The Subjective Well-Being of Portuguese Children in Foster Care, Residential Care and Children Living with their Families: Challenges and Implications for a Child Care System Still Focused on Institutionalization

Paulo Delgado,Carme Montserrat,João M S Carvalho,Joan Llosada-Gistau

doi:10.1007/s12187-019-09652-4

Paulo Delgado, Carme Montserrat + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-09652-4

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Abstract

Most studies with children in out-of-home care highlight the problems and challenges associated with residential or foster care, and few have investigated the well-being of these children. The aim of this study is to compare the subjective well-being (SWB) of children hosted in institutions and in foster families with the well-being of children living with their families. We used a sample of 422 children, aged between 11 and 15, being 39 in foster care, 145 in residential care, and 238 living with their families in the general population. We measured SWB with the Personal Well-being Index-School Children (PWI-SC9) and we evaluated the impact of several variables in this index. Results indicate that children in residential care have a lower SWB in all variables compared to foster care and general populations groups. These outcomes should challenge children’s public policies to change from a dominant positive attitude toward institutionalisation to a more successful approach based on foster care families. This approach will provide the opportunity for children in out-of-home care to grow up in a family, and improve their SWB, which can probably ensure a better life trajectory.

Highlights

Between the groups of children in foster care and in the general population, there is no significant differences in their assessment of subjective well-being (SWB)
In the current Portuguese context, where only about 3% of the children are in foster care, it is essential to develop a process of deinstitutionalization
This implies giving the opportunity to a significant number of children and young people who are in big institutions to foster families

Summary

Objectives

All these studies and figures highlight the importance and urgency of questioning the dominant institutionalization pattern in Portugal, and conducting research on residential care quality, to assess the extent to which this social response meets the real needs of the children, as Rodrigues et al proposed (Rodrigues et al 2013). There is still a lack of studies on the SWB of children in residential care in countries like Portugal where this type of placement is the most widespread. To cover this gap, we adapted to the Portuguese context the research developed by Llosada and colleagues (Llosada-Gistau et al 2014, 2017), being its aims to explore and compare the SWB of children living in residential and foster care with their peers from general population. The study objectives are focused on knowing the subjective wellbeing according to: (a) the relations that they have in their placement and family; (b) the relationships that the children have at school; (c) the perception about themselves; and d) the factors that most contribute for its change. The fact of focusing on these variables is due to the importance of the sphere of interpersonal relations in subjective well-being studies and especially in the environment closest to children, such as their nucleus of coexistence and school (Children’s worlds 2016)

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