Transcript Slide 1

Planning and supporting
permanence in foster care
Gillian Schofield
Professor of Child and Family Social Work
Co-Director of the Centre for Research on the
Child and Family
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Care planning, matching and
support systems for permanence in
foster care
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What is permanence in
foster care?
 The security and well-being that comes from being accepted
as members of new families.
(Prime Minister’s Review of Adoption 2000)
 The development of a form of foster care that more nearly
approaches a ‘family for life’, which is not seen as ‘second
best’ and in which carers can act as parents.
(Sinclair 2005:123)
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Growing up in foster care – what
permanence meant to Leroy (placed 8 -18)
 (on foster care) ‘I felt as though I’d done something
wrong and it was my punishment. But they were just
really comforting and we just got on. I just learned to
trust them over time, the longer I stayed here. It was my
home, whereas before it was just somewhere I was
staying.’
 (on his foster mother) ‘My mum’s helped me a lot
because she was determined for me to do well. That’s a
really important thing, people, other people, believing
that you can do well’.
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Leroy - further reflections
 (on his birth family) ‘They disowned me. Well it was
upsetting at first but oh well, they’ll need me before I
need them. Here is my home, if they want me they know
where to find me. You can’t worry about it forever.’
 (on social workers) ‘They are really helpful. They go
through with you how much you’ve progressed.’
 (on himself) ‘I have to have something to work towards I just want to be the best I can.’
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Melanie ( placed 15 -17, aged 25
at interview)
 The first time I met them, David, my foster dad, sat and
talked to me as if I was somebody.. They were just
brilliant, they turned me right round. If it hadn’t have
been for them I wouldn’t have passed any exams, I
wouldn’t have been able to read and write. Without them
I wouldn’t have the life I have now.
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Care Planning, Placement and Case
Review Guidance and Regulations 2010
 Permanence is the framework of emotional permanence
(attachment), physical permanence (stability) and legal
permanence (the carer has parental responsibility for the
child) which gives a child a sense of security, continuity ,
commitment and identity. The objective of planning for
permanence is therefore to ensure that children have a
secure, stable and loving family to support them through
childhood and beyond. Permanence provides an
underpinning framework for all social work with children and
families from family support through to adoption. (Para 2.3)
NB Emphasis on ‘Legal permanence’ appears to exclude longterm foster care
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Definition of long-term foster care as
a permanence option (DfE 2010)
 ‘ Another important route to permanence is long-term
foster care where attachments have been formed and it
has been agreed through the care planning and review
process that this is where the child or young person will
remain until adulthood.’ (Para 2.4)
NB May appear to exclude care plans that seek a new
long-term foster care placement as a planned
permanence option for a child currently in a short-term
(fostering or residential) placement.
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Care Planning Regulations and
Guidance –and IRO Handbook 2010
Implications for planning / reviewing permanent foster care
 Helpful in focussing on the need for planning /review and for child’s
well-being to be the key; also importance of IRO
BUT
 Lacks differentiation of planning/role of IRO in different placements
 Focuses on planning – but planning to move not planning to stay?
 Lacks a vision of long-term foster care as a permanence option
 Risks diminishing the parenting role of long-term foster carers e.g.
no automatic role at LAC reviews, pathway planning for leaving care
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University of York comparative research
studies on long-term foster care (2)
Biehal et al (BAAF 2010)
 Longitudinal study comparing adoption, adoption by foster
carer and ‘long-term foster care’ – after 8 years
[NB Long-term defined as ‘had lasted 3 years’ - so NOT based on
formally planned placements ]
 Important findings –
• Stability in foster care was a cause for concern compared to
adoption BUT not possible to compare like with like e.g. age,
history of abuse were different
• No significant differences in emotional and behavioural difficulties,
and education between long-term fostered and adopted children
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UEA research studies on
permanence in foster care
 Growing up in Foster Care: 52 children followed up in three
phases (Nuffield Foundation1997-2007)
 Part of the Family: 40 adults who grew up in foster care
(1999-2002)
 Parents of children growing up in foster care (partnership
with Bergen / Gothenburg): Interviews with 32 parents,
parent and social worker focus groups (ESRC 2007-8)
 Permanence in foster care: – care planning systems in
England and Wales (BAAF/TFN/Big Lottery 2006-7)
• National survey of LAs (LAC and fostering) and IFPs
• Telephone interviews with selected agencies
• Three regional foster carer focus groups
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‘Long-term’ and /or ‘permanent’single and dual systems
Practitioner/manager views 2007
 ‘Long-term foster care is a positive permanence option
and should not be seen as second choice.’
 ‘A foster placement can never be truly permanent without
a legal order so we have to call it long-term.’
 ‘We call it permanent foster care. You cannot call it longterm foster care because that sounds like it has an end.
The last time I used the expression ‘long-term’ was when I
parked my car at the airport.’
 ‘I think we try and use the term permanency, but I have
used it interchangeably (with long-term foster care) in this
conversation and I think lots of people would.’
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Care planning for permanence in
foster care (Nuffield Foundation 2008-10 )
 Follow up study in partnership with six local authorities –
all committed to permanence in foster care,
 But with different planning systems/different meanings/
different panels
• 230 cases: care planning profiles from the files for children with a
plan for permanence in foster care 2006/7
• 40 interviews with foster carers (LA and IFP)
• 20 interviews with children/young people (cared for by these
foster carers)
• 6 practitioner / manager focus groups – one in each LA
• Study of commissioning of placements from the independent
sector
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The sample of 230 children
 Age at long-term plan:
• Under 5 - 9%; 5-10 - 52%;
11+ - 39%;
 Gender:
• male - 52.6% (121); female - 47.4 %(109)
 Ethnicity:
• White British 80% (184);
• Black and minority ethnicity 20% (46) - range across
LAs 0-61%
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Other factors
 Abuse and neglect:
• Almost universal: neglect 93% and emotional abuse 93%.
• Range: physical abuse 36-86%; sexual abuse 17- 55%
 Emotional and behavioural problems
• 64% with moderate to severe emotional and behavioural
difficulties
 Parent difficulties
• e.g. mothers 60 % mental health problems, 33% alcohol, 33%
abuse in childhood, 31% drugs BUT missing information on
parents (especially fathers)
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Permanence and legal status
 Children on care orders
 Children accommodated s20
 Other (e.g. freeing order)
86.1% (198)
12.2% (28)
1.7% (4)
NB
 No significant differences between authorities
 Care orders were often initiated some time after children
were first accommodated
 17 children had a current plan for special guardianship
 2 children had a current plan for adoption
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Age and permanency planning:
important messages from this research
 LAs are - at agency and individual practitioner level continuing to plan for permanence in foster care into
adolescence.
 This plan may be to secure an existing placement or to
seek a new placement with permanence in mind
 Older children clearly needed this security / many valued it.
BUT
 how individual children feel about the messages of
permanence at different ages needs to be taken into
account in procedures/practice.
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Pathways to permanence across
the sample
 Children who had a failed reunification after they first entered
care: 14% (31)
 Children who had a previous plan for adoption / had an
adoption breakdown: 25% (58) / 4% (10)
 Children who remained in their first placement:
average19.6% (range 5-31%)
 The average number of care placements: 3 (range 1 – 23 in
individual cases)
 Matching for permanence in existing foster placement: 68%
(range 47-100%)
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Time in years between stages-issues
 Systems that took cases to fostering or adoption panels
were likely to take longer overall
BUT
 Several LAs were including long-standing placements in
new permanence procedures– added to average times
 Decision to delay or not take a case to a panel for
confirmation may be good practice in some cases
 Other factors e.g. ethnicity, did not add to delay
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Stability
 Just over a fifth (22.2%, 51) of children experienced the
ending of a long-term/permanent foster placement which
was planned for in the target period 2006/7.
 Endings could be initiated by carers, children- or by social
workers
 There were no significant differences between authorities
 Similar numbers of ended placements were confirmed
(54.9%, 28) or unconfirmed (45.1%, 23)
NB Confirmation is not irrelevant in individual cases – but
other factors count more e.g. quality of carers /of the match.
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Support for the children, carers
and placements
 Social work support: Some excellent practice in LAC and
fostering- but too frequent changes in LAC social workers
in some cases.
 Education: File data and interviews with carers suggested
active support – in school and at home.
 Emotional and behavioural difficulties: Variable CAMHS
support for children and carers across LAs–some excellent
i.e. not only in crisis
 Contact: A major issue for all children and carers (and
birth relatives). Frequency, venue and supervision
NB Not clear in all cases that a support plan was available at
the point of the permanence decision
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LAC reviews in permanent placements:
positive and negatives for children
 Because I want to hear what they have been saying
about me and…I just like being there, so I can
sometimes get things off my chest and talk to people
about it. (Girl, age 12)
 He don’t like the fact that he has to fill a form in because,
he says, ‘Well you are saying you are a long-term mum
and that is what they say you are, a long- term mum.
You are our mum and then they come here and they say
‘Do your carers look after you well?’ (Foster carer)
 Why have they got to know about me? Don’t tell them
mum, don’t tell them about us.’ (Carer reporting what her
foster son - age 11, placed at 5 - had said
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How are decisions made?
Different LA meetings and panels
 Common but have no statutory force, regulated activities, set
membership e.g. Professionals meetings, planning meetings
 Statutory and used according to regulation e.g. LAC reviews
 Locally devised and used to manage permanent foster
care/or monitor the care system e.g. permanency referral
meetings, a Children’s Panel
 Statutory but used for varied purposes in relation to
permanence in foster care e.g. Fostering Panels, Adoption
and Permanence Panels
NB All interact /run alongside court processes and plans
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Permanence procedures
1) Meetings between practitioners
 LAC worker and manager / LAC and fostering service
 May be informal or systematic e.g. ‘professionals’ meetings,
including legal advice.
 Documentation: may involve assessments / matching matrix
 Participation: less likely to include child and birth parents.
May include foster carers/school/health
Potential benefits: Brings together quickly those with expertise
and closest to the child and the carers – may avoid delay.
Potential challenges: Informal - may not be fully minuted or
require detailed assessment documentation from workers.
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Permanence procedures
2) LAC review
 First level of statutory meeting and used by all local
authorities as part of planning for permanence
 For some local authorities is the last formal stage
Potential benefits: 1) Statutory/regular 2) Participation is often
wide – child/carers/parents 3) IRO role
Potential challenges: 1) Ambiguity as to whether plans are
‘only’ reviewed or are recommended / made
2) Documentation is very varied 3) Seniority/expertise?
4) when does the ‘planning’ for permanence phase stop and
supporting /reviewing a confirmed placement begin?
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Permanence procedures
3) Permanency fostering team
 Senior practitioners in the fostering service who have
responsibility for monitoring/facilitating permanence plans.
e.g. hold a permanency referral meeting
 Facilitate the assessment /matching/placement - arrange for
case to go to fostering panel for final approval/confirmation
Potential benefits: 1) Specialist practitioners actively promoting
permanence 2) Clear procedures 3) Specific documentation
Potential challenges:1) May need to be linked into LAC review
system 2) Not easy to get social workers to meet timetables
[NB Good matching at this stage, but then final confirmation at
panel may be delayed]
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Permanence procedures
4) Children’s Panel / Permanence Panel
 Area based panel, chaired by service manager, attended
by IRO, meets regularly to monitor plans for all looked after
children
 Will ensure permanence plan in foster care is in place and
confirm the match
Potential benefits: 1) Senior and independent 2) efficient and
may avoid delay in making/confirming placements
Potential challenges: 1) Panel has wide agenda, may only be
able to ask for/consider limited documentation
2) Professional participation only – need evidence of
appropriate practice/consultation with children, carers, birth
relatives
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Permanence procedures
5) Fostering Panel
 Where match is with existing child, fostering panel may
focus on change of carer approval for the named child
 Be involved in final confirmation of the match/placement
Potential benefits: 1) External scrutiny of match 2) official
recognition valued by some carers/children 3) Detailed
documentation 4) Participation by carer/child
Potential challenges: 1) Risk of delay related to the
documentation / panel dates 2) Fostering panel expertise in
matching? 3) Some carers find it intrusive/irrelevant 4) Some
children feel panel requires too much commitment /cuts
them off from birth family
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Permanence procedures
6) Adoption (and Permanence) Panel
 May be involved at best interests decision stage
 May be involved in final confirmation of match/placement
Potential benefits: 1) (if used for best interests) to ensure
that adoption / SGO has been considered 2) Expertise in
matching 3) Adoption level documentation for the decision
and on file
Potential challenges:1) Risk of delay related to the
documentation / panel dates 2) Fostering is different from
adoption –needs different expertise?
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Children, families and planning for
permanence in foster care
 The most important factor for good outcomes is likely to
be the quality of the foster family experience and the
match between the needs of the child and the skills, hopes
and expectations of the foster carers
 Care planning and the quality of social work practice with
children, foster carers and birth relatives can make a
difference in maximising the potential of any placement to
succeed.
BUT
 Planning procedures and practice need to be sensitive to
the needs and circumstances of each child, each foster
family and each birth family.
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Successful planning and
support for permanence in foster care?
 Where do the main challenges lie?
•
•
•
•
the very concept of permanence /family membership in foster care?
the difficulties of the children?
the availability of suitable/committed foster carers?
the availability of social work time to support all parties, including
the parents?
• the availability of support from other agencies?
• transitions to adulthood?
 What contribution can care planning make?
• Social work practice?
• Decision making – the forum, documentation, participation?
 Do we need national or local systems?
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Carers’ and children’s experiences of
permanence in foster care
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Carers and children - roles and
relationships
 Providing a secure base
 Bonding/commitment to the child
 Managing flexible roles as carer/parent
 Doing and displaying family
 Children’s experiences of dual family relationships
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Carers need to provide a secure base
(uea.ac.uk/providingasecurebase)
Availabilityhelping the child
to trust
Family membershiphelping the child to
belong
Co-operation –
helping the child to
feel effective and
be co-operative
SECURE
BASE
Sensitivityhelping the child to
manage feelings
and behaviour
Acceptance –
building the child’s
self-esteem
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Availability –
helping the child to trust
 Stella (carer) and Lisa (14- 11 when placed)
 Lisa had been rejected by her birth family and then her
adoptive parents- who had kept her sister
 ‘In those initial times we chatted a lot- we would start tea
at 5 o’clock and we would still be sitting talking at 9- just
talking and talking and talking. One social worker said
‘It’s like Lisa is in continuous therapy’. .... Lisa will still
now want to go over something I think we have gone
over a million times, but obviously it needs that one more
time and it is just a matter of giving your time really...’
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Sensitivity- helping the child to
manage feelings and behaviour
 ‘She wants to be good all the time. I think it is because
she was moved from pillar to post.’
 ‘Lisa came with an awful lot of labels and having worked
with children for a lot of years you get a sort of feelingand I looked at Lisa and thought, this isn’t an eating
disorder and this isn't an attachment disorder. But what
is behind this? You have to become a detective –but you
are looking into a child.’
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Acceptance – building the
child’s self-esteem
 ‘Sometimes Lisa felt the need to play Barbies and Polly
Pocket when she first came. She wanted to get out the
baby toys and she would come and sit on my knee with
her thumb in her mouth and she had loads of help... So
now she sees me as a pillar of strength.’
 ‘We started her on karate mainly to build her selfconfidence. She has recently taken an interest in ‘Take
the Reins’ which is a charity for disabled people who go
riding and she is a volunteer. She is a Young Scout
Leader now too.’
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Co-operation-helping the child to
feel effective / be co-operative
 ‘I will meet the child half-way, I will allow the child to
develop, show the trust. I do have strong boundaries at
home and we do have rules. But I think it is more about
listening to the child, hearing what the child is saying,
because they are all different… When Gemma first
came she was a Goth – so it was all dark make up and
chains and belts…but now she is an ordinary school
girl…very happy, outgoing, willing to help with the other
children and doing very well in education. She has
turned out really lovely and it is all credit to her really.’
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Part of my family
 I think the line between Nadine being a placement and a
part of my family is very blurred now. There isn’t ‘she is
my foster daughter’, she is my family and I think that is
the biggest thing. Other people say how can they be part
of your family when they are not blood relations and they
have got families of their own, but they are.
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Family membership - helping the
child to belong
‘I think there are too many people at meetings. I am
solely there to be her mother…you have probably got, I
don’t know, fifteen or sixteen different workers involved
in one person. She doesn’t need me being a
professional and talking jargon just because everyone
else does. I am just there to be Mum, that is what I am
trying to do, first and foremost, I am her Mum.’
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How can the secure base star be
used in practice?
 Assessing and supporting children/parents/carers
 Matching children with carers – identifying strengths and
difficulties in placements
 Setting positive goals with carers for each secure base
dimension, suggesting caregiving approaches and
monitoring progress
 Assessing and providing help to families/placements
/children in difficulties
NB All foster carers and workers need a secure base
(uea.ac.uk/providingasecurebase)
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Carer bonding / commitment importance to children of all ages
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



Carer’s commitment to this child that will endure
Child is special, unique, treasured, valued
Feelings may occur for a child of any age (including teenage)
Feelings may be there at the beginning or develop over time
Concept could be helpful in assessment of existing
placements
N.B. Important conceptual links between this study of carer
relationships in middle childhood/ adolescence and infant
studies in USA by Mary Dozier (University of Delaware).
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Special feelings – Sacha’s arrival
and development in the foster family
 ‘Um well I remember it was June and quite a hot day and she came
walking down the path with thick tights on. I think she had been
determined to put these colourful thick tights on, a little dark haired
girl, coming to the door with the social worker, needing protecting,
you know, she was lovely.’..
‘Well she is very confident now actually. I have had people say you
would never believe she were in foster care, she is a very confident
and sensible child you know and doing very well at school… She
goes dancing a lot, she shows us what dance she has learnt. There
aren’t many times I don’t get a show every night.’
(Carer of Sacha – placed at 6 now 12)
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Shared sense of birth - rebirth in
the foster family
 I cannot imagine a time before Kelly and Kelly cannot imagine a time
when she wasn’t here. She says her life didn’t begin until she was
nine. ( Carer for Kelly, 14, placed at 9)
 I wish that this was my real family, yes that is what is annoying about
being in foster care, it is not really my birth family....Yes it is just that
they are more like a family to me. It is just I wish I had been born into
it. (Lauren 17, placed at 14)
 Because of my age and my parents’ marriage and everything it fits in
almost exactly that I am almost their actual daughter. My dad and I
have a little joke every now and again, I say ‘Dad do you feel glad that
you skipped the pregnancy part?’ and he goes ‘Oh yes I am glad I
skipped that bit!’ Rosie (14, placed at 11)
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Role identity in permanent
placements- carers and /or parents?
 Permanent foster placements can be successful where
carers have different primary role identities
• Primary identity as foster carers, but also accept the role of parent
• Primary identity as parents, but also accept the role of carer
 Problems can occur where
• Foster carers who identify exclusively as carers but do not take on a
parenting role / commitment
• Foster carers who identify exclusively as parents but do not accept
carer role/responsibilities
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1.Carers who identify as carers but
accept the parenting role
 Carers who identify themselves positively as foster
carers e.g.
• enjoy their professional role /skills and their partnership with
social workers
• value their training opportunities,
• work positively with the child, including regarding being in care
• support birth family as well as foster family identity
AND
 Accept the role of parents
• fully committed to the child as a family member
• welcoming the prospect of the child being part of the family into
adulthood
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Case example: Jane and Patrick –
route to permanence
 Jane and Patrick’s own children had grown up and they
were experienced carers - more than 80 placements.
 Jane was Chair of the local Foster Care Association, ran
a foster carer support group and operated a telephone
help line.
 Marie came to Jane and Patrick for respite care (age 13)
from a short-term foster placement, but asked to stay
 After 4 years Marie continues to do very well - the whole
family celebrate the anniversary of her arrival by going
for a meal of her choice.
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Meaning of ‘permanence’ to Janeas a carer - and as a parent
 ‘In my mind permanence is a word that means a lot. It
means that Marie is never going to leave, not when she’s
18,19, 20 or whatever. If she goes to university, not
when she’s 25. She’s always going to be part of our
family. I am sure when she’s 36 and has got her own
children, she will be bringing them to us, I will probably
be looking after them. We are always going to be her
Mama and Papa.’
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2. Carers who identify themselves as
parents but accept the role of carer
 Carers who identify themselves positively as parents e.g.
• motivated to build a family
• emphasise normalising the child’s experience / acting as any
parent would
• use their own family and friends as support systems
AND
 Accept the role of carer e.g.
• Understand their role as carers on behalf of local authority
• Like to know the social work system / support is there for them
and the child
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Case example: Sandra and Peteroute to permanence
 Sandra and Pete had decided not to have children of their
own but enjoyed teenagers and felt they as a couple had
something to offer a teenager long-term
 They were approved for short-term, but were approached to
take Rosie (then 11) as a first and long term placement
 Rosie (now 14) – had experienced abuse and neglect in her
birth family up to age 3 when she came into care
 Six fostering placements; adopted age 5; adoption
disrupted age 8; residential care for 2 years.
 Rosie has thrived in this placement
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Sandra wanting to create a normal
family – but likes support as a carer
 ‘We made a conscious decision that we were not going
to ask for respite breaks, because Rosie needed to
become part of our family.’
 ‘I wouldn’t be without the social workers… because they
understand the difference between being a carer and
being a parent, which your family don’t understand. And
we have a support group once a month so if you have
something that you need to talk about that is very helpful
to be able to meet with the other carers and I do quite a
lot of training courses.’
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3. Role identity exclusively that of
carer
 Carers who may accept a child as a long-term placement
with a permanence plan
BUT
 do not take on the parenting / permanence role in
relation to this child e.g. may not fully include child in
family
 may anticipate without question this child moving on and
out of the family at 18 or before.
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4. Role identity exclusively that of
parent
 Carers who wish to see themselves as parents
 Carers who want their relationship with this child to be
how they expect a parent - daughter/son to be.
BUT
 tend to reject carer identity and its implications
 may not accept the need for training
 may not help the child manage care identity
 may form an alliance with child against ‘the system’
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Defining, doing and displaying
family – in foster care
 Narratives are seen as stories which people tell to
themselves and to others about their own family
relationships, which enable them to be understood and
situated as part of an accepted repertoire of what ‘family’
means.
Finch, J. (2007) ‘Displaying families’ Sociology 41 (2) pp. 65-81
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Doing family and earning the right to
be ‘my mum’
 When you think about what a mum is and what a dad is
and I compare it to what my mum and dad were like - I
know they loved me, but they didn’t do their best by me
which they should when you bring a child into life I
suppose. And I just see [carer] as my mum, she is doing
well for me. (Girl, age 17)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
‘Doing’ and ‘displaying’ family - to the
child and (with the child) to the world
 The core message of ‘display’ is ‘these are my family
relationships and they work’ (Finch 2007)
 Foster families (and other ‘chosen’ families) seek
legitimacy, often through ‘displaying’ that they are ‘the
same’ as cultural ideals of family.
 Cards, rituals, celebrations, weddings, funerals – and
their relationships
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
The child’s family membership in
the foster family
Family membership was established for children through:
 Messages about placement length from social workers
 Verbal reassurances from carers about the future
 Children perceiving carers as doing extra and going beyond
their ‘duty’
 Positive relationships with other foster family members
 Recognition by professionals
 Acceptance by birth family?
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Typology of children’s sense of
family membership
 Children’s sense of foster family (FF) membership
interacted with feelings about their birth family (BF).
 Children’s perceptions of the role of foster family and birth
family differed widely –
• Dual membership (with the foster family and birth family)
• Exclusive membership (with the foster family)
• Mixed membership (secure with the foster family, but anxious /
uncertain with the birth family)
• Limited / uncertain membership (limited with the foster family /
preoccupied with the birth family)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Dual (foster and birth family)
membership
With mum, I talk to her about things. But with [carer]
when I talk to him about things he helps me with them,
whereas mum she is not quite as good with things like
that. But she is still there and she is still mum, so I talk to
her about things and what I am doing.
Do you ever feel torn between the two families?
No, no, My mum is my first family and this lot are my
second family. I call [carer] my dad. (Boy aged 17)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Exclusive foster family membership
‘Dad, no chance, I don’t want to see him. No, I don’t
want nothing to do with him anyway. Mum I used to, but
no more. She couldn’t look after us and she made loads
of promises and broke them all’ ( Girl, 14)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Secure foster family membership/
uncertain birth family relationship
Children in this group:
 Felt sadness that they could not live with their birth parents,
but had accepted the foster carers in the parenting role.
 Understood their birth parents’ care had been inadequate, but
had mixed feelings towards parents– angry but also defensive
and anxious.
 Often tried to satisfy birth parents’ emotional needs at contact.
 Enjoyed life in the foster family and wanted to stay with the
foster family post 18 or come back to visit post 18.
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Limited foster family membership/
pre-occupied with the birth family
Children in this group:
 Were mainly settled in placement, but had a sense of ‘biding
time’ until they could be back with birth parents.
 Valued holidays and celebrations, but did not talk about many
other themes of foster family membership.
 Felt loved by carers, but also had anxiety about their carers’
feelings towards them
 Saw the permanence plan as ‘kidnap’.
‘I realised it was until I was eighteen years old…I thought
surely they can’t keep you away from your family that long,
but it turns out they can.’ (Boy, age 11)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family
Foster children’s advice
 To carers
‘Foster carers should give children their love and care, do
the best you can, be proud of them, love them for who
they are, even though they are not yours just love them
for who they are.’(Girl, age 14)
 To foster children
‘Think about it as you are in a better place, you have still
got the other end of the phone, and you are with people
that will care for you and love you and everything is
going to be alright.’ (Girl, aged 12)
Centre for Research on the Child and Family