scholarly journals Invariant and Variant Sociopsychological Characteristics of Successful Foster Mothers

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 149-163
Author(s):  
V.N. Oslon ◽  
M.A. Odintsova ◽  
G.V. Semya ◽  
E.A. Zinchenko
Keyword(s):  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Diagnostic Techniques ◽  
Foster Mother ◽  
Parental Competence ◽  
Foster Parenting ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Foster Mothers

As part of the development of tools for sociopsychological assessment of prospective foster parents, we conducted a factorization of the array of data obtained with a set of diagnostic techniques and identified the contribution of each component to the success of foster care. Invariant and variant characteristics of successful foster mothers are highlighted (N=128).Foster mothers were selected based on the expert opinion of the professional community and trained as coaches of foster families. It is shown that successful foster mothers have a number of characteristics that allow them to raise foster children over a long period of time. These characteristics should be considered as criteria for selecting potential reliable guardians. Among the invariant characteristics are: the viability of family, the dominance of motivation of altruism and self-realization in children, high levels of emotion management, extroversion, consciousness, emotional stability, parental competence. The variant characteristics are as follows: the experience of foster parenting, the intensity of motivation aimed at resolving family and personal crises, ‘replacing’ a child, solving demographic problems, filling an empty nest, as well as the level of emotional intelligence and its components (except emotion managment); personality traits (level of compliance, openness to experience); altruistic investment. The invariant-variant approach enables us to address the sociopsychological portrait of the foster mother in its integrity.

Providing Love and Care

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Rymph
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Foster Parent ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Foster Mother ◽  
World War ◽  
Foster Parenting ◽  
Parent Role ◽  
Foster Fathers

This chapter examines the ambiguity of the foster parent role in the post-World War II period, looking particularly at analogies to other kinds of parenting. It explores efforts by child welfare professionals to reconcile their ambivalent feelings about foster parents through the creation and promotion of national standards for foster care and foster parenting. The chapter looks closely at professional writings about the foster mother role and the reasons why foster fathers received so little attention. It also examines the ways in which foster parents resisted their proscribed role, notably through attempting to adopt children in their care.

scholarly journals Socio-perceptual images as regulators of child-parental relations in foster families

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-147
Author(s):  
V.L. Sitnikov ◽  
A.A. Strelenko ◽  
S.I. Kedich ◽  
A.V. Komarova
Keyword(s):  
Foster Children ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Psychological Injury ◽  
Foster Child ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Biological Mothers ◽  
Foster Mothers ◽  
Parental Relations

Objective. Definition of communications of I-images of mothers with He-images of the own children, I-images of the foster mothers with He-images of foster children became the purpose of our research; establishment of communications of I-images of the foster mothers with the child parental relation and interaction. Background. The problem of social and perceptual reflection is current because the number of families with receptions and the sponsored children grows. Quite often adoptive parents aren’t ready to adequate interaction with nonnative children and return them in the system of guardianship, putting to children a severe psychological injury. One of the most important reasons of it is the discrepancy of ideal fixations on need of children for family and real perception of specific children by adoptive parents, rigidity of their attitudes — social installations. In this regard studying mechanisms and regularities of perception of the child in family since how the child is perceived in family, formation of his “Ya-concept”, formation of the personality, the relation with relatives, peers, teachers, with surrounding people directly depends is of particular importance. To minimize emergence of such psychoinjuring situations the in-depth study of mechanisms and regularities of social perception in the replacing families is necessary. Study design. Links between the structures of I-images of mothers and He-images of their native and adoptive children were investigated; links between socio-perceptual images and child-parental attitude (interaction) in foster families. Participants. Sample: 18 women from 29 to 59 years (M=48,05; SD=7,77) with only foster children and 20 women aged 37 to 48 years (M=39,85; SD=3,93) having only their biological children. Measurements. The technique “The structure of the image of a person (hierarchical),” developed by V.L. Sitnikov; two versions of the VRR questionnaire by I.M. Markovskaya, to study the interaction of parents with children and adolescents. Results. I- and He-images are indicators of child-parental relations in foster families. At the replacing mothers the controlling behavior in relation to the child is expressed. And high control can be shown in petty guardianship, persistence, to lead to restrictions and the bans. Conclusions. Reliable connections of socio-perceptual images of members of substitute families and child-parental relations were revealed, proving that these images are indicators of child-parental relations. The images children have similarity on structural characteristics both at foster, and at biological mothers. In representations of the foster mothers when forming an image of the foster child the orientation to the I-concept and ideas of what has to be the child is noted. The foster mothers identify themselves with foster children in the present and the future, more close relations with the foster child seek to establish. In comparison with foster, biological mothers are more open in communication with the children.

scholarly journals The Investigation of Future Substitute Parents’ Psychological Characteristics

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-111
Author(s):  
С.Н. Сорокоумова ◽  
М.А. Мартенс
Keyword(s):  
Parent Training ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Foster Parent ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Foster Parent Training ◽  
Early Predictors

Неуспешная интеграция ребенка в приемную семью является в настоящее время актуальной проблемой в Российской Федерации. Параллельно с увеличением количества усыновлений и взятий детей под опеку растет и количество отказов от приемных детей. Причиной этому часто является недостаточная готовность замещающих родителей к своей новой роли, несмотря на такие разработанные меры поддержки, как обучение в школе приемных родителей и психологическое сопровождение замещающей семьи. Авторами предпринято исследование с целью улучшить существующие методы профилактики отказов от приемных детей. Выдвинута гипотеза о том, что существуют своеобразные ранние предикторы неуспешного приемного родительства, которые могут быть выявлены на этапе предварительной диагностики кандидатов в замещающие родители и учтены в дальнейшей работе с ними, позволяя обеспечить индивидуальный подход. Представлен анализ исследований, в которых изучались психологические характеристики успешных и неуспешных приемных родителей и было установлено, что успешные и неуспешные приемные родители имеют характерные особенности мотивационной структуры и личности. Поскольку значительная часть этих характеристик может быть выявлена у будущих приемных родителей еще до принятия ребенка в семью, авторы предлагают считать их условными предикторами успешного (или неуспешного) приемного родительства. В статье выдвигается идея о том, что в процессе предварительной психологической диагностики кандидатов в приемные родители необходимо сделать акцент на выявлении предикторов неуспешного родительства как факторов риска, чтобы скорректировать их в ходе подготовки семьи к приемному родительству. Проблема выявления предикторов успешного родительства открыта для дальнейшего более глубокого изучения личностных особенностей будущих приемных родителей, определения конкретных диагностических методик и способов проработки их типичных проблем. A failure to integrate a child into a foster family is an acutely urgent issue in modern Russia. The growing number of adopted children and foster children goes hand in hand with the increasing number of kids rejected by their foster families. Even though young foster parents attend foster parent training centers and receive psychological support, they are often insufficiently prepared for their new role. The authors of the article conduct a research in order to improve the existing methods of rejection prevention. There is a hypothesis that there are early predictors that show that foster parents are highly likely to fail. These predictors can be diagnosed at early stages ad can be used to ensure individual approach to foster parents. The article analyzes research devoted to the investigation of psychological characteristics of successful and unsuccessful foster parents. It maintains that successful and unsuccessful foster parents have specific personal and motivation-related characteristics. Since these characteristics can be seen before adoption, the authors of the article suggest that they should be treated as tentative predictors of successful or unsuccessful foster parentage. The article maintains that the process of preliminary psychological diagnosis should be aimed at revealing predictors of unsuccessful parentage and at their correction during foster parent training. The issue of singling out predictors of successful parentage should be aimed at further investigated of future foster parents’ personal characteristics, at the investigation of specific diagnosis methods, at searching for solutions to typical problems.

Observations on the attatchment of marsupial pouch young to the teats and on the rearing of pouch young by foster-mothers of the same or different species

1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC Merchant ◽  
GB Sharman
Keyword(s):  
Hard Palate ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Buccal Cavity ◽  
Foster Mother ◽  
Red Kangaroo ◽  
Foster Mothers ◽  
Grey Kangaroo ◽  
Accelerated Growth ◽  
Reproductive Cycles ◽  
Swamp Wallaby

The buccal cavity is modified in young red kangaroos by hemispherical indentations into hard palate and tongue which receive the bulbous swelling at the end of the teat. Attachment to the teat is aided by the formation of ridges on the hard palate and the lateral fusing of the lips of the young. The epiglottis of the young red kangaroo is intra-nasopharyngeal rather than intra-narial as is stated to be the case in other marsupials. Red kangaroos less than 1 day old were removed from the teat to which they had attached and replaced on another teat in the same pouch. A grey kangaroo young aged 13 days was replaced on the teat after removal and was removed and replaced at 7-day intervals thereafter. No difficulty was experienced in replacing 15 young aged between 41 and 100 days on the teats from which they were removed. The following transfers of young less than 1 day old were made: two red kangaroos to foster-mothers of the same species, one red kangaroo to a grey kangaroo, two grey kangaroos to foster-mothers of the same species, one tammar to a red kangaroo, and two swamp wallabies to red kangaroos. All the transfers were initially successful; however, one red kangaroo and one grey kangaroo were lost soon after the transfer, apparently because the foster-parents were at the incorrect stage of their reproductive cycles. The followmg transfers of young 2-25 days old were made to foster-mothers suckling young 2-20 days old: two swamp wallabies to red kangaroos, one red kangaroo to a swamp wallaby, one red kangaroo to a red-necked wallaby, one grey kangaroo to a red kangaroo, one tammar to a red kangaroo, and one red-necked wallaby to a red kangaroo. All the transfers were initially successful except a 13-day-old tammar which failed to attach to the teat of its foster-mother. A swamp wallaby young transferred at the age of 25 days to a red kangaroo showed accelerated growth and early sexual maturity compared to control swamp wallabies raised by their own mothers. A total of 12 inter-species and intra-species transfers of young aged 41-255 days old were made. A 53-day-old young of the yellow-footed rock wallaby failed to attach to the teat of a red kangaroo but all other transfers were initially successful and, in most cases, growth of the foster-young was normal and they were reared to at least the latter stages of pouch life. Young placed in the pouches of foster-mothers were readily accepted and there were indications that the behaviour patterns of the foster-mother were altered so that they responded to calls made by the foster-young. Foster-young of species which have a longer pouch life than the red kangaroo remained in the pouches of red kangaroo foster-mothers for the time usual in their own species. Foster-young transferred to the pouches of other species were usually reared to the end of pouch life if adult sizes of transferred young and foster-mother were nearly equal. Young of small species transferred to the pouches of larger species were often lost before the end of pouch life.

scholarly journals Beyond Expectations: From Foster Children to Foster Parents

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Leslie S. Hamilton ◽  
Victor W. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Foster Parenting ◽  
Youth Outcomes ◽  
Foster Youths

Little research exists on long-term outcomes for adults who have been in foster care as children, with even less research on former foster children who become foster parents themselves. Foster care and maltreatment exert significant independent and interdependent impacts on youth outcomes. While traditional research often focuses on predicting and mitigating negative outcomes, new studies indicate success using a positive youth development approach that is strengths-based targeting positive outcomes, such as strong empathy skills. These outcomes align with the demonstrated skills that lead to successful foster parenting. The current review examines the possible transition from foster child to foster parent through the lenses of parenting styles, attachment, and family systems theories, as well as positive youth development and social justice youth development theories. The authors propose utilizing theory and proven interventions to address foster youths’ attachment and emotional development needs, recognize positive outcomes for youth in foster care, and employ evidence-based training programs in place for at-risk parent groups to help break the cycle that leads to displacement. The need for more research to assist foster children, parents, case workers, and systems to promote healthy youth development is discussed.

scholarly journals Foster Parents’ Parenting and the Social-Emotional Development and Adaptive Functioning of Children in Foster Care: A PRISMA-Guided Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Chodura ◽  
Arnold Lohaus ◽  
Tabea Symanzik ◽  
Nina Heinrichs ◽  
Kerstin Konrad
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
Parenting Behavior ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Increased Risk

AbstractChildren in foster care (CFC) are at increased risk for negative developmental outcomes. Given the potential influence of foster parents’ parenting on the development of CFC, this literature review and meta-analysis provide an initial overview of how parenting factors in foster families relate to CFC’s developmental outcomes. We aimed to explore (1) whether foster parents’ parenting conceptualizations are related differently to various CFC developmental outcome variables and (2) how characteristics of foster parents and CFC moderate these associations. Following the recommendations of the PRISMA statement, we searched four databases in 2017 (with an update in May 2020). Forty-three primary studies were coded manually. The interrater agreement was 92.1%. Parenting variables were specified as parenting behavior, style, and goals and were distinguished further into functional and dysfunctional parenting. CFC development was divided into adaptive (including cognitive) development and maladaptive development. Meta-analyses could be performed for foster parenting behavior and developmental outcomes, as well as for functional parenting goals and maladaptive socioemotional outcomes in CFC. Associations between functional parenting behavior and adaptive child development were positive and negative for maladaptive child development, respectively. For dysfunctional, parenting effects were in the opposite direction. All effects were small to moderate. Similar results were found descriptively in the associations of parenting style and child developmental outcomes. We found similar effect sizes and directions of the associations between parenting behavior in foster families and the child’s developmental outcomes as those previously reported for biological families. These findings provide strong support for the significant role of parenting in foster families regarding children’s development in foster care.

Foster Care in a Life Course Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Fred Wulczyn
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Policy Priority ◽  
The Life Course

To understand what placement outside of one’s home means to the young people involved, we must understand foster care from a life course perspective. I analyze young people’s experiences in foster care from this perspective, accounting for when foster care happens, how long it lasts, and what happens when foster care placements end. I show that the population of children coming into foster care is younger and less urban than it was 20 years ago. I also show reliable measures of exposure to foster care over the life course. Children who enter care early in life are the children who spend the largest proportion of their childhood in foster care—a fact that rarely weighs on the policymaking process. We know very little about state and local variation in foster care placement rates, not to mention the influence of social services, the courts, foster parents, and caseworkers over foster children, so I close by arguing investment in research should be a clear policy priority.

Assessment of problem behaviour by foster parents and their foster children

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Strijker ◽  
Simon van Oijen ◽  
Jana Knot-Dickscheit
Keyword(s):  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Problem Behaviour

scholarly journals Offspring telomere length in the long lived Alpine swift is negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 20170188 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Criscuolo ◽  
Sandrine Zahn ◽  
Pierre Bize
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Foster Mother ◽  
Biological Father ◽  
Accumulation Of Damage ◽  
Older Males

A growing body of studies is showing that offspring telomere length (TL) can be influenced by the age of their parents. Such a relationship might be explained by variation in TL at conception (gamete effect) and/or by alteration of early growth conditions in species providing parental care. In a long-lived bird with bi-parental care, the Alpine swift ( Apus melba ), we exchanged an uneven number of 2 to 4-day-old nestlings between pairs as part of a brood size manipulation. Nestling TL was measured at 50 days after hatching, which allowed investigation of the influence of the age of both their biological and foster parents on offspring TL, after controlling for the manipulation. Nestling TL was negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother. Nestling TL did not differ between enlarged and reduced broods. These findings suggest that offspring from older males were fertilized by gametes with shorter telomeres, presumably due to a greater cell division history or a longer accumulation of damage, and that older females may have provided poorer parental care to their offspring.

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