Congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children

Abstract

Over recent decades, listening to children's voices and viewing children as competent actors has gathered momentum in research as well as in practice. Acknowledging children's perspectives requires sensitive listeners who are willing, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's ways of seeing. In our study, based in Norway, we investigated the views of 22 adolescents in long‐term foster care and 15 of their birth parents and 21 of their foster parents. Using Q methodology, we explored congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children. We found three family perspectives among the adolescents. Within two of these perspectives, there seem to be more congruent understandings of the children's perspectives among the parent groups. We discuss some main implications in light of these findings. In Norway, as in many other countries, the policy of child welfare is that children first and foremost should grow up with their birth family. When out‐of‐home placements are necessary, a basic principle is that children should remain in contact with their birth family.

Functional Adaptation to Foster Care: Foster Care Alumni Speak Out

“…They demonstrated commitment, ongoing concern despite difficulties that arose, sustained reliability, and reassurance that they would always be available even after these youth left the home. Many pointed to these lessons as role models for how to be caring and committed parents to their own children (Chapman, Wall, & Barth, 2004;Ellingsen, Stephens, & Størksen, 2012). Training that distinguishes consistency from rigidity in the context of "depends on the child" might help reduce stressors in the adjustment period and may prove invaluable in preventing placement disruptions.…”

“…Other studies have asked young adults about their satisfaction with foster care (e.g., Barth, 1990;Festinger, 1983). One qualitative study examined youth's perceptions of connections with both their foster and birth families and found promising results, but researchers noted the need for further studies to understand the dynamics in foster children who are well adjusted in terms of feeling attached to both biological and foster parents (Ellingsen, Stephens, & Størksen, 2012). Storer and colleagues (2012) found in their qualitative research on focus groups with foster youth that the presence of barriers to meaningful connections between foster youth and foster parents was one of the key challenges in having a successful placement.…”

Revealing Children's Experiences and Emotions through Q Methodology

“…We do not intend to claim that it is wrong to hold an adult perspective. Adults can also bring about important knowledge, and there will be times when adults must act on the basis of adult knowledge and experience in order to protect children from danger and harm [19]. However, our intention is here to stress that there are important distinctions between different perspectives that we need to be aware of.…”

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

“…Given the importance of these familial relationships, kinship and non-kinship foster families have been compared in a number of ways (e.g., Farmer, 2009), although evidence suggests heterogeneity within these groups, with much attention to variation in kinship care (Berrick & Hernandez, 2016; Storer et al, 2014; Zinn, 2010). Further, non-relative foster family members are often incorporated in youth's definitions of family (Ellingsen, Stephens, & Storksen, 2012; Gardner, 1996), and family structure and household composition differ within and between placement types, as does the presence and quality of contact between biological family ties and people in the foster home (Hedin, 2014; Kiraly & Humphreys, 2013). …”