I am researching the experience of foster care drift. This term refers to children who are considered homeless because it is not clear where they are going next. Research shows that the majority of children who have experienced foster care drift lead unstable lives after reaching the age of eighteen. They have high levels of poverty, homelessness, and incarceration, lack the most basic literacy and life skills, do not sustain employment, and lack health care and mental health care. The research is centered in a residential treatment center for girls. I conducted ethnographic research while working with about two dozen girls, aged seven to seventeen, on service-learning projects. The girls designed projects in which they developed a sense of helping someone else. Frequently these projects involved the making and exchange of material objects. Unfortunately, the institutional structure isn’t set up to provide such activities on a regular basis. My analysis focuses on how the girls use objects to gain social status and form bonds with others. I seek to understand the nature of their sense of ownership and belonging in a group, which differ markedly from those valued outside the system. The skills the girls are practicing in the residential treatment center will serve them well in total institutions such as prisons and mental hospitals, but they will have a hard time succeeding in a job or educational setting. / text

<p>Despite remarkable strides being made in legislation in South Africa, the country still faces immense challenges which directly impact on the care and protection of its children. Many children are removed from their families and placed into alternative care because of high risk factors in the family and community. However, because of the socioeconomic<br /> situations of families, many of these children will not be able to return to their family. It is, therefore, essential that in the residential care programme, efforts are directed towards permanency planning for each child in order to ensure long term placement in a family. The host parent programme which has been introduced at Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) acts as a precursor to foster-care placements. Following on this, host parents provide the child in need of care with opportunities to interact and form positive relationships with adult caregivers. This study has explored and described, by means of qualitative research, the experiences of host parents who accommodated children in need of care. Nine host parents were purposively selected from three participating CYCCs in Athlone, Cape Town. Data was collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews. The data was analysed according to the steps by Tesch in Creswell (2009). The findings suggest that host parents are instrumental to those children who cannot return to their natural families. The host parents&rsquo / interaction with the CYCC was both positive and negative at times. Recommendations and guidelines in order to develop and improve existing hosting programmes at CYCC&rsquo / s are provided.</p>

A prospective, exploratory study examined the relationships between birth family contact factors and long-term placement outcomes for children who are in foster or kinship care in New South Wales. The present study utilized data which was collected for 338 children in the Children in Care study; which was conducted between 1999 and 2009. This included data that was collected from a baseline survey and a review of case files from the State Child Welfare database. The participants of the Children in Care study were between four and eleven years of age. The present study involved a series of statistical analyses including: correlations, chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVAS, multiple linear regressions, and binary logistic regressions. Some linear associations were identified between frequency of contact and reported issues, frequency of contact and restoration, and children’s reactions to contact and reported issues. However; these associations were found to be insignificant when controlling for other significant predictors in regression models. None of the birth family contact variables examined in the present analyses were found to be significant predictors of further abuse/behavioural issues in care, placement stability, or restoration. Some of the significant predictors of such outcomes included: age at entry into care; pre-care mental health; previous placements, care arrangements; and caregivers support and contact with other foster carers. Overall, the present analyses highlighted that contact may not necessarily have detrimental, or beneficial impacts on children in care; however further research in this domain is required in order to identify if other contact factors may have any impact on outcomes for children in kinship or foster care.

HIV and AIDS are dramatically reshaping the population structure of South Africa. The number of orphans as a result of AIDS-related deaths is expected to rise. This places a heavier burden of care on grandmothers, female relatives and community members, and children. One of the consequences of AIDS-related deaths is the increase in the number of foster care applications. The involvement of social workers in providing care for the infected, but especially the affected, is important. Social workers find themselves in the frontline with regard to dealing with the consequences of HIV and AIDS. The aim of the study was to develop guidelines for social workers to address the needs of foster children and foster parents affected by HIV and AIDS. A literature study and empirical research was done. The survey method was used as a systematic data gathering procedure. Data was gathered among 21 foster children and their 21 foster parents by means of a self-designed schedule. The researcher administered the schedules by conducting a personal interview with each of the respondents. This research was done in the Motheo district. The findings of this research reflected that foster parents and their foster children affected by HIV and AIDS experience a huge amount of problems. Social workers do not always address these problems adequately; therefore there is much room for improvement, especially in the Motheo district. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

HIV and AIDS are dramatically reshaping the population structure of South Africa. The number of orphans as a result of AIDS-related deaths is expected to rise. This places a heavier burden of care on grandmothers, female relatives and community members, and children. One of the consequences of AIDS-related deaths is the increase in the number of foster care applications. The involvement of social workers in providing care for the infected, but especially the affected, is important. Social workers find themselves in the frontline with regard to dealing with the consequences of HIV and AIDS. The aim of the study was to develop guidelines for social workers to address the needs of foster children and foster parents affected by HIV and AIDS. A literature study and empirical research was done. The survey method was used as a systematic data gathering procedure. Data was gathered among 21 foster children and their 21 foster parents by means of a self-designed schedule. The researcher administered the schedules by conducting a personal interview with each of the respondents. This research was done in the Motheo district. The findings of this research reflected that foster parents and their foster children affected by HIV and AIDS experience a huge amount of problems. Social workers do not always address these problems adequately; therefore there is much room for improvement, especially in the Motheo district. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Expressions of youth citizenship are evident in young people’s actions, behaviours, and embodied experiences. Young people in late (post) modernity occupy a liminal position when it comes to citizenship. On the one hand, they are conceived of as rights-bearers with particular responsibilities to themselves and others; at the same time, they are presumed to belong to a family unit that will take care of their major interests. Young people with government care experience (henceforth referred to as “youth-in-care”) practice citizenship at an intersection of private and public in their lives as wards of the state. They are expected to belong to foster families of some sort, even though this kind of living situation is often temporary, fragmented, and unsettling. In an era of self-responsibility and rights claims, being unmoored from traditional family life illustrates some of the inherent tensions of practicing citizenship. While youth citizenship literature has proliferated in the last two decades, the focus has often been on rights and responsibilities, rather than the differences in citizenship practices amongst youth themselves. Expressions of citizenship by youth-in-care are contextualized by internal and external factors that shape these young people’s lives. Furthermore, the history, politics, cultural difficulties and social implications of child protection systems have received much attention from academics and policy-makers, but research on youth-in-care as citizens remains rare. This dissertation explores the gap in the literature by looking at the ways that citizenship is complex, multilayered, and fluid for this group of young people. A qualitative research design is used to examine how youth-in-care practice citizenship in their daily lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants between the ages of 14-24 in Greater Victoria, all of whom had been in government care at some point in their lives (n= 20). Transcripts were coded using an analytical hierarchy strategy. Findings indicate that the social group in question – youth-in-care – practiced citizenship in a multitude of ways, and that it was important to take situational or social context into consideration when examining how they expressed citizenship. Analysis of participants’ narratives revealed three types of citizenship practices, namely self-responsible citizenship, dissenting citizenship and reluctant citizenship. Expressions of citizenship were navigated through experiences of self-responsibility and rights, belonging and exclusion, and risk and resilience. Citizenship, therefore, is best understood through behaviour and actions, as well as enacted and embodied by participants themselves. For youth-in-care, citizenship practices matter in their relationships with others, the ways they experience belonging and exclusion, and the discourses of resiliency and vulnerability which emerge from their narratives. The dissertation concludes with a consideration of the implications of the findings for the literature on youth citizenship, focusing on the ways that youth citizenship is contextualized by experiences with family, peers, institutions, and the government care system. / Graduate / 0628 / 0626 / 0630 / kbutler@uvic.ca

This research study examines the psychological and emotional experiences of children and parents as they embark on a permanent placement living arrangement. A permanent placement living arrangement is entered into when a child is no longer able to reside with their family of origin. Three family groups participated in the study and separate interviews were conducted with both the children and placement parents. Overall, three interviews were conducted, with the first interview taking place prior to the child’s transition into the family. A further two interviews were conducted with the participants after the transition had taken place. The findings of this study indicate that both the parents and children were profoundly affected by the experience of permanent placement. The common themes that emerged from the data were the hopes, anxieties and coping strategies of the participants which became the focal point of analysis. The parents experienced a mixture of fulfilment, tempered with anxieties of whether they would be able to provide adequate care for the child placed with them. Whereas, the children appeared to find it difficult to trust that this experience would be any different from their previous experiences. The study concludes that further attention is needed in the preparation for the transition into permanent placement. It further concludes that ‘after transition’ support is important to the stability of the placement.

Unreliable Narrators is a record of the process to create a mixed media installation about how and why we tell stories, and how we as an audience discern the truth of those stories. The installation tells three different perspectives of the same story. Part documentary and part detective search, this project has viewers following the subject as she pieces together her story and ultimately has them deciding for themselves what to believe.

Background: Good parent-child connectedness, general and substance use specific communication are protective against alcohol, tobacco and drug use during adolescence. Previous research also suggests that general communication with foster and other statutory carers is associated with more positive outcomes, including relationships with caregivers and siblings. However, no studies have examined substance use specific communication between looked after young people and their carers. Aims: The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of how carers and looked after young people communicate about alcohol, tobacco and drug use and the factors that shape communication, including the use of digital media. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted, using in-depth interviews with 13 looked after young people in foster and residential care; two social workers; six foster carers and eight residential care workers. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and the data were analysed thematically. Findings: Relationships between carers and young people were crucial and acted as the antecedent to communication. Carers' role identity influenced their relationships with young people and their approach to and communication about substance use. Shared doing provided a way in which communication about substances could be facilitated in an environment which feels natural. The context in which communication occurred was important, with differences between foster and residential care. Digital media were viewed with caution, as something used to gain information about substances but not as a way of communicating with young people. Conclusions: The findings have implications for foster carers and residential care staff working with looked after young people, in terms of relationships and communication about substance use. Carers should continue to develop positive relationships with young people, whilst considering the potentially negative effects of conflicts in professional role identity. Techniques such as shared doing and encouraging natural conversations about substance use may help.

The transition to adulthood can be especially challenging for youth that experience the foster care system. These challenges are magnified for youth that also experience disability, accounting for at least 40-47% of all children in foster care. Youth with and without disabilities that experience the foster care system encounter barriers during the transition to adulthood that often lead to poor outcomes; including high rates of mobility, mental health concerns, or a lack of a consistent positive relationship with an adult. A national study determined that 2.5 to 4 years after a youth has aged out of the child welfare system only 54% had graduated from high school and only 17% were economically self sufficient. In order to move from a deficit-based to a strength-based approach it is important to gain a greater understanding of what helped young adults with disabilities that experienced foster care overcome barriers to graduation and aided their transition to adulthood. The findings from this dissertation study suggest and confirm prior research that improved systems and interagency collaboration, more training for professionals and caregivers, and self-determination and self-advocacy training for youth are needed to improve post school outcomes for youth with disabilities who experience foster care. The services and supports that were perceived as the most helpful in overcoming barriers were (a) access to mental health and disability services, (b) stable and positive relationships, (c) systems that provide a "safety net" during transition, and (d) post secondary support programs for alumni of foster care. On an individual level, resilience, self-determination, and self-advocacy seemed to contribute to participants' successful transition to adulthood. This dissertation study also demonstrates the variability of the social and relational contexts for youth in foster care, therefore a personalized, youth centered approach to case management is required during their transition to adulthood.