Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process

Abstract

This article focuses on the information that children need to be given when they are moving to a fostering placement. Generally, children are not consulted or informed prior to the foster decisions being made, nor when they arrive at the placement. Therefore, they do not usually know their foster care situation and the changes it implies for their lives. The literature available shows that informing children is the first step in enabling them to participate in their own fostering process. Participation empowers them and endorses successful intervention. In order to understand which information is crucial for children's wellbeing and adaption to this initial fostering moment, a qualitative research study was carried out. The study was developed in Spain and it used focus groups and interviews as instruments to gather information. The sample was composed of 30 fostered children, 42 parents, and 63 child care professionals. The results show the importance of sharing five essential aspects with children: a) the real reasons for family separation; b) the intervention which took place before removing them from their home; c) their rights as fostered children; d) the characteristics of the foster placement; e) the visitation schedule. It helps children to cope with their new situation by empowering them and making them more adaptive to face all of the changes which are coming. Finally, some good practice tips for professional were also stated in order to improve the information sharing experience.

Moral Dilemmas in Foster Care Due to Religious Differences Between Birth Parents, Foster Parents, and Foster Children

“…This implies that foster parents need to support the process of religious reflection and religious self-determinism in their foster children, especially when they enter adolescence. Furthermore, children have the right to be heard and informed about the religious praxis and conviction of their foster family before and during a placement, and this aspect is currently not given enough focus in Dutch foster care (Kilkelly, 2014;Pastor et al, 2020;Zeijlmans et al, 2017). Granting foster children these rights and being mindful of religious self-determinism is a concretization of their freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (Convention on the rights of the child, 1989).…”

The Participation of Children and Adolescents in the Protection System: The Case of the Spanish Legislation

“…This is in line with the studies of Jiménez et al (2010Jiménez et al ( , 2013 who defend the need for children to have access to information and preparation at each stage of the protection process with the objective of being able to face the changes that occur in their family situation and those that they themselves experience. Despite being legislated, these five aspects are commonly not shared (or appropriately shared) with children when they start a fostering process: (a) information about the reasons for family separation; (b) information about the process prior to the foster care decision; (c) information about their rights as fostered children; (d) information about the characteristics of the foster placement where they are going to live; (e) information about the visitation schedule with their biological family (Pastor et al 2020).…”

“…In conclusion, the participation of CA in the protection system is a field of international research that indicates the benefits of hearing and informing children and adolescents: (a) it ensures more positive and effective outcomes in protection plans (Schofield and Beek 2005); (b) encourages their recognition and understanding of the reasons for the separation (Pastor et al 2020); (c) actively involves them in the fostering and reunification process, contributing to their stability (Balsells et al 2017); (d) helps them to cope with the changes in their family situation and the changes that they themselves are experiencing (Mateos et al 2017); and (e) reinforces their self-esteem (Schofield 2005).…”