Foster Care Provision Research Articles

Could I do something like that? Recruiting and training foster carers for teenagers “at risk” of or experiencing child sexual exploitation

AbstractChild sexual exploitation (CSE) is a category of child abuse that was historically created to recognize the victimhood of children and young people, illuminating the ways that their evolving capacity to consent to sex is manipulated and undermined. Using evidence from the evaluation of specialist foster care provision and a CSE training course for foster carers, this paper considers how training might be used to widen the pool of potential foster carers for children affected by CSE and identifies qualities displayed by effective carers. It argues that improving the recruitment of foster carers can create safer home environments for teenagers at risk of or experiencing sexual exploitation and reduce the risk of further harm and that informed and effective foster care provision is crucial to prevent both the sexual exploitation of looked‐after teenagers and placement breakdowns that can ultimately increase risk.

SOCIAL AND LEGAL PROTECTION OF ORPHAN CHILDREN AND CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF PARENTAL CARE

This article is devoted to the study of the social and legal protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine and other countries of the world. The authors revealed the concept, nature, regulatory framework, types of bodies, state financial support, and directions of improving the protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care. It was emphasized that the social and legal support for the protection of the rights of orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine needs to be further improved due to the issues of legislative consolidation and their practical implementation. According to our study, we conducted a statistical analysis of the number of orphans and children deprived of parental care, as well as of persons receiving retirement benefits. A number of scientific studies have been analyzed by scholars in the field of social assistance, labor law, and other jurisprudence related to retirement loss. Among the main areas of improvement, it was decided to amend the current legislation of Ukraine on the delimitation of the mediation activities regarding the adoption and professional activity of teachers and patron educators. Accordingly, recommendations were made regarding the possibility of establishing orphanages or foster homes, abandoning the system of general-type orphanages, and improving the conditions for the provision of foster care to a child. It was also proposed to create a legal framework that would regulate financial assistance for families with children and by improving the funding of regions, their programs, and strategies, and improving their financial situation. These regulatory issues have been analyzed with the addition of practical research from other scholars and jurisprudence. Ways of their solution and improvement of the current legislation have been adopted and developed on the basis of a thorough analysis of the legislation of the European Union countries. Keywords: legal regulation, social and legal protection, orphan, deprived of parental care, boarding school.

The social care needs of unaccompanied minors: the Irish experience

ABSTRACTThis article examines forms of care which can be used by social workers to best respond to unaccompanied minors (UAMs) given their complex needs and particular vulnerability combined with their agency and resilience. The vulnerabilities and agency/resilience of UAMs are examined in the context of multiple borders (cultural, political and physical) being negotiated by these young people. While it focuses on Ireland as an example of a country where care provision for UAMs has improved considerably in recent years, it draws on both the Irish and international literatures. This article critically analyses the shift from hostel to foster care provision for UAMs in Ireland and explores benefits and difficulties associated with using foster care, while also discussing the use of alternative forms of care, such as residential care. We argue that social workers must always give consideration to a range of care options, to the needs of the individual child and to both their vulnerability and their resilience/agency. This is especially true given the diversity within the population of UAMs. Given the increasing numbers of refugees entering Europe and the mix of provision for UAMs across the continent, the Irish situation may represent a useful site for examination of their care.

Foster-Care Commissioning in an Age of Austerity: The Experiences and Views of the Independent Provider Sector in One English Region

Considerable knowledge exists about the commissioning of children's fostering and adoption placements from external agencies within a context of shared corporate parenting. However, the impact of governmental change in the UK from May 2010, and particularly that of austerity measures, has yet to be determined. This article explores the experiences of foster-care providers in one English region in the year following the government's first Spending Review. It refers to the findings of earlier foster-care commissioning research and considers these alongside some policy ideas put forward by influential figures sympathetic to the government. It also considers whether the research evidence of commissioning adoption services is reflected in the empirical evidence reported here and if this is prescient for foster-care. The findings of this study shed light on the initial effects of austerity measures on both local authority commissioners and independent fostering providers (IFPs). Whilst collaborative working relationships remain, the study highlights legal and procedural factors which may distort or threaten effective foster-care provision. It concludes that suggested changes to policy and practice, during the current Coalition government's term of office in the UK, are likely to have significant consequences both for local authorities and IFPs. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

The foster carer's experience: An integrative review

Foster carers have a significant responsibility in caring for children who are unable to live with their birth families and represent a key determinant in child outcomes. Difficulties in recruiting and retaining quality foster carers have resulted in an increase in research investigating foster carers and their experiences in recent years. To synthesise current literature investigating foster carers and their experiences to enable a better understanding of their unique care-giving context. The electronic databases CINAHL, Health Source, MEDLINE, Pscyh-articles, PsycINFO and socilNDEX were searched using the key terms; 'foster carer', 'foster parent', 'foster mother' and 'foster father'. Articles were included if they reported primary data about foster carers experiences in the English language. Papers published prior to 2000 were excluded in order to provide a contemporary perspective of the foster carer experience. Data was extracted, tabulated and thematically analysed. The findings from this review revealed the provision of foster care to have both positive and negative effects on foster carers personal well-being. These effects are largely reliant of foster carers perception of their role as either parental or professional, the nature of their relationships with child welfare personnel, and their ability to manage children's difficult behaviours. It is important for nurses to understand caregiving as it occurs in a variety of contexts. Nurses need to have an awareness and understanding of the value and role foster carers have in the lives of vulnerable children. In so doing, nurses are well positioned to assist foster carers to identify and express their needs in relation to their important caregiving role.

Towards a mixed economy of foster care provision

Foster care in the UK, especially England, has developed a broad base of service delivery. No longer an almost exclusively public sector activity, foster placements and related therapeutic and educational services are increasingly located in the non-governmental sector and delivered by independent fostering providers (IFPs). As this sector has grown, so too have contracting arrangements between IFPs and local authority purchasers, most of whom have faced considerable difficulties in recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of foster carers for their looked after children. With the strengthening policy shift towards commissioning, different contracting models are emerging. These are described with reference both to recent studies and a broader critique of relevant legal, policy, ideological and managerial developments in order to speculate about the future of a mixed economy of foster care.

The language and policy of care and parenting: Understanding the uncertainty about key players’ roles in foster care provision

Recent debates about the care provided to looked-after children have been characterised by uncertainty about the differing roles and responsibilities of foster carers, birth parents, and social workers. To explore the assumptions underlying these uncertainties, we drew upon Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and compared the discourses used by professionals (social workers in a group discussion about foster placement breakdown) with those used by policy-makers (in the Governmental green paper ‘Care Matters’). In both cases, a discourse based upon Attachment Theory was used to explain why placements succeed and fail, and to predict the repercussions of failure. However, there was a key difference in the way that professionals and policy-makers constructed the roles of key players in foster placements. The social workers constructed the birth parents as the parental figures for children in care, constructing themselves in a non-parental role. ‘Care Matters’ largely ignores the role of birth parents, and instead constructs social workers as parental figures. Neither source viewed foster carers as parental and ‘Care Matters’ positions this group as strictly professional. We discuss the incongruence of foster placements being understood through Attachment Theory, while foster carers are understood as non-parental figures, and also the repercussions of labelling a social worker as a parent, and the professionalization of the role of the foster carer.

A Suitable Case?: Implementing Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in an English Local Authority

This article by Derek Kirton and Cliff Thomas draws from a local evaluation of a multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) programme in England, focusing particularly on issues of implementation. These include experiences of working with the Oregon Social Learning model on which MTFC is based, its theory, philosophy and practices. The article also considers the translation of this model into a UK context and the associated questions of adaptation and fidelity. The challenges of multidisciplinary teamwork and interagency collaboration within MTFC are explored, along with the latter's place within wider child welfare provision. Particular challenges highlighted are those of transitions into and from MTFC and the role of children's social workers. Albeit from a small-scale study and with inevitable variation in outcomes, it was found that MTFC achieved significant gains for a number of young people with complex needs and often troubled histories. This, in turn, raises questions about how far its theory and practice could or should be extended within foster care provision.

When Family Becomes the Job: Fostering Practice in Denmark

This article by Christian Christrup Kjeldsen and Marianne Bruhn Kjeldsen discusses the provision of foster care in Denmark and considers the results of recent domestic studies of foster carers as well as current debates and changes concerning the substitute care of children. It suggests that Denmark's emphasis on preventative services and the low use of adoption influence the characteristics of children who enter the care system because the separation from their families of children who are at risk of harm is delayed. It is also the case that despite Denmark's reputation as a welfare-oriented state, the fostering system displays many tensions and difficulties similar to those reported in the UK and US. Some of these problems can be attributed to the role afforded to foster carers, especially the requirement not to get too attached to the children, and the division of responsibility between professionals and carers. As a result, it is argued that some children in need of long-term emotional care miss out and their placements disrupt unnecessarily.

The Experiment of Foster Care

We sought to provide a new framework for understanding the training and ongoing support of foster parents. The experiences of authorized foster parents were viewed in the context of an experiment, whereby foster parents entered an out-of-home care placement with preconceived ideas and expectations of what the provision of care would be like. We have investigated the experience of foster care from the perspective of the foster parent who tests expectations of providing care as one might conduct any experiment. Focus group discussion yielded five global domains of foster care experience: birth family, motivation, agency influences, relationship impacts, and attachment. Foster carers commonly described these domains as central to the overall experience of providing foster care. Furthermore, specific experiences within each domain were seen to either encourage or discourage the further provision of foster care. Individual interviews regarding the practical experiences related to these domains uncovered struggles of foster parents who sought to understand their role identity as a “foster parent”, and their self identity as a “mother”. We discuss implications arising from the experience of these domains of care and their related struggles.

“Children Out of Place”

The provision of foster care in Australia has a long and contested history. These histories, along with current media representations of foster care, shape the ways in which the general public understand foster care. Importantly, and where such representations are primarily negative, it is likely that foster care will not be considered a viable option for many people seeking to engage in community work or to care for children. This paper provides an analysis of a sample of representations of foster care in the Australian news media, with a specific focus on the depiction of (1) foster children as “lost children” who are “damaged goods”, (2) foster care systems and social workers as inherently damaging to children, (3) foster carers as primarily either inadequate parents, or good parents only in comparison with “bad social workers”. The paper concludes by highlighting suggestions for future directions within media reporting of foster care in Australia.

Institutional Stressors and Individual Strengths: Policy and Practice Directions for Working with Australian Lesbian and Gay Foster Carers

In response to the current shortfall in the number of registered foster carers in Australia, many agencies are now actively recruiting lesbians and gay men as foster carers. Importantly, however, this move towards recognising the role that lesbians and gay men may play as foster carers has on the whole not been supported by laws or policies specifically aimed at protecting such carers. Additionally, findings from a national research project on foster care in Australia presented in this paper highlight the ongoing heterosexism and homophobia faced by lesbian and gay foster carers when working with social workers and birth parents. Importantly, however, these findings highlight not only the negative aspects of foster care provision experienced by lesbians and gay men, but also the positive ways in which they continue to create families and resist or rework social norms. Implications for practice are made with specific reference to challenging such norms amongst social workers and advocating for legal change to support lesbian and gay foster carers.

Longing to "Belong": Foster Children in Mid-Century Philadelphia (1946-1963)

In 1956, W, a 15 year-old foster child residing at the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's temporary shelter, met with her case worker to discuss her future placement plans. After a failed attempt to return home to her natural mother, expressed her deep disappointment and con fessed to suicidal thoughts. In a subsequent meeting with her worker, said she wanted try another foster home and longed to belong to just one person, despite a long history of failed placements. The worker, while sympathetic, ques tioned the girl's logic. Echoing the expert literature's depiction of biological ties as intractable, the worker attributed W's failed placement to her deep emotional attachment to her natural parents. The caseworker explained to both she [W] and J [W's brother] had a close attachment to their mother both posi tive and negative and that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to take on another mother. The 15 year-old client, like others, appeared to accept the worker's narrative: W seemed amazed at what I said and certainly seemed to understand what I was explaining to her.1 The worker's account of her meetings with provides a rare glimpse into the world of mid-century foster care and reveals how foster children used the casework relationship to articu late and organize their inner worlds. It also exposes social workers' veneration of biological bonds, and the paradoxical tendency for professional narratives to simultaneously elicit and marginalize children's voices. This essay investigates the experience of children in foster care at mid-century against the larger backdrop of shifting professional discourse on foster care, in cluding revisions in social work's family preservation ideology, the prominence of psychodynamic thought in the postwar social sciences and social work, and the strength of nuclear family ideology. Existing historical scholarship regarding foster care is largely focused on Gilded Age and Progressive Era reforms, the re discovery of child abuse in 1960s, and related policy initiatives in the 1970s. Given the absence of large-scale federal child welfare policy efforts, historical discussions of foster care provision often ignore the period of the 1940s through the 1950s altogether.2 This paper, in contrast, builds on my recent work that posits mid-century as a significant historical juncture in foster care provision. Moreover, as little scholarship on foster care examines the experiences or per spectives of children, this paper responds to calls from historians of childhood and considers the history of foster care from the perspective of foster children.3 The story of children's experience in foster care can be gleaned from three interrelated and mutually dependent vantage points: 1) the expert literature; 2) foster care caseworkers, and; 3) foster children. Historians interested in child voice inevitably confront the issue of scant source material. Case records from foster care agencies provide unique documentation of children's experience and, although translated by agency caseworkers, child voice. Increasingly used by so

Length of service for foster parents: Using administrative data to understand retention

Although adoptions from foster care have increased dramatically in recent years, foster homes remain a critical resource within the child welfare system. Research has explored the factors associated with foster parents' decision to continue or cease providing foster care. However, we know little about the length of time for which foster parents provide service, nor about the foster parent characteristics and foster care provision associated with varying length of service. This study used administrative data from three states to conduct longitudinal analyses of foster parenting careers. It builds on previous research by producing the first unbiased estimates of length of service and examining variations in length of service in terms of foster parent characteristics and the amount and type of care provided. Median length of service was between 8 and 14 months. Foster parents with greater length of service are likely to be older; live in urban areas; care for more children at a given time; and care for more infants, adolescents, or children with special needs. In each state, a relatively small group of foster parents provided the majority of caregiving. These findings can guide development of strategies to increase retention and make better use of foster parenting resources.

Towards a mixed economy of foster care provision

Towards a mixed economy of foster care provision

Relational Contracting Between Local Authorities and Independent Fostering Providers: Lessons in Conducting Business for Child Welfare Managers

Policy developments since 1997 have changed the nature of foster care placements and related educational and therapeutic services. A succession of initiatives aimed at improving placement quality, choice and stability for children and their foster families has had two major impacts. The first is the significant expansion of independent fostering providers (IFPs) alongside local authority fostering agencies. The second has been the change in attitude and working arrangements between staff and managers in both these sectors as they adjust to the government's commissioning agenda for the mixed economy of foster care provision. Although the first area has received some research scrutiny, the second area has not. In the absence of a relevant social work literature base this article explores a series of legal and policy studies of ‘relational contracting’ alongside a recent study of working arrangements between local authority and IFP managers. It concludes that there are lessons to be learnt for fostering agencies from these studies of contracting and the practice of trust.

Professional accountability: The contribution of joint review and inspection (group 4)

Group discussion focused on a case example of a nine year old boy who had been in the public care system since babyhood. He had experienced multiple placements and as a consequence, also significant disruption in forming attachments. Early placement disruptions had occurred due to pragmatic factors in foster care provision. Latterly, however, a factor had been his challenging behaviour. There appeared to have been little proactive planning to meet his needs from the outset. For an account of the planning process, the group was to consider what questions they would ask of

Family therapist as consultant in foster care: Expanding the parameters of practice

Abstract Traditionally the role of the family therapist working in foster care has been limited to the areas of evaluation and treatment This paper proposes that the family therapist can extend conventional boundaries to include the practice of systemic consultation. Case studies are included to exemplify family therapist microlevel consultation with various interacting systems that affect foster care provision.