Foster Care: Theory & Practice (ILS 130)

Providing Foster Care for Adolescents: Barriers and Opportunities

“…Research is needed to understand how bringing foster children in and out of one's home impacts all the children living in that home. Although there is research that having any biological children in the home of a foster placement increases the likelihood of disruption (George, 1970;Parker, 1966), it typically focuses on effects of continued instability for the foster youth and neglects to address the simultaneous impact on the biological children living in that home. New research should consider whether these experiences are varied when the foster child is older than other children living in the home.…”

Tolerance of ambiguity as a component of foster home satisfaction

“…The early stages of foster parenting create the greatest amount of vague system identity for they are asked to fulfill a role which is not only new and unknown to them but also ill-defined. This vague system identity can only add to the stress and breakdown of early placements of foster children that the literature characterizes as being so common George, 1970;Kay, 1971a;Levine, 1972;Radinsky, 1970).…”

“…Considera ble transition and adjustment are necessary. Because early entrants are especially stress-producing the literature indicates that considerable support needs to be given parents in preparation for the entrance of children into their home, particularly with the first entrant as foster homes have considerable difficulty making the transition from nuclear family to foster family George, 1970;Kay, 1971a;Levine, 1972;Radinsky, 1970).…”

“…Another variable that has been frequently used in foster home success studies is the number of own children of foster parents. Hunter (1964) and George (1970) found that the most successful foster parents have no natural children in the home. Parker (1966) found that childless couples did the best at fostering.…”

“…Foster homes are known to have a rather short duration. Many homes exit from the foster home program within the first year or following the first placement (George, 1970;Kay, 1971a;Levine, 1972;Radinsky, 1970). Recruitment of new homes also remains a continual challenge.…”