Perceptions of Long-Term Female Foster-Carers: I'm Not a Carer, I'm a Mother
Abstract
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Stigma is a powerful social phenomenon with insidious health implications. Understanding stigma as it applies to various populations is imperative for nurses as it enables nurses to enhance individual patient care and nurses are well positioned to influence both social and health care policies which may exacerbate the experience of stigma. This article is a report of a study to explore the experiences of women who provide long-term foster care. Interviews were conducted with 20 women who provide...
This article reports findings from a study of 96 former foster youth in one state in the United States regarding the transition-related services they received (both prior to and after age 18 years) and the outcomes achieved since age 18. At the time of the survey, approximately 60% of the sample was in the voluntary care of the state agency. Quantitative data describe the services received and outcomes achieved. Qualitative comments provide further feedback about young people's perceptions of se...
In this qualitative exploratory study the perspectives of foster parents in an eastern Canadian province, who had at least five years of fostering experience, were explored through structured open-ended telephone interviews. The interview questions were organized around seven main areas based on the personal experiences as foster parents which were: the misconceptions they encountered, their motivation and the reasons they continue to foster, the joys, as well as the barriers and challenges thes...
Commissioning Permanent Fostering Placements from External Providers: An Exploration of Current Policy and Practice
This article argues that to gain a more complete understanding of how lesbian families experience parenthood outside of the heterosexual context, scholars must consider how co-parents negotiate a parental identity, rather than presuming that women parents want to mother. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 17 women in a state that denies them parental legal rights, this article asks how a non—biologically related and non—legally related woman parent determines a parental identity in a social sys...
A stigma identification framework for family nurses working with parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered and their families.
Parent relationships and family life provide important psychological and health benefits for growing children and adults. Social stigma experienced by parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered, and by their children, creates significant stress on families. Families headed by parents who are sexual orientation or gender identity minorities may require special guidance for navigating an unusually complicated terrain related to parenting and family life. The focus of this article is ...
We sought to provide a new framework for understanding the training and ongoing support of foster parents. The experiences of authorized foster parents were viewed in the context of an experiment, whereby foster parents entered an out-of-home care placement with preconceived ideas and expectations of what the provision of care would be like. We have investigated the experience of foster care from the perspective of the foster parent who tests expectations of providing care as one might conduct a...
Associations of Parent Coping, Stress, and Well-Being in Mothers of Children with Diabetes: Examination of Data from a National Sample
Caring for a child with diabetes is associated with parental stress and difficulties with psychological and physical functioning. Although small samples of children and parents have been studied to examine the relationship of parental stress and coping with well-being, little has been done looking at broader, national samples. The current study examined data on parental demographics, stress, coping, psychological well-being, and physical well-being from a national dataset (NSCH). A subset of 278...
Child welfare professionals are called to make determinations that affect whether children can stay or reunify with their families. These decisions are framed by policies that inform and constrain their professional and personal understanding of risk and relationships. This manuscript explores themes related to children's relationships with their families that emerged from a qualitative study with 18 child welfare professionals, including judges, lawyers, and masters-level social workers who rep...
Notions of motherhood have been shaped by a Western ideology that encourages mothers to intensively mother their children, selflessly indulging in their child's every want and need. Failure to adhere to such criteria results in the label of “bad” mother. This understanding of motherhood has been viewed through a White, middle-class, heterosexual lens, limiting our ability to see the diversity of women's lives. In an effort to encourage exploration of women's nuanced experiences, feminist scholar...
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Australian foster carers' views of supporting maternal breastfeeding and attachment in out-of-home care.
Background null Breastfeeding supports infant health, growth and development, and promotes maternal attachment and sensitive caregiving. Maternal separation due to child protection concerns can result in termination of breastfeeding with associated adverse outcomes. How to preserve breastfeeding when infants are placed in out-of-home care is an issue of concern. null Objective null To consider the views of foster carers towards provision of breastmilk and breastfeeding for infants in their care....
Abstract null null Background null In order for foster care placements to be considered good, research has identified that children need to experience love and belonging in the home. It is therefore important that foster carer recruitment target individuals who are able and willing to attempt to provide love and belonging to the children placed with them. null null null Objective null To quantify the extent to which and how foster carer agencies represent love and belonging in foster carer recru...
Experiences of vicarious trauma among Australian foster parents providing long-term care to non-indigenous children
Abstract null null In Australia, significant numbers of children in out-of-home care live in foster care placements, with many such placements being long-term. Despite the potential healing that may occur in the context of foster care, many foster children experience high levels of poor mental health, and may enact trauma-related behaviours that can significantly impact upon the foster placement. Yet to date, the topic of foster parents witnessing and living with the trauma experienced by their ...
Objectives While low-income young adults are known to be at high risk for sleep problems, sleep in foster care alumni has not been closely examined. These young adults face not only the challenges of poverty, but struggle with past maltreatment and removal from their family of origin, and frequently demonstrate mental health and substance use disorders.
This article reports on an exploratory study about maintaining and supporting the cultural identity of children from culturally and linguistically diverse family backgrounds in foster care placemen...
Foster care is currently preferred over institutional care when children are in the care of the state. There seems to be a consensus on the voluntary origins of foster care, nonetheless there also seems to be a growing momentum for the professionalisation of this form of youth care. We contribute to the debate by means of an analysis of 33 semi-structured interviews with foster families in Flanders, exploring the tensions between voluntaristic and professionalising tendencies in foster care. Fos...
The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use
Balancing between caregiving and professionalism- Women's narratives on fostering a victim of maternal sexual abuse
The impact of sexual abuse on children is enormous, particularly when a child is abused sexually by a mother figure. In order to gain insight into the experiences of this rarely studied group, the life stories of four foster mothers of victims of maternal sexual abuse were collected. The narratives were coded inductively, and several topics concerning foster motherhood were studied more in-depth. Four key themes emerged in the women's narratives: their attitude towards the abusing female, the fo...
The rural mother's experience of caring for a child with a chronic health condition: An integrative review.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify and review the literature on rural mothers' experiences in caring for a child with a chronic health condition. BACKGROUND: Families living with a child who has a chronic health condition experience many challenges; these are often amplified for families living in rural areas, where issues such as the distance from services add further challenges the family must manage. Like many children, rural children with chronic health conditions are primarily cared for by th...
Stable, long-term foster care homes are critical to ensuring a safe and nurturing childhood for many children worldwide. Greater foster carer satisfaction is associated with increased carer retention and is therefore critical in securing such stable homes for children. The purpose of this study is to determine which factors associated with foster care agencies contribute to higher levels of foster carer satisfaction. Results from a longitudinal study of 137 foster carers indicate that perceived ...