THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF SOCIAL PERCEPTION IMAGES IN THE CONSCIOUS OF FOSTER MOTHERS

This article examines the problem of the image of a foster child in the representations of foster mothers. The goal of the work is to determine the structural features of the foster mother's I-image, the You-image of the foster child. Research hypothesis - the structure and content of I-images and images of foster children are statistically and qualitatively related. Study participants were 78 people, foster mothers aged 29-66 years (М=49,64; SD=7,54). Based on the results of the empirical study, structural and content features were revealed in the ideas of foster mothers about themselves and their foster children. There are differences in the components of images: social intelligence (p≤0,05), behavioral (p≤0,05), bodily (p≤0,05), neutral (p≤0.05), negative (p≤0,05). Correlations were established between the characteristics of the images reflecting attitudes toward a person. Comparison of social-perceptual images in structure and content indicates the similarity of the I-images of mothers with the You-images of their foster children. The results obtained are based on a single mechanism for the development of socio-perceptual images. Foster mothers choose a child and build interaction with him/her, relying not so much on the reflection of real personal features of the child, as on their own ideas about themselves, on their I-concept.

Fostering in a Carefare Regime

This chapter is about foster parents and their work. Recent changes in the regulation of foster care illustrate the formation and operation of a carefare regime: the transformation of state policies and services and the integration of foster parents into the “deserving” female working and caring underclass. Relying on two years of participant observations and interviews with foster parents, experts, guardians, social workers and foster parent agency personnel, I describe the highly skilled care work most foster parents provide in demanding circumstances for a practically endless number of work hours. I explain how their status has been transformed from being volunteers to being contracted employees who work in increasingly precarious circumstances for extremely low wages. I argue that sentimentalization of care work is used by policy makers to discipline foster mothers into accepting the new terms of their relationship and by foster parents too to rationalize their compliance.

Effect of Postnatal Nutritional Environment Due to Maternal Diabetes on Beta Cell Mass Programming and Glucose Intolerance Risk in Male and Female Offspring

Besides the fetal period, the suckling period is a critical time window in determining long-term metabolic health. We undertook the present study to elucidate the impact of a diabetic suckling environment alone or associated with an in utero diabetic environment on beta cell mass development and the risk of diabetes in the offspring in the long term. To that end, we have compared two experimental settings. In setting 1, we used Wistar (W) rat newborns resulting from W ovocytes (oW) transferred into diabetic GK rat mothers (pGK). These oW/pGK neonates were then suckled by diabetic GK foster mothers (oW/pGK/sGK model) and compared to oW/pW neonates suckled by normal W foster mothers (oW/pW/sW model). In setting 2, normal W rat newborns were suckled by diabetic GK rat foster mothers (nW/sGK model) or normal W foster mothers (nW/sW model). Our data revealed that the extent of metabolic disorders in term of glucose intolerance and beta cell mass are similar between rats which have been exposed to maternal diabetes both pre- and postnatally (oW/pGK/sGK model) and those which have been exposed only during postnatal life (nW/sW model). In other words, being nurtured by diabetic GK mothers from birth to weaning was sufficient to significantly alter the beta cell mass, glucose-induced insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis of offspring. No synergistic deleterious effects of pre-and postnatal exposure was observed in our setting.

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

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.

Invariant and Variant Sociopsychological Characteristics of Successful 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.

Ṣaṣṭhī

Cultural memory and living practice of Bengal representṢaṣṭhī as the patron deity of childbirth and children’s welfare. But she is marginalized in the elite public domain despite the sanctity of motherhood within patriarchy. A search for Ṣaṣṭhī, through the regional Upa-purāṇas, maṅgalakābyas, proverbs, popular verses, and brathakathās reveals several Ṣaṣṭhīs: a goddess of the groves, a group of rain goddesses, a group of foster mothers, an old woman, and a goddess of the lying-in-chamber after delivery. Mothers who do not fit the norm of the caste-patriarchal nourishing mothers, as signalled by Ṣaṣṭhī, are often re-presented in Brahmanical imagination as ghoulish devourers of children. Kshīrer Putul (1896) by Abanindranath Tagore further mutates Ṣaṣṭhī for the modern colonized metropolis. This is significant in the context of modern Bengal’s re-forming of tradition marked by the dissociation between the metropolitan and the rural, the elite and the plebian cultures, fed by differences of class, caste, and gender.

Biological and Foster Mothers in Kamba Ramayanam

Rama, the hero of Ramayana is worshipped by the people. Biological and foster mothers of Rama, the great are really fortunate. The hero of Kamba Ramyanam was manifested more with his foster mother rather than his biological mother. Thus he had two mothers. Kosalai, Rama’s biological mother was stable in all the situations and showed maturity in her behaviour. Bharathan, who was fostered by Kosalai was also an esteemed gentle person. Kaikeyi, the foster mother of Rama was affectionate to Rama than Bharathan, her own son. But her infidelity towards Rama by becoming a prey to the conspiracy of kūni Mautharai shown her inner love towards her son Bharathan. Kosalai stood in esteemed status as a biological as well as a foster mother.

Social competences of professional foster parents

The aim of the study was to determine the structure of social competences of professional foster parents using the Social Competence Questionnaire A. Matczak (2001). The study included 167 professional foster parents carrying out family emergency tasks in the Śląskie and Małopolskie voivodships. Research results show that more than half of the respondents are characterized by an average, and more than one-third by a high level of social competence. Compared to the results of the general population, foster mothers have significantly higher competences on the intimacy scale, and foster fathers on the assertiveness scale. In comparison with representatives of other social professions (nurses, family assistants), foster mothers have significantly higher social competences in the intimacy scale compared to nurses. In comparison with family assistants, the results obtained are comparable.