Professional Quality of Life of Foster and Kinship Carers in Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Professional quality of life (ProQOL) refers to workers’ subjective feelings associated with work involved in helping others who have experienced trauma. It consists of positive and negative aspects, that is, subscales of compassion satisfaction, and burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Foster and kinship caring inherently involves risks associated with exposure to the trauma responses of children in their care. This exposure can lead to poor ProQOL, carer attrition, and placement instability. While limited studies specifically explore ProQOL of carers, many studies have examined factors and interventions related to ProQOL. However, there is a lack of synthesis of these studies. To fill such a research gap, we undertook a scoping review of 70 empirical studies from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, published from 2012 to 2022 reporting on ProQOL, and its related factors and concepts. We applied a multilevel ecosocial construct to examine complex interrelationships between private and governance settings to better understand factors related to ProQOL of carers and interventions aimed to improve it in these dynamic systems. In our review, some studies showed positive outcomes for carers, such as reduced stress or burnout associated with training. However, there was insufficient attention to factors associated with ProQOL at relational and sociopolitical levels. It is crucial to improve carers’ ProQOL or well-being to ensure their retention and placement stability. Long-term systemic improvements require interventions across different levels of the system.

Reconsidering Recognition in the Lives of Children and Young People in Care: Insights from the Mockingbird Family in South Australia

“…Life Without Barriers, a not-for-profit provider of foster care, is the Australian Mockingbird Family license holder. In Australia, the model employs and supports a centrally located Hub Home provider, tasked with connecting and supporting the other families in their constellation (McLaren et al 2023a). The aim is to build strong, supportive relationships between the carers, their families, and their extended networks (Jones et al 2024, in press) to collectively overcome difficulties before they escalate and present as risks and to ensure the protectiveness of environments for the children and young people.…”

“…Additionally, Honneth's theory addresses solidarity and belonging. The engaging and building capacity of the wider support network (foster carers, social workers, agency workers, family of origin) in therapeutic endeavors lays the foundations for the formation of self and the internalization of societal norms, concomitantly explored in our recent studies on the wellbeing of foster and kinship carers and agency workers (McLaren et al 2023a(McLaren et al , 2023b(McLaren et al , 2024). Honneth's critique of psychoanalytic theories, particularly his shift from Freud's focus on drive theory to the importance of interpersonal relationships, highlights recognition as being a crucial human need beyond therapeutic confines (Honneth 2014).…”