Family Foster Care: Let's Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

In 2014, an article written by Dr Frank Ainsworth and Patricia Hansen was published in Children Australia entitled ‘Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence?’ The basic premise of the article was that evidence indicates family foster care either doesn't change the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, or makes it more difficult for positive outcomes to be achieved. Essentially, the view was that foster care is a risk to children in much the same way as there is a risk for children remaining at home with abusive or neglectful parents. As such, the authors stated that there should be a reduction in the use of family foster care, and increased efforts to keep children at home with supports. This article only came to our attention recently, and we had some issues with the conclusions that were drawn by the authors, particularly in terms of the evidence that is used to support their proposition. We were kindly offered an opportunity by the journal editors to submit this responding article.

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On the bright side: Young people’s most positive memories of family foster care

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/1359104520978691 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 135910452097869

Author(s):

Anne Steenbakkers ◽

Steffie van der Steen ◽

Hans Grietens

Keyword(s):

Foster Care ◽

Young People ◽

Family Environment ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Normal Family ◽

Traumatic Experiences ◽

Family Foster Care ◽

Continuous Support ◽

Positive Memories ◽

Negative Memories

This study explored what contributes to successful family foster care from the perspective of young people by asking them about their most positive memory of family foster care. Forty-four Dutch adolescents and young adults (aged 16–28) participated in this study and shared their most positive memory in a short interview. Their answers were qualitatively analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, supplemented with an analysis of the structure of their memories. The thematic analysis resulted in the themes Belongingness, Receiving support, Normal family life, It is better than before, and Seeing yourself grow. The structural analysis showed that young people both shared memories related to specific events, as well as memories that portrayed how they felt for a prolonged period of time. In addition, young people were inclined to share negative memories alongside the positive memories. These results highlight that, in order to build a sense of belonging, it is important that of foster parents create a normal family environment for foster children and provide continuous support. Moreover, the negative memories shared by participants are discussed in light of a bias resulting from earlier traumatic experiences.

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Reading with Angels: Improving Literacy among Children in Foster Care

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/cha.2013.4 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 54-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ruth Knight

Keyword(s):

Foster Care ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Literacy Outcomes ◽

Children In Foster Care ◽

Love Of Learning ◽

Outcomes For Children ◽

Children's Literacy ◽

And Gender ◽

Children In Care

The Pyjama Foundation is an Australian charity working to improve the literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in foster care. The foundation delivers the Pyjama Foundation Love of Learning programme, a learning-based mentoring programme in which volunteer ‘Pyjama Angels’ visit children in care each week to read books, play games and engage in other learning-based activities.This study surveyed 121 Love of Learning mentors (‘Pyjama Angels’) to assess their perceptions of the relationships they had developed with the children they mentored and of the children's improvement in their literacy skills, a key aim of the programme.The statistical data analysis based on the structural equation modelling and multiple regression approach showed that several factors had a statistically significant impact on the mentors’ perceptions of the children's improvement in literacy skills: relationship with the child, child's engagement and tenure in the programme, and frequency of meetings. Age and gender of the mentors were not found to have a statistically significant impact on mentors’ perceptions of this improvement, while mentors’ perceptions of their relationship with the children was the most important factor influencing their perceptions of improvement in literacy skills. The study did not include objective measures of the children's literacy outcomes, so its results are limited to the mentors’ perceptions. However, this study offers valuable insights for mentoring programmes working with children living in foster care.

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