Title: Young%20people
1 Young peoples experience of long-term foster
care Nordisk barnevernskongress August 28 31
2003, Reykjavík.
- An interview study 2001 2003
- Guðrún Kristinsdóttir Iceland University of
Education - This project is initiated and funded by
- The Government Agency for Child Protection,
Iceland - Barnaverndarstofa Íslands
2Young peoples experience of long-term foster
care
- Outline
- On the study - young people were interviewed
- Participants, the foster homes, biological
parents. - Stories in the stories themes of the narratives
- Life today - examples and overall outcome
- Conclusions
3Theoretical inspiration
- Nordic foster care and child-centred research
- Guldborg et al.,1991, Denmark Koch och Koch
1995, Norway Törrönen, 1994, Finland
Jónsdóttir, 1993, Iceland Andersson 1995, 1998,
Börjeson Håkansson, 1990, Sweden - UK foster care research and methodology
development Berridge, 1998, Hill (1997), Thomas
OKane,(1998), Thomas (2000). Butler
Williamson, 1994, Thomas, et al. (1999). - Childhood of sociology studies methodology-
James Prout, (1990) Qvortrup (1991). - Methodological Silverman (1993, 2001), Pole et
al. (1999).
4Perspectives
- Being a foster child is often a fraught
experience, - however, some children are resilient.
- Foster care is difficult to carry out
successfully. - Participatory research among children and young
people has concluded that - Children and young people are active subjects
capable of forming judgements and making
decisions at an early age suitable methods
applied, they are no less trustworthy in their
accounts than adults.
5Findings relevant to this study suggest that
children in care
- wish to have an influence in own lives
- wish to have a warm and stable relationship with
at least one other person and - to experience honesty and trustworthiness from
practitioners and carers, - According to voices of children and young people
in the Nordic studies (and even some other), this
is often absent in practice.
6Main objectives
- To study the participants experience from their
own perceptions. - Look for implications for practice.
- Try out methods of participatory research
- A qualitative study of 16 cases, no comparison
with general population. - This is a first presentation on selected items
from the study - focused on analysis of
empirical findings, account on methodological
issues will be limited.
7Guidelines not only for child welfare practice
- The quality demands mentioned above -
- such as openness, trustworthiness and
acknowledging influence of the intervieweed - should also be considered in research on
sensitive topics. -
- (Oakley, 1981, Hollway and Jefferson, 2000)
- (picture from Roberts, ed. 1981)
8- What is success in long-termfoster care?
9In study of lived experience of a foster child
following criteria apply
- The foster child who fares well
- describes good conditions of up-bringing,
- has experienced to be cared for,
- has established mutual trust and relationship/s
to significant other/s, - has kept contact with family of origin and
- established peer relationships.
- This child experiences a feeling of autonomy and
- copes with daily life to the extent most people
do. - ( Berridge 1998).
10Sample
- Drawn from register of the Agency for Child
pretection - Aimed at maximum variation regarding the intended
age span, gender, area of residence and types of
long-term foster care (with consent or not, i.e.
kinship or not). - Randomly drawn given these conditions
11Participants
- 20 persons age 17 29 years consented to
participate. - At the time of interviews 4 could not been
reached were hampered by ongoing problems or did
not show. - 16 young persons were interviewed
- 11 women and 5 men.
12Guiding concepts in semi-structured interviews
- Care
- Conditions
- Relationships
- Autonomy
13Themes for the interviews
- the period prior to foster care,
- the period in care, reasons for care, daily
conditions, health, relationships with siblings
and friends, schooling, - contact with original family,
- your life of today,
- your evaluation of being put into care,
- your recommendations to practitioners and the
child welfare system.
14 15Time prior to care
- Most of the children had been in a residential
home for children (vistheimili). - Prior to that most of them had stayed with their
parents. - Five children were placed in kinship care, two of
them had parents who died and they were both
placed in own homes of siblings, both who were
around 20 years of age.
16Age and duration of foster care
- Age at time of placement
- Range 1 -13 years
- 4 years 11 children
- 5 years 5 children
- Mean for Iceland (2002) 4 years.----------------
------------------------------------------ - Time in foster care
- Range 3 16 years
- Mean (approx.) 12.3 years
17Biological family
- Most biological parents belonged to the working
class. - Several families of origin were big.
- Common reasons of interventions were psychiatric
disorders or alcohol and drug-related problems of
parents. - Mothers to 7 participants and 1 biological father
were deceased at the time of the interviews. - The young people did not know anything about 4
biological fathers and 3 biological mothers.
18The foster homes
- Most foster carers belonged to the middle class.
Most of the cares seem to have lived in stable
conditions, we will turn back to exceptions from
this. - Some siblings were placed together, some of them
had brothers and sisters who were placed in other
homes. - Six children were adopted, commonly at the age of
12-13.
19Was it right to place you in foster care?Luck or
dissatisfaction
- The majority of the interviewed was satisfied
with being placed in foster care. - Luck was the word many of them used. One said
- I had been in far worse situation without the
care, security and healthy conditions I got
there. - Consistent with other findings..
- Five were dissatisfied for different reasons
suffering from feelings of rejection and
jealousy, missing mother, being abused, behaviour
problems in adolescence feeling badly treated by
the authorities.
20Some things they could have done differently
- Be together with my sisters and brothers
- Being consulted
- Matching child and foster home better
- Evaluated my case when things went wrong
- Arranged for me to see my Dad
- Arranged so we siblings could meet
- Generally provided psychological support and in
crisis to meet a psychologist who was a real
help - Intervene earlier in a childs life.
- Not limit parental contact to early years.
21Several themes to consider
- Experiences of parental contact and visiting
- Kinship care - differences
- When it went wrong, what went wrong?
- Development and changes during adolescence
- Feelings towards original parents
- Loyalty towards the foster parents
- Revealing emotions No, I didnt feel like
telling them
22stories different in several ways
- My life is quite normal. That life as a foster
child is normal is an important message in some
of the narratives. - Others do not feel so good emotionally.
- Yet others are more or less in trouble.
23Re-shaping of a sort of original family
- A shift in the narratives between stressing
normality and telling about unresolved questions
or various aspects of being in a special
situation. - Re-connecting with family of origin which leads
to - Travels into new spheres of private life which
often relate to yet one more themeMy sisters
and brothers - An ongoing re-positioning in adult life.
24the story in the story floating arenas...
The family of today
The biological family
25How is life today?
- Half of the interviewed lives with their foster
carers and the other half has formed their own
family however, 1 is homeless. -
26Conditions of today
- The interviewed were divided into three groups
based on the criteria mentioned earlier. - The resilient (7) The insecure (4) The rootless
(5)
27Returning to the key concepts
- Care
- Conditions
- Relationships
- Autonomy
28resilient, insecure, rootless
- 1.The resilient secure conditions in childhood
and stable relationships with their foster
parents. Several experienced difficulties in
school due to their background, but had also
supporters and friends. They are working or
studying and of good health. Some describe
themselves as being troubled by conflicts or
negative emotions due to their background. - 2 The insecure Good care och positive
upbringing, have jobs or study. Have had and
still struggle with emotional problems, three of
them received treatment for this when
interviewed, in periods difficulties to control
use of alcohol and drugs. -
- 3. The rootless None of them seems to have been
rooted in the foster home. Two are working at the
time of the interviews. Heterogeneous group.
Disrupted placements, emotional and
psychic/psychiatric problems, violent behaviour.
Four have abused drugs.
29Overall outcome Considerable variety in the
individual foster care stories.
- Care provided for most of the interviewed
security and healthy conditions. Reasons for
placement all reflect disempowered biological
parents. - The majority did well or fairly well and is
satisfied with the placement and lives now stable
lives. -
- Some struggle with insecurity and instability
which hampers them in daily life, even here most
of them mention good support from their carers. - The interviewed underline importance of family of
origin not the least siblings relationships.
30Overall outcome contd.
- Individuals with negative experiences point out
failings by the authorities. They ask for
psychological support and to be consulted. - Services seems to have been distant for them in
childhood except for a few persons, where the
interviewed did not feel real help. An exception
involving 2 children is found from this. - Inconsistent with increased emphasis on
participator practices and UN Child Convention. - Considered should be that the study is in
retrospect.
31THEY DID A GOOD JOB
- Those who selected the good foster carers should
be commended. - Together most of the children and foster carers
did a good job considering background, life in
childhood and their life today.