Foster Children Caught in Loyalty Conflicts: Implications for Mental Health Treatment Providers

Baker, Amy J. L.; Mehta, Nirav; Chong, Jeanette

doi:10.1080/01926187.2012.728902

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…These children are often in long‐term foster care and become emotionally attached to their foster parents. Some experience loyalty conflicts between birth and foster parents (Baker, Mehta, & Chong, ). Children have, despite the complexity of having two sets of parents, a right to maintain contact with their biological parents, as pointed out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

Wangensteen

Bramness

Halsa

2018

Child & Family Social Work

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The aim of the study was to explore young people's perceptions and reflections about growing up with parents who have substance use disorder (SUD). In qualitative interviews with 12 young people (aged 13–26) and in an interpretative phenomenological analysis, we investigated their experiences of everyday life, of the relationships with the parents with SUD, and of conversations about this, both retrospectively and at the present. The findings indicated that the relationships with the parents largely occupied the informants, even when they lived separately from the parent and were protected from the daily exposure of substance use. The informants described their mixed and contradictory emotions towards their parents and the struggle to determine regulation and type of contact. They asked for professional support in order to help them cope with this. Sociocultural discourses concerning family life and substance use were discussed in an attempt to understand the findings. The findings of the study suggest that children and young people should be offered sufficient professional support in order to cope with their mixed and contradictory emotions and to determine the regularity and type of contact with the parents.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These children are often in long-term foster care and become emotionally attached to their foster parents. Some experience loyalty conflicts between birth and foster parents (Baker, Mehta, & Chong, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

Wangensteen

Bramness

Halsa

2018

Child & Family Social Work

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“…However, the relationship between foster care families and birth families and the factors influencing the quality of this relationship have not been widely documented. Nevertheless, this relationship has a direct effect on a child in placement who, in many cases, is attached to both families (Andersson, ; Baker, Mehta, & Chong, ; Leathers, ; Linares, Rhodes, & Montalto, ; Schofield & Beek, ). It also has an effect on the child's stability, because conflicts between the two families jeopardize the quality of the placement and can eventually result in the child being moved elsewhere (Austerberry et al, ; Kalland & Sinkkonen, ; Triseliotis, Borland, & Hill, ; Vanschoonlandt, Vanderfaeillie, Van Holen, De Maeyer, & Andries, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is known that it is detrimental for children to be exposed to interparental conflict due to the emotional insecurity it creates (Cummings, Schermerhorn, Davies, Goeke‐Morey, & Cummings, ). The behaviour of foster carers and biological parents who maintain conflictual relationships (belittling, bargaining, and competing for children's affection and love) puts the children in a stressful and uncomfortable situation of conflict (Baker et al, ; Neil & Howe, ; Nesmith, ). A study by Linares et al () shows that children become anxious when put in the middle of a conflict between the parental figures from their foster and birth families.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between foster care families and birth families in a child welfare context: The determining factors

Châteauneuf

Turcotte

Drapeau

2017

Child & Family Social Work

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Children placed in foster care families usually continue to see their birth parents in supervised and home visits. These children deal with the fact that they belonged to two families in a context where the relationship between the two families is sometimes complex and tense. Based on 45 semi-structured interviews conducted with foster care families and kinship foster care families, the present study examines the relationship between foster care parents and birth parents in a placement context, and focuses on the factors affecting the nature and quality of this relationship. The results showed that the quality of the relationship dynamics varies according to the following: how well and how often the parent-child visits took place, the birth parents' characteristics, and the foster carers' attitudes. The results also showed that placements in kinship foster care families were more likely to result in conflict and tension between the two parties than placements in regular foster care families. KEYWORDSchild welfare, contact (with birth relatives), family placement, foster care (family), kinship care, parenting/parenthood

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“…Therefore; finding, contacting and meeting parents are not appreciated and implemented. The conception of pagodas is similar to some authors possessing the view that when a child is adopted or sent to an adoptive family, the regular contact with parents or family members will be not good for the development of children and can lead to loyalty conflict [24]. Poor and unattended contact may harm the child, especially in cases where the child has a history of abuse [9].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Contact with Biological Parents for Children in Residental Care: A Vietnam Study

Dat¹,

Luot²,

Thành³

2018

JSS

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Children living in residential care have a degree of separation from their parents and other family members. Based on attachment theory, this study was conducted to analyze the contact between these children and their biological parents, and the factors affecting this contact. The sample included 382 children (orphans, abandoned or helpless children, children whose parents are deprived of custody or are unable to raise a child) living in residential centers located in North, Central and South of Vietnam. Data were obtained by semi-structured interviews. The results showed that, on average, children contact their parents and family members once a month. In addition, variables such as family image in children's mind and joyfulness when meeting parents are the best predictors of contact between children and parents, family members. The contact between children and parents is arguably considered as a form of consolidation and maintenance of emotional relationship.

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Foster Children Caught in Loyalty Conflicts: Implications for Mental Health Treatment Providers

Cited by 16 publications

References 20 publications

Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

The relationship between foster care families and birth families in a child welfare context: The determining factors

Contact with Biological Parents for Children in Residental Care: A Vietnam Study

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