A Sense of Belonging: Meanings of Family and Home in Long-Term Foster Care

Biehal, Nina

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcs177

Cited by 87 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Previous research has highlighted that looked-after young people have difficulties in developing relationships with carers and in communicating with them (Biehal, 2014;Lipscombe, Farmer, & Moyers, 2003;Rosnati, Iafrate, & Scabini, 2007); these perceptions were also echoed by carers in the current study. In previous studies, all participants were men; in the current study, young people and carers of both sexes participated.…”

Section: Creating An Environmentsupporting

confidence: 54%

The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use

Carver

2018

Child & Family Social Work

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Parental conversations with their teenage children about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs are associated with lower rates of use. Looked-after young people are at greater risk of early initiation, higher rates of use, and more problematic use. However, there is no evidence regarding whether these conversations occur in settings where the parental role is assumed by someone other than the biological parent. The aim of the study was to examine how carers communicate with looked-after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 residential care staff and foster carers in Scotland. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Participants talked about "shared doing" as a way of building relationships and communicating about substance use. Shared doing encompassed particular activities that carers and young people would do together, such as driving in the car, cooking, watching TV, and going for a walk. Shared doing provided an opportunity to spend time together and to create an environment in which communication could be facilitated. These environments were shaped by space, time, and context. Carers should be encouraged to take advantage of the time-limited occasions they are with young people to have conversations about substance use.

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Section: Creating An Environmentsupporting

confidence: 54%

The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use

Carver

2018

Child & Family Social Work

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“…Their emotional, psychological and social well‐being depends on how they manage, and are supported in managing, both the difficult histories they share with other children in care and their minority sexual orientation and gender identities. Helping young people with problems of self‐esteem, managing emotions and a sense of belonging will be familiar to foster carers (Schofield & Beek, ; Biehal, ), but meeting other needs may be less familiar, such as when LGBTQ young people need support in exploring ways of expressing their identity but experience stigma or when sexual orientation or gender identity is more fluid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Providing a secure base for LGBTQ young people in foster care: The role of foster carers

Schofield

Cossar

Ward

et al. 2019

Child & Family Social Work

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The experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) young people in care have been overlooked in England, in both policy and research. This paper reports on findings from the first study of LGBTQ young people in care in England and focuses on the nature of foster carers' experiences and perspectives on caring for LGBTQ young people. Qualitative interviews regarding the fostering role in caring for LGBTQ young people were conducted with a sample of foster carers (n = 26) and analysed thematically. Foster carers described the importance of offering LGBTQ young people not only the nurturing relationships that all children in care need but also availability, sensitivity and acceptance to help young people manage stigma and other challenges associated with minority sexual orientation and gender identity. The Secure Base caregiving model provided a framework for analysing the different dimensions of these relationships. Understanding caregiving roles and relationships for LGBTQ young people in care has important implications for recruiting, training, matching and supporting foster carers to care for LGBTQ young people effectively.

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“…In these groups, future research may examine whether the presence or absence, strength, and consistency of these relationships are associated with psychological well-being following the network disruption of foster placement (Perry, 2006). Further, these profiles prompt consideration of the roles relative and non-relative caregivers play in preventing further network disruption by linking youth to larger kin networks, including non-custodial biological parents where possible, to support the maintenance of strong social bonds for youth (Beihal, 2012; Hedin, 2014; Holtan, 2008; Negriff et al, 2015). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although these proximal networks are critical contexts within which foster youth experience adolescence, little attention has been paid to the ways in which foster youth perceive their key relationships, and few studies have examined how foster youth negotiate the presence and quality of these complex and potentially multiple family relationships and identities (Biehal, 2012; Storer et al, 2014). In family foster care settings, youth relationships center on caregiving figures (biological and foster), other adults (notably relatives), and other proximal youth (including siblings and other youth within foster settings).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network indicators of the social ecology of adolescents in relative and non-relative Foster households

Blakeslee

Kothari

McBeath

et al. 2017

Children and Youth Services Review

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Though the presence, composition, and quality of social relationships—particularly as found in family networks—has an important influence on adolescent well-being, little is known about the social ecology of youth in foster care. This study examined the social networks of foster youth participating in a large RCT of an intervention for siblings in foster care. Youth reported on the people they lived with and the relatives they were in contact with, which provided indicators of network size, composition, and relationship quality. Cluster analysis was used to identify five family network profiles for youth living in foster homes. Two identified subgroups reflected robust family networks where youth were living with relative caregiver(s) and related youth, and also reported multiple family ties outside the household, including with biological parents. The remaining three profiles reflected youth reports of fewer family connections within or beyond the foster household, with distinctions by whether they lived with siblings and/or reported having positive relationships with their mothers and/or fathers. The identified network profiles were validated using youth- and caregiver-reported measures of mental health functioning, with increased caregiver report of post-traumatic stress symptoms indicated for the three subgroups that were not characterized by a robust family network.

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A Sense of Belonging: Meanings of Family and Home in Long-Term Foster Care

Cited by 87 publications

References 17 publications

The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use

The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use

Providing a secure base for LGBTQ young people in foster care: The role of foster carers

Network indicators of the social ecology of adolescents in relative and non-relative Foster households

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