CHILD'S PLACEMENT IN FOSTER CARE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FULFILLING CONTACTS WITH BIOLOGICAL PARENTS

Abstract

The primary care tasks for a child in a family are most often performed by biological parents. Families experiencing difficulties in fulfilling care functions should be supported through planned activities aimed at restoring the family’s ability to fulfill its assigned functions, and one such activity is the fulfillment of contacts with the generational family when children are temporarily placed in foster care.The aim of this paper is to analyze the issue of cooperation with the biological family of a child placed in foster care, including the possibility of maintaining relationships between children and their biological parents.In order to obtain research material, a poll research was used, which was carried out in socialization and family – type educational care facilities, both secular and run by nuns located in three provinces: Lubelskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, as well as Świętokrzyskie. The quantitative study used individual, fuldy directed interviews with directors/ coordinators of the institutions.The article attempts to answer the question: what is the fulfillment of contacts between children placed in institutional care and their generational parents? The research shows that directors of institutions have a very different attitude to the fulfillment of contacts with biological families. Some of them undertake various types of activities aimed at reintegration. Unfortunately, some respondents are strong opponents of maintaining relations between children placed in foster care and their biological parents, arguing that this “hinders the educational work undertaken in the institution.”The greatest problem that definitely hinders both the work with the biological family and the fulfillment of the child’s contact with the parents is the issue related to the placement of pupils in institutional care who do not necessarily reside in the county where the institution is located.