The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the reasons why some siblings are placed together and why other siblings are separated within the foster care system.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of satisfaction of both kinship and non-kinship caregivers of the services offered to them through the child welfare system.

The purpose of the study is to explore the difficulties and experiences that foster parents have in accessing services and what can be done to alleviate some of these obstacles.

The purpose of this study is to research behavior problems of children in foster care and to identify teaching strategies and techniques for teachers who have foster children in their classrooms and experience difficulties working with them. The project examines the types of behavior problems displayed by abused children.

I en analys av 300 annonser på en öppen webbplats där socialtjänsten söker efter familjehem till specifika barn kommunicerades fyra olika teman avseende familjehemsuppdraget. Det första temat som avsåg familjens egenskaper förekom i 80 procent av annonserna och det andra temat som gällde förväntningar på uppdragets utförande och familjehemmets kompetens beskrevs i 98 procent av annonserna. Det tredje temat berörde beskrivningar av barnet, hens erfarenheter och egenskaper och förekom i drygt 82 procent av annonserna. När det gällde det fjärde temat- vad familjehemmet kunde förvänta sig i form av utbildning, stöd och ersättning beskrevs det i drygt 35 procent av annonserna. Innehållet i annonserna kan förstås utifrån institutionella logiker om familj, utförande, marknad och solidaritet. Samtidigt förekommande logiker kan erbjuda möjligheter såväl som konflikter och spänningar. Att marknadsföra barn på annons kan bidra till att socialtjänsten kan tillgodose behovet av familjehem, vilket de är ålagda att göra (SOSFS 2012:11). Potentiella familjehem får i tidigt skede information om såväl barnet som förväntningarna på uppdraget och hur socialtjänsten förhåller sig till eventuellt stöd och ersättning. Förfarandet med annonser och dess innehåll kan därmed betraktas som rationellt och effektivt när det gäller utförande av familjehemsuppdraget. Studiens viktigaste bidrag är att konflikter skulle kunna uppstå i mötet mellan en å ena sidan hög förväntan på utförande, kunskap och erfarenhet och å andra sidan en hög förväntan om att ta emot barn av solidariska skäl. Att fokus på stöd och ersättning till familjehemmet är låg, skulle kunna bidra till svårigheter att rekrytera och behålla familjehem. Spänningar skulle också kunna uppstå i mötet mellan socialtjänstens historia av en byråkratisk logik där myndigheten vanligtvis inte delat information om klienter med allmänheten och en marknadslogik där specifika barns egenskaper marknadsförs (anonymt) på öppna webbplatser. Även mötet mellan att se familjehem som en vanlig familj och att ha högt fokus på utförande skulle kunna innebära en konflikt som kan påverka möjligheten att rekrytera familjehem. / In an analysis of 300 advertisements on an open website where the social services are looking for foster homes for specific children, four different themes were communicated regarding the foster home assignment. The first theme, which concerned the family's characteristics, appeared in 80 percent of the advertisements, and the second theme, which concerned expectations of the execution of the assignment and the foster homes competence, was described in 98 percent of the advertisements. The third theme concerned descriptions of the child, her experiences and characteristics and appeared in just over 82 percent of the advertisements. Regarding the fourth theme - what the foster home could expect in the form of education, support and compensation, it was described in just over 35 percent of the advertisements. The content of the ads can be understood from a perspective of institutional logics about family, execution, the market and solidarity. Simultaneously occurring logics can offer opportunities as well as conflicts and tensions. Marketing children through ads can contribute to the social services being able to meet the need for foster homes, which they are obliged to do from the Swedish government (SOSFS: 2012: 11). Potential foster homes receive information at an early stage about both the child and the expectations of the assignment, and how the social services relate to give support and compensation for the foster families. The procedure with advertisements on open websites can thus be considered rational and efficient in the execution of the foster home assignment. The most important contribution of the study is that conflicts could arise in the meeting between a high expectation of execution, knowledge and experience on the one hand and a high expectation of taking care of children in need for solidarity reasons on the other. The low focus on support and compensation for the foster family could contribute to difficulties in recruiting and maintaining foster homes. Tensions could also arise in the meeting between the social services' history of a bureaucratic logic where the authority usually does not make information about clients accessible for the public, and a market logic where specific children's characteristics are marketed (anonymously) on open websites. The meeting between seeing foster homes as an ordinary family and having a high focus on execution could also involve a conflict that might affect the possibility of recruiting foster homes.

Children, who grow up in families, where their parents have decided to take care of a foster child on a commission of the social welfare services, are not often given the possibility to tell about their experience of having foster siblings, in research and other studies. The aim of this study was to give biological children, in these families, a chance to tell their narratives of growing up with foster siblings, creating opportunities for families, who might have plans to take care of foster children in the future. They can get a picture of how it could be for the family´s own children. The biological children got the opportunity to tell their narrative stories including the relationships in their families and how they were looking forward into their own future and family life. The used theory takes part in systemic thinking, looking at the family as an organization and how identities are created in relationships and in communication. The method was interviews with six “children” and analyze of the text material. The result is presented in short summaries and quotation. The result shows that the children have been influenced in different ways by living with foster siblings and they have a large empathize for their parents and the situation. It also shows that the relations between the biological children and the foster children can be lasting for their future and the biological children can see the foster child as a “real” sibling. Communication and the feeling of participation were important for the children. All stories are individual but some conclusions appear. One is that the children is involved in everything that happens around them and they have own strategies to handle it.

A large proportion of youth in foster care receive special education services, and poor educational outcomes are one of the most important difficulties facing these youth. One potential risk affecting the low educational achievements of youth in foster care and special education could be teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments toward them. Teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments could have negative effects on youths' behaviors, school attitudes and school performance. Yet, research on the nature and the impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments remains limited. Based on labeling and attribution theories, this study investigated the nature and impact of teachers' negative and stigmatizing comments on the school performance of 123 youth in foster care and special education. Qualitative analysis of the youths' IEP documents was conducted, along with longitudinal quantitative analysis of the associations of negative and stigmatizing IEP comments and the youths' school attitudes, behavior, and performance. Qualitative findings revealed that almost three-fourths of the IEPs included one or more negative comments, and that a substantial proportion of teachers' negative comments specifically included stigmatizing features that could convey negative attitudes or perceptions about the youth to others, including subjective or judgmental comments, biased reports from other teachers, low expectations, and little attention to context or reason. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that teachers' negative comments indirectly predicted youths' school absences through a mediational effect of youths' problem behaviors, and the relationship between current and future youth absences was partially mediated through a complex mechanism incorporating both direct and indirect pathways involving youths' school attitudes and problem behaviors. The findings highlight the important predictive and potentially protective roles of teachers' negative comments and youths' school attitudes and problem behaviors on youths' absenteeism.

Thesis (M.Dev. (Development Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The foster care backlog has been a challenge in the National Department of Social Development for some years which resulted in the lapsing of foster care grants and thousands of children left without legal and statutory protection. Due to this, civil society took the Department of Social Development to court as this challenge impacted negatively on the family functioning of foster families as they lost access to social grants. The Department of Social Development was ordered by the South Gauteng High Court to come up with an extensive legal solution by the end of December 2014 but, to date, the foster care backlog is still piling up and foster families‟ standard of life is threatened. The social workers who are mandated by the Children‟s Act to conduct the statutory process and place children in foster care are inundated by the high foster care backlog. The aim of the research study was to explore the challenges social workers face in relation to managing foster care backlog cases at the Department of Social Development in the Polokwane Municipality area, Limpopo Province. The research study was based on a qualitative research method whereby a small sample of 21 foster care social workers from three service points (Aganang Cluster, Polokwane East and Polokwane West) were interviewed. The researcher used face to face semi-structured interviews to collect primary data from the participants. The findings from the study affirmed that there were indeed challenges in managing the foster care backlog. Lack of support and training, together with inequitable distribution of cases, are the most dominant challenges identified by the participants. In order for the provincial Department of Social Development to reduce the high caseload and for the clients to continue receiving the best service, the research study recommends that the vacant post be filled as soon as possible. Furthermore, training on legislation dealing with children including the Children‟s Act is also recommended for social workers. The researcher is of the opinion that the findings and the recommendations of the study may add value in managing foster care backlog in the Polokwane Municipality area and Limpopo Province as a whole, if they can be considered and applied.

No description available.

During the researcher's work with looked after children for the past four years, it became clear that adolescent placements were much more likely to break down than others. Although there is some literature about foster placement breakdowns, the researcher did not really get an answer as to the causes of adolescent placement breakdowns. This study therefore explores causal factors of adolescent placement breakdowns as seen by foster carers, adolescents and professionals. It is evident from this study that there are no easy answers. Although the adolescent, as much as any other child, craves to belong, to be listened to and be respected, it seems that it is not always possible for foster carers to put this into practice, given the challenging behaviour that adolescents often display. Recommendations are based on relevant literature and the empirical study, in the hope that it might be useful to those with an interest in this field. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)