Foster care assessment: A study of the placement decision process in Flanders

A Systematic Review on Foster Parents’ Psychological Adjustment and Parenting Style—An Evaluation of Foster Parents and Foster Children Variables

“…Exclusion criteria were (1) being kinship foster parents; (2) being therapeutic or professional foster parents that had undergone specific and more advanced training; (3) being adoptive parents; (4) being foster parents from group homes; (5) being foster parents of children with disabilities or medical conditions; (6) including non-relative foster parents together with one or more of the abovementioned populations, thus not providing separate information as regards non-relative foster parents vs. the other types of caregivers (see the supplementary materials; Table S2). These exclusion criteria were enacted due to the specificity, in terms of characteristics and stressors, of each of the populations mentioned, which determine the need to differentiate them from the population of interest (i.e., non-relative foster parents).…”

“…Foster parents take on the responsibility of caring and nurturing them, supporting their psychological adjustment and physical health, as well as ensuring proper schooling and education until they can either be reunited with their birth families, get adopted, or age out of foster care [1][2][3]. Family foster care is generally the preferred option to take care of this youth [4][5][6] and epidemiological data show that, as of 2016, about 790,000 children from industrialized countries, aged between 0 to 17 years, resided in foster care [7].…”

Attachment in family foster care: Literature review of associated characteristics

“…Foster children often had negative experiences in the past. In 81% of foster care placements, family problems are mentioned as reason for the foster placement; in 68% of the placements, parenting problems are at the base of the out-of-home placement (Vanderfaeillie et al, 2015). These negative experiences such as abuse, neglect, and other frightening parental behavior promote attachment problems, especially disorganized attachment (Baer & Martinez, 2006;Carlson et al, 1989;Cicchetti et al, 2006;Cyr et al, 2010;Schuengel et al, 1999).…”

Professional foster families in the reunification process—Polish experience

“…The foster care policy introduced in 2000 established a plan to abandon orphanages for children who are deprived of appropriate family environments in favour of foster families, which are much better than orphanages at fulfilling custodial and educational tasks as well as reunification tasks. In comparison with foster care institutions (orphanages), foster families provide a better chance that children in their care will grow up to be well‐functioning adults (Barber, Delfabbro, & Cooper, ; Vanderfaeillie, Pijnenburg, Damen, & Van Holen, ). Foster families are no longer perceived as providers solely of care services for the children accepted into custody.…”

“…On a global scale, research regarding the issue of reuniting children from foster care families with their biological families has frequently been undertaken with a very wide scope. Most frequently, researchers have focused on the following aspects: psychological effects of placing a child in foster care, relationships of children in foster care with their biological parents, relationships of children in foster care with their foster parents, relationships of foster parents with the biological parents, the impact of kinship between foster parents and the biological parents on the effectiveness of the reunification process, forms of support for biological parents from foster parents in the reunification process, including biological fathers in the reunification process and its impact on the effectiveness of reunification, factors affecting the effectiveness and permanence of reunification, factors causing absence of permanence of the reunification process, and forms of support for biological families following family reunification, foster parents' abilities to identify parents with potential for positive reintegration (Andersson, 1999;Barber & Delfabbro, 2009;Bellamy, 2008;Brook & McDonald, 2009;Connell et al, 2007;Delfabbro, Fernandez, McCormick, & Ketter, 2014;Doab, Fowler, & Dawson, 2015;Farmer & Wijedasa, 2013;Fernandez & Lee, 2011;Frame, Berrick, & Brodowski, 2000;Harward & DePanfilis, 2007;Landy & Munro, 1998;López, del Valle, Montserrat, & Bravo, 2012;Lutman & Farmer, 2013;Miller et al, 2006;Sanchirico & Jablonka, 2000;Sen & Broadhurst, 2011;Shaw, 2006;Terling, 1999;Vanderfaeillie et al, 2015).…”