A tangled web: parental contact with children in kinship care

Abstract

Contact between parents and children in care is a contested area. Parental contact is recognized to be important, yet may present protective issues; in the kinship care environment, it brings the particular challenges of complex family relationships. Seeking the parents' perspective in a child protection context is difficult and therefore under‐researched. This paper describes a nested study within an Australian research project on family contact in kinship care in which the perspectives of 18 mothers and 2 fathers were sought via in‐depth interviews. Mothers and fathers described strong feelings of disempowerment in the context both of their family and the child protection system. The relationship between parent and caregiver emerged as a significant issue. All of the parents wished to remain in contact with their children in a meaningful way, whether or not they were likely to resume their children's care; however, contact arrangements presented many difficulties for them. Mothers articulated the need for services that are more empowering and respectful, rather than oriented towards them as failed parents. In order to build appropriate models of support and intervention, we argue for a more inclusive conceptual frame for family life that gives greater recognition to the role of non‐custodial parents in the lives of their children.

Mothering after child removal: Living under the rule of Greek gods

“…These are likely to have a considerable impact on mothers' experiences, and thus how they behave in relation to child protection services with consequent implications for their children. Although efforts are being made to make child protection systems more supportive of parents and less adversarial (Alpert, ), their mandated role in supervising, monitoring, and judging parents as safe or potentially harmful to children may sit uncomfortably with a supportive relationship (Kiraly & Humphreys, ; Klease, ).…”

“…Positive and regular contact with birth parents has been linked in multiple studies to both successful restoration and placement stability (Sen & Broadhurst, 2011 has the potential to be detrimental to children (Sen & Broadhurst, 2011 The outworking of a negation of noncustodial mothering is perhaps seen most clearly in women's dealings with child protection authorities. Likened to the relationship between the ancient Greeks and their gods, this group of women reflect a powerlessness common to the experiences of mothers who are separated from their children (Kiraly & Humphreys, 2015;Klease, 2008;Mason & Gibson, 2004;Mayes & Llewellyn, 2012;O'Neill, 2005;Smithson & Gibson, 2017;Thomson & Thorpe, 2003), including considerable confusion about the child protection system itself (Alpert, 2005). The complexity of the system, combined with the lack of education and social disadvantage common in this population, are thought by advocates to result in mothers lacking both information about the relevant laws and processes and an ability to advocate for themselves when interacting with child protection staff (Douglas & Walsh, 2009).…”

Family Contact for Children in Kinship Care: A Literature Review

“…Argent, 2009;Boetto, 2010;Connolly, 2003;Cuddeback, 2004;Farmer & Moyers, 2008;Hunt et al, 2010;Iglehart, 2004;Kiraly & Humphreys, 2013;McHugh, 2009;Palacios & Jimenez, 2009;Roth et al, 2011;Yardley et al, 2009). There are now opportunities to move beyond the use of policy and practice designed for foster care and to develop more appropriate ways to support family caring for family (O'Brien, 2012).…”

“…Parents reportedly experienced a lack of control in relation to their children's lives and increasing marginalisation over time, and showed little insight into their own personal issues. The authors' study (Kiraly & Humphreys, 2013) of the views of 20 parents highlighted parents' wish to keep in touch with children despite difficulties, their feelings of disempowerment, relationship difficulties between parents and carers, and the parent's wishes for services to help them with their relationships with their children.…”

Network indicators of the social ecology of adolescents in relative and non-relative Foster households

“…It is also possible that these networks were structured to resist disruption, such that if one member left the immediate network—e.g., if a parent with whom the youth had a strong relationship was incarcerated—the remaining members could be expected to maintain communication and support between the youth, the absent adult, and others. These two profiles illustrate how relative placement or kinship care can be seen as a mechanism to keep youth connected to a larger family-based network comprised of previously established network relationships, as well as to the youth's non-custodial biological parents (Kiraly & Humphries, 2013; 2015). …”