Family contact in foster care in Portugal. The views of children in foster care and other key actors

Abstract

This is a pilot study on the sensitive issue of how children and young people experience family contact in foster care, and the views of key adults in their lives on the same issue. There is a special focus on the children's experiences, opinions, and feelings. The study is a response to the relative scarcity of literature on family contact based on the experiences of children and adults in caring roles. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, with a sample of 10 children and young people in care in the district of Porto, aiming to identify key issues and areas for further examination.The results allow us to conclude that the possibility of maintaining contact is positively evaluated. However, perspectives on the relationships involved, and on the reactions to and difficulties associated with visits, revealed considerable disagreement among the actors. A possible set of implications drawn from the findings pointed out to the importance of developing a monitored cooperation that improves communication processes in order to take into account the children's and young people's views in the decision-making process; and to develop more attentive and open working relationships with parents throughout the foster care placement. KEYWORDS child care, children's and young people's views, family contact, foster care 1 | CONTACT IMPORTANCE AND CHALLENGES Recent literature suggests that when contact is positive, it produces beneficial effects on the child or young person, such as the strengthening of physical and genealogical identity; a feeling of greater tranquillity, because the child or young person feels that the parents are well and that they care for them; a decrease in anxiety and feelings of guilt; the demonstration of love and affection; the reduction of feelings of loss and rejection; and the promotion of self-esteem (Delgado et al., 2016; Triseliotis, 2010).However, such family contact may not be an easy process. Some of the difficulties associated with the contact in foster or residential care are due to the fact that there are several actors involved, as well as a mixture of different feelings, such as hostility, affection, loyalty, ambivalence, conflict, disqualification, or nostalgia, which might lead to cooperative behaviours or rivalries and misunderstandings (Carvalho & Delgado, 2014).Although there is a growing literature on family contact issues for children in care, research based on cases drawing on the actual experiences of children and adults in caring roles is still relatively scarce.Maintaining contact with parents, other family members, or reference people is crucial for children and young people in care for several reasons. First, from an ethical point of view, contact is an essential right of people that are separated, in accordance with the current legal framework, namely, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Second, contact can lessen the impact of change that occurs in children and young people's life when they are placed in care, maintaining a connection with their past and identity...

Through a relational lens: reflections about foster care experience in Italian emancipated foster youth

“…These complement the literature that stressed the importance of social capital ( Hook and Courtney, 2011 ; Skobba et al, 2018 ), that is also confirmed in our work highlighting the importance of peers and community involvement. This additional support received not only from biological and foster families, could promote the strengthening of identity and the reduction of feelings of loss and rejection ( Delgado et al, 2019 ; Wissö et al, 2019 ). Romantic relationships become a central theme in the transition to adulthood ( Oudekerk et al, 2015 ), and even though the early relationships in the biological family, these youth seem to develop some ability to manage autonomy and related challenges in adult relationships across different social domains (romantic relations, friendship, family).…”

“…This suggests that besides a vulnerability and adversity that youth frequently experience following aging out of foster care, positive relationships may buffer the negative outcomes succeeding emancipation ( Greeson and Bowen, 2008 ). Foster research has emphasized the need for caring relationships to be maintained in the lives of individuals in the transition to adulthood, showing the beneficial effects of caring relationships such as the strengthening of identity, the reduction of feelings of loss and rejection, and the promotion of self-esteem ( Delgado et al, 2019 ; Wissö et al, 2019 ; Ball et al, 2021 ). Alongside, relationships with the family of origin, with others, romantic relationships, as well as affective experiences play a key-role on positive outcomes of American emancipated foster youth ( Tyrell and Yates, 2018 ).…”

Foster care in Portugal: outcomes, needs, and challenges for deinstitutionalization

“…Data collection focused on two published articles (Delgado et al, 2018;Carvalho et al, 2020), three books (Delgado, 2007;Delgado et al, 2013;Delgado et al, 2016), one thesis (Diogo, 2018) and two dissertations (Batalhas, 2008;Gonçalves, 2017) addressing the experiences of main actors in foster care. The main characteristics of the selected studies are summarized in Table 1.…”

Institutional sheltering through the child’s perspective

“…It is important to understand that children are endowed with wisdom and a view of the world which are important elements to be taken into consideration when assessing their subjective living (Bernardi, 2010). One of the main forms to assess the real needs of children and adolescents who live in institutional sheltering is giving them the right to speak up, in a way they can report their own feelings and perspectives (Bernardi, 2010;Delgado et al, 2019;Gabatz et al, 2010). It is also crucial to highlight that for the child to be able to give their opinion about what would be the best for them, it is imperative that they are aware of their own situation, in other words, without really understanding the reality they are inserted, they are not able to provide a substantiated opinion (Oliveira, 2015).…”