to explore even further,
Nate and Hannah rode their bikes and I rode behind Nate on the pegs of his tires. We took
a few laps around the loop when the last time around we noticed a trail. Of course Nate
being the big brother that he is wouldnt let me go with him on it. So as usual, I had to
mosey on back to the campsite while Hannah and Nate went exploring on, what I thought
at the time, was a magical trail. The next day we went out on the boat. We went tubing,
water skiing, and pulled up to the sand bar where all the other boats were hanging out.
Ever since I was little, Nate used to tell me I was so good at different things just
so I would do something for him. For instance, he would tell me Oh Boo-Boo youre so

good at making sandwiches, you always put just the right amount of mustard on it
(Nathan). Eventually I caught on to what he was doing but still made him the sandwich
anyways. Still to this day he tells me I put just the right amount of mustard on his
sandwiches. Little did I know that this trip was the last trip we would take with our
camper.
One day we got a call from the storage unit that we keep our camper in, ironically
called, Secure Storage, they told us our camper had been stolen and there is an on going
investigation as to where it might be and who stole it. When the investigation was over,
they discovered that it was in the backyard of a 29 year old man with a little girl and boy.
It appeared that they were living in it for quite some time. Several other things had been
reported missing around the area in past few months and nearly all of those items were
found in the back of this mans yard. Some of the items included, two or three pontoon
boats, and brand new vehicles with snowplows on them. He stole a tractor and used it to
create a huge barricade of dirt in the front of his property to hide what he was doing.
Most of the items he stole were all ripped to shreds and separated. He would tear apart
the items to get the metal off of them to sell. There was one huge pile of scrap metal and
the other was a huge pit of the leftovers that he planned to burn.
My parents protected my siblings and me from most of the details about the legal
side of what happened to the man and his little children. As Ive gotten older my mom
has told me more details about him and his family. When we got the camper back, we
looked inside and found several personal items from his little kids. We found Easter
baskets, shoes, a hair bow, and clothes. The man and his two children were living out of
the camper for months where they had no water, heat, or electricity. He used a handheld

torch to dissemble all of the items he stole. Furthermore, after it was all taken care of my
family and I went to go see the place where all of our memories and keepsakes were
destroyed.
So I stood there in the backyard of the convicted mans property, around the
burning pit of leftovers, I watched all the years of memories burn into tiny ashes, and a
tear rolled down my cheek. I lost all the keepsakes that I held so close to my heart. But I
had to move on and only hope that the kids that lived in my camper for a while have even
a portion of the memories I made in it. As I crawled into my bed that night, I could smell
that campfire smell in my hair that I loved so much, all the memories flowed back.
Furthermore, camping was always my summer home and get away. It is important
for children to have a stable place and home they can come home to at night. Often times
the home is something that is undermined and taken for granted. Home will always be
there, its place where even if you leave it for a while, itll be there when you come back.
Home is where everyone goes at night to get away from the outside world, and the
importance is often taken for granted. The notion of home and safe place can be ripped
away at any moment.
Every ones home life has so much to do with whom you grow up to be. Joshua
Becker said, home taught him to go get on the floor with his children after a long day of
work for bonding, it taught him to love his haters, it taught him to always be the first to
lend a helping hand. He was also taught to be faithful, he learned from the example his
parent set, what a lasting, loving relationship is. He also gained his morals from his home
and all the things his parents did (Becker). Having a stable environment at home impacts
young childrens lives all over the world. Not having a strong family or having someone

there that you can always go to can emotional ruin a person and in my interpretation of
home, all of those things are included.
In addition, home has so much meaning to so many people and what everyone
doesnt realize is how fast it can be taken away. In just one blink of an eye, everything
that was once so comforting, so inviting, is gone. When my father died, my brothers and
sisters and I went back to his house, where hed lived alone. It wasnt only his absence
we felt. It was as though something had vanished from every object in the house. They
had, in fact, become merely objects. The person whose heart and mind could bind them
into a single thinga homehad gone. (Definition). Some people may only be
attached to a certain place because of who was there; and knowing that they will always
be there, so when they are one, its not really their home anymore. Another way a home
can be ripped away within just seconds is if some kind of criminal act has taken place. If
some one breaks in and steals everything that has meaning and that makes the home, a
home, it may not be the same place. We do not realize how fast something so important
can slip through our fingers. Everything in the house that had sentimental value or had
any sort of meaning whether it is a souvenir from your first vacation or a family
heirloom, is now gone.
Equally, home has so much meaning to those who have a stable environment; but
as for foster children, it changes and there is movement from house to house. In some
cases it could be an instance of a child being removed from a home or family for safety
reasons and being placed into a foster home. Now in this case this could be a positive
change instead of a negative. Equally, the childs whole world is different. Their notion of
home has completely changed. According to the article, What Its Like To Be A Foster

Child, every foster home is different and so is every foster parent, they all expect
something different regarding the rules and expectations. You not only get moved from
your original home but you get moved from one home to the next, to the next. Not really
having a real parent or home (What). Not having a real parent or somewhere to feel
safe at night can have so much impact on who you become.
On the same token, every individual has his or her own view of what a home is or
what it should be. Mine is very specific to the way I was raised. Home is considered a
safe place within my family. When we come home we know that whatever we say or do
will stay within the walls and mouths of those who are there. Its a place of support; my
family members and I will always have each others backs through thick and thin. As for
me, my heart resides at home, as I spend my first year here at SVSU away from my
family, it is now apparent to me how important my safe place actually was. We become
habituated and therefore blind. But if we leave home and end up in an alien and
frightening environment, how soon we remember home and with what fondness
(Where)! It was a rude awakening coming to school and spending a lot of time alone
when Im never used to being alone at home, I used to always have a family member
around me at all times. College has now become my home away from home.
Similarly, some one elses version of home could be completely different than
mine. Home can be anything you want it to be, it could be, the airport or a library, a
garden, or a hotel (Where). Its all up to the individual to decide what their version of
home is. On the same token, home could be a person, someone that you are completely
bound and attached to. According to Independent Digital Media, we may not even
recognize that one specific person is our home until we are away from or until they are

gone forever, just as we might not ever realize the significance our home has on our lives
(Where). Everyone is allowed to his or her own interpretation of what home is.
Home is the place that we come to every night and its the first thing we see when
we wake up in the morning so it is important to not take it for granted. It can be taken
away from us at any moment. Its a place to make unforgettable memories and bonds that
never break. Although some kids never have the opportunity to make those bonds and
memories because they are placed in the foster care system.
Foster care placement can be extremely frightening depending on the situation.
No child wants to be ripped away from their natural environment and safety, even if it
may be in their best interest. In most cases the children move from home to home not
really having a stable and safe place to call home. The intention of the foster care system
is to move children to a better environment, surround them with better people, and lessen
the amount of bad experiences; however that is not always the case.
Foster care placement as a young child can have major lasting effects. From the
article Cumulative Risks of Foster Care Placement by Age 18 for U.S. Children, 20002011 written by Christopher Wildeman and Natalia Emanuel, Children in foster care
are five times more likely to be diagnosed with depression, four times more likely to be
diagnosed with ADHD, and ten times more likely to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder
than other children (Wildeman and Emanuel). These children are more susceptible to all
different mental health issues strictly because of their environment. Children desperately
need permanence, stability, structure and constant unconditional love to thrive. In a group
of children studied by Doyle, The group was three times more likely to have mental
health needs and four times more likely to have been treated for a sexually transmitted

disease compare to the national average (Doyle 1584). These children are not receiving
the proper care and guidance that they need to have a healthy life. Foster parents may
lack the proper training and skills necessary to secure appropriate services for the special
needs of many foster children they serve. According to, The Adoption and Foster Care
Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) in 2014, about two-thirds of the children
entered into the system were placed there because of some degree of maltreatment which
is either neglect or abuse. The other third has to do with their parents actions, whether it
be drug or alcohol addiction, insufficient housing, or abandonment. Based on the results
of the AFCARS data, the foster care placement among children is way more common
than we ever thought. Up to 5.91% that is 1 out of 17 U.S. children will experience
placement by the age 18 (Wildeman and Emanuel). Economic challenges of the family
have a huge impact on the number of children that get placed in the system. Places that
have better economic stability put less stress on the family to provide for themselves so
they may not resort to those other coping mechanisms like alcohol or drugs.
Equally, children placed in the foster care system are naturally going to have a
harder life ahead of them. Over 2 million children undergo investigations for abuse and
neglect each year in the U.S. and only about 10% of these children are placed in a foster
care when in reality, over half of them have been abused or neglected. Abused children
are 3 times more like to die during childhood (Doyle 1583). This just shows that what
you go through in your child hood directly effects whom you come out to be. Children
placed in the system are always going to have to rely on the system and government to
get them through. Being placed in a foster home makes it much harder for these children
to thrive and carry out any plans that they may have had.

Carolyn was 7 years old when she entered the foster care system and she moved
over 7 different times throughout her time in the system. Each foster child has good and
bad experiences, but as for this young girl, she has some very unforgettable memories to
say the least. In one of the homes she felt like the foster parents were only in it for the
money that the state gave them, she felt alone and scared. She was also separated from
her siblings when she was initially put in the system. In one household, the foster parents
son hurt her and then when she confessed to her what he did, she then beat her for
accusing that. The next house she was in, the neighbor took advantage of her and she got
pregnant; because of her disability and only being 14 years old, her baby was taken from
her. Not all of Carolyns experiences were tragic like those described, she was placed in a
home at the age of 8 where the mom was loving and patient. She expresses how
refreshing it was to feel like someone actually cares about her. Carolyn is now a loving
mother of 4 children and wants the best life for them (Impact). Carolyn is a perfect
example of the foster system. Her placement was meant to be a better situation than she
was in before but we dont really know if thats the case. There are many other stories
just like Carolyns.
Not having a stable environment can be very impactful for these children, or
young adults. Children, who do not have strong role models and parental guidance, tend
to act out in desperation or purely because they dont have any real morals or someone
holding them accountable for their actions. According to a child welfare article, children
that do not have secure attachments will be more likely to act out in delinquent ways.
Children that dont have a normal amount of attachment to anything or anyone are said to
be free from moral restraints, which concludes that they will resort to delinquency (Ryan,

Testa, and Fuhua). Having a positive role model and looking up to some on to set a good
example of what is expected can have more impact than we ever thought before. For
example, Carolyn, who we learned about earlier, admits to involving herself in delinquent
activity and said that if she would have had a real role model in her life that it wouldnt of
happened (Impact). When children are left to their own devices to survive, they dont
always make the healthiest choices because they arent led by a good example. More
statistical evidence shows that, Despite high levels of perceived attachment, 37%
reported running away from the foster home at least once, 32% reported feeling lonely
and 34% reported being "mistreated" at least some of the time while in substitute care
placement (Ryan, Testa, and Fuhua). The foster care system is supposed to be a place of
safety and better than the position the children were in before. But in all reality, we dont
really know how beneficial these placements really are.
Sloterdijk, a philosopher, said that humans exist in this sphere known as a bubble.
The bubble only exists because we as humans have made it useful. Because of humans
existence we give the sphere its purpose. One cannot be without the other so therefore it
is not an option to be isolated in this world we have created. A sphere of world depends
on a human to make it what it is. It is here because of us and we may not have all the
control over everything but we are forced to work together and form relationships. These
types of relationships are relevant because my summer home wouldnt be a camper if it
werent for my family, a home wouldnt be a home without the family that lives in it, and
the foster care system wouldnt exist without the children that need the care.
The reason behind the foster system is strong but is not always carried out.
Carolyn was supposed to be placed in a better home but was then put through a broken

and corrupt system. Fortunately, Carolyn was strong enough to get through and is now
living a healthy and happy life. Children need nurturing, loving, healthy people around
them, a stable environment and good experiences. The principle of having a strong
environment can mean so much to who we become, even if its just a camper as a summer
home.

Works Cited
Becker, Joshua. 60 Life Lessons I Learned From My Parents. Becoming Minimalist.
N.p., Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

The Definition Of Home. Smithsonian. Smithsonian Magazine. May. 2012. Web. 23

Sep. 2015.
Doyle, Joseph J.,,Jr. "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring
The Effects of Foster Care." The American Economic Review 97.5
(2007): 1583-610. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Impact Newsletter: Growing Up In Foster Care: Carolyn's Story. Impact
Newsletter: Growing Up in Foster Care: Carolyn's Story. University of
Minnesota. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Lee, Katie. Why Is the Home so Important? Katie Lee RSS. Web. 25 Sep. 2015.
Ryan, Joseph P., Mark F. Testa, and Fuhua, Zhai. "African American
Males in Foster Care and the Risk of Delinquency: The Value of
Social Bonds and Permanence." Child welfare 87.1 (2008): 11540. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
What It's Like To Be A Foster Child - ImAFoster.Com. ImAFostercom What Its Like To
Be A Foster Child Comments. N.p., Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Sep. 2015.
Where The Heart Is Writers Invite Us Into Their Idea of Home. The Independent.
Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 23 Sep. 2015.
Wildeman, Christopher, and Natalia Emanuel. "Cumulative Risks of
Foster Care Placement by Age 18 for U.S. Children, 2000-2011."
PLoS One 9.3 (2014) ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.