‘It's just like another home, just another family, so it's nae different’ Children's voices in kinship care: a research study about the experience of children in kinship care in Scotland

Abstract

Growing acknowledgement of the importance of the role of kinship carers in caring and supporting children and young people in Scotland has led to a burgeoning of research on this topic. However, most research has tended to focus on the role of kinship carers. A significant gap has been direct studies into the views and experiences of children and young people living with relatives or friends. This paper seeks to address this by drawing on the findings from a small‐scale qualitative collaborative research project with 12 children and young people living in informal and formal kinship care in the Northeast of Scotland. The literature on foster and kinship care is reviewed and key themes identified. The qualitative research data is outlined employing a thematic analysis approach. The key findings are analysed with a view to the potential implications for policy and practice. The paper concludes with proposals for potential future research.

Family Contact for Children in Kinship Care: A Literature Review

“…The children mostly had contact with their mothers, but were often disappointed in the quality of this relationship, specifically citing their mothers' inability to spend time with them. Unlike in the study by Burgess et al (2010), a pervasive theme in this study was the hope that they might one day again live with their mothers. The author noted that experiences of visitation may be somewhat different for formal kinship care, where parental contact may be more structured and supervised.…”

“…The children tended to make no distinction between siblings, ''half-siblings'', and ''stepsiblings'', who were often equally important to them. Similarly, the Burgess et al (2010) study found ongoing contact with siblings living apart, and that almost all the children had contact with extended family members, usually on the side of the family where they were living.…”

“…Most of those with contact with either parent wanted more contact; however, those with no contact with a parent mostly did not want to see them. Burgess, Rossvoll, Wallace, and Daniel (2010), reporting the views of 12 children in formal and informal care, found that most did not wish to return to the care of their parents. The sense of connection that many children felt to their original family was important to them, but some spoke of feelings of disappointment and being let down by parents.…”

Developing Rapport with Children in Forensic Interviews: Systematic Review of Experimental Research

“…Certainly, child witnesses in criminal and dependency courts express anxiety and confusion, as well as concerns about the consequences of their reports, especially if they fear danger to themselves or their loved ones as a result of questioning (e.g., Block, Oran, Oran, Baumrind, & Goodman, ; Quas, Wallin, Horwitz, Davis, & Lyon, ; Sas, Austin, Wolfe, & Hurley, ). In foster care, some children express feelings of helplessness that can impair motivation to cooperate—many are unclear about why they are involved in the legal system, feel they had little say in what has happened to them, and believe professionals have hidden agendas that prevent them from really hearing what children have to say (Burgess, Rossvoll, Wallace, & Daniel, ; Gilligan, ; McLeod, ). Each of these legal contexts presents unique challenges to rapport development.…”

An Ecological Understanding of Kinship Foster Care in the United States

“…Kinship foster care has also become the fastest growing form of child placement in several countries around the world, such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, and Ghana (see Burgess et al 2010;Goertzen et al (n.d.)). However, much of the available empirical studies are derived from the United States, where kinship care placement has increasingly become a preferred form of child care arrangement (Cuddeback 2004;Ehrle and Geen 2002).…”