Assessing Children’s Perspectives on Sibling Placements in Foster or Adoptive Homes

Hindle, Debbie

doi:10.1177/1359104500005004014

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…I have already published two papers on different aspects of the study -the first focusing on accessing children's perspectives and the implications for decision-making about sibling placements in child care cases (Hindle, 2000b), and the second considering some key factors in facilitating specialist assessments in the context of child and adolescent mental health services (Hindle, 2001). There is also much to say about the methodology of the study, the correlation between the measures used and the clinical work, the process of evaluating the material gathered, as well as the links between research and practice, which I would hope to write about in a separate paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical research: a psychotherapeutic assessment model for siblings in care

Hindle

2007

Journal of Child Psychotherapy

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This paper focuses on the aspects of a qualitative research project that examines an assessment protocol for the placement of siblings in foster care and/or future adoption. A brief description of the background to the study and the research design is given. Evaluating the material from the quantitative instruments used and the psychotherapeutic assessments, the author identified two predominant themes. The first, cumulative trauma, pointed to the pervasive nature of the children's early experiences, as manifest through their presentation and play. The second, relatedness and belonging, highlighted aspects of the children's shared memories and experiences. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate the way in which these themes related to the children's sibling relationships. The author reflects on the methodology used that allowed the complexity of the issues being studied to 'come to life'. The study noted the tendency for those caring for or working with the children to underestimate the children's meaning to each other and emphasised the importance of assessing the children's perspectives where decisions are being made in childcare cases. Further questions were raised as to whether more could be done to mediate or facilitate sibling relationships for children who have suffered early deprivation or abuse, and the need for further research into this area of work was proposed.Keywords Sibling relationships; foster care; assessment; psychotherapeutic research.The relationship between young siblings is distinctive in its emotional power and intimacy, its qualities of competitiveness, ambivalence, and of emotional understanding that can be used to provoke or support. On common sense grounds these qualities, and the high frequency of interaction and imitation between siblings, suggests that the relationship will be of developmental importance -both through the direct impact of siblings upon one another, and through the indirect effects of the siblings' relationships with the parents.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical research: a psychotherapeutic assessment model for siblings in care

Hindle

2007

Journal of Child Psychotherapy

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“…I assume from the information given that she was then placed without her siblings in her current family. Again, we can only speculate about what this might have meant to her, but the work of Debbie Hindle (2000Hindle ( , 2007, who has looked into sibling placements, might help us to think about the impact of those losses, while writings by other child psychotherapists such as Margaret Hunter-Smallbone (2001, Jenny Kenrick (2006) and Monica Lanyado (2004), who all examine the experiences and needs of looked-after and adopted children and their families, can usefully extend our thinking about all these painful issues.…”

Section: Considering the Clinical Case Materialsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Clinical commentary

2007

Journal of Child Psychotherapy

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Helen is the seventh of 10 children born into a family where abuse and neglect were rife. The oldest sibling, a girl, died in adolescence, and the youngest sibling died as a baby. The family had been known to social services for some time and were described as 'a feral gang'. The neglect in the family was severe, such that in her early years Helen had little or no education, and often went unclothed and unfed.When she was four and a half years old she was placed into foster care, with five of her siblings. She had a number of short-term placements, until at five years of age she was placed with the Saunders family. The Saunders family consists of Mr and Mrs Saunders and Mrs Saunders' daughter, who has special education needs and is two years older than Helen. Mrs Saunders' mother, known as Nan, is closely involved and lives nearby. The family have two pet dogs who are very much part of the family.Once settled into this more long-term placement, Helen was referred to the CAMHS service where I work, although this was still quite a distance from where she lived and she was brought in a taxi, accompanied by Nan.Following assessment, she was offered psychotherapy three times weekly, and by this time she was six years old. A therapist worked with Helen for 18 months, but then unfortunately this therapist left the clinic. I took over the case and began seeing her, also three times per week. This session reported below took place very early on in the therapy; Helen was eight years old at the time.Helen has always engaged passionately with the therapeutic process. She uses everything available in order to communicate her preoccupations -myself, the room, the furniture and her toy box. She has a vivid imagination and is interested in music and drama. The sessions are thus generally highly dramatic in every sense of the word.The major themes she is exploring in therapy are those of deprivation and abuse -key themes from her early life. She is an observant girl, with an excellent memory. She is able to use actual memories of her early abuse and weave them into her 'stories and plays'. I often play the part of the abused victim, where she is in identification with the abuser. In this way, I feel, she attempts to take some control over her damaged internal world.

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“…More former foster youth reported being dissatisfied with the amount of contact they had with siblings than they did with the amount of contact they had with their biological parents. These empirical findings highlighted the important role that siblings may play in the lives of children served by the public child welfare system (Hindle, 2000).…”

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confidence: 92%

Sibling Connections and Reasonable Efforts in Public Child Welfare

Gustavsson

MacEachron

2010

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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President George W. Bush signed Pub. L.110-351 into law. This major legislation changed child welfare practice. Of particular interest are the provisions concerning sibling placement and reasonable efforts. Both research and advocacy groups have pointed to the important role of siblings, and hence the need to place siblings together or to at least facilitate sibling contact while separated. We briefly review the research on the important role of siblings, examine sibling placements in foster care and kinship care in relation to placement disruption and permanency outcomes, and suggest policies and practices (e.g., family group decision making) to support the sibling bond over time.

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Assessing Children’s Perspectives on Sibling Placements in Foster or Adoptive Homes

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

Clinical research: a psychotherapeutic assessment model for siblings in care

Clinical research: a psychotherapeutic assessment model for siblings in care

Clinical commentary

Sibling Connections and Reasonable Efforts in Public Child Welfare

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