This researcher has chosen to conduct research that followed the positivist paradigm with researching effects of attachment and interventions in regards to foster parent and foster child relationships. This researcher has observed issues with attachment relationships in foster children from a foster parent’s perspective. The researcher has observed the methods of interventions used by the foster family agency in order to assist with the foster parent and foster child relationship. This researcher has followed a positivist paradigm and has tested the dependent variables of the foster child’s attachment and the interventions used within the agency to assist the foster parents. The independent variable measured is the foster parent in the foster family agency.

Every year about 3 thousand children are taken from families and half of them are accommodated in various children caring institutions and during the last decade of the 20th century the number of children living in caring institutions increased by 30 percents. These tendencies motivate to analyze the situation: where children left without parents care are directed, whether institutions taking care of such children have conditions for child socialization, whether all children under care are equally funded by the state‘s positive socialization funds. Nonfiction, the analysis of standard and statistical documents, quantitative (142 children were examined) and qualitative (17 supervisors of child care institutions were questioned with the help of structural interview and explicit conversation) tests prove that many children living in such institutions have acquired more negative than positive socialization experience, therefore they often feel insecure, avoiding social relationships, their psychosocial development especially during the teen years can be disconcerted – thus it affects negatively their social maturity and socialization. Moreover, after analyzing the role of professionals and opportunities for civic education in children care centers we can say that experts and social agents working in such institutions play the most important part in the organization and management of the positive socialization process. Their professional preparation and ability to work in... [to full text]

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.

Excerpt: My best efforts at parenting weren’t enough to make him stay. My son no longer wanted to call me “Mom.”

Not all children live with their biological parents. In 2013, approximately 60,000 children in California were in foster care. These children comprise a significant subgroup of students in public schools today and are one of the most educationally vulnerable student populations. Often they are, as a group but with individual exceptions, low-performing. Parents’ involvement has often been credited with improving school achievement. Foster parents, therefore, play an important role in ensuring the academic success of foster care children. Foster parents encourage, provide emotional support and guidance to these children and advocate on their behalf. The purpose of this study was to explore how foster parents perceived the educational experience of children in foster care. A qualitative research approach utilized an interview process to explore the participants’ perceptions and generate recommendations for developing a more effective educational system. The study sample consisted of eight foster parents, recruited by snowball sampling, with experience working with school-age children in foster care. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, and transcribed for analysis. The purpose of this study was to explore foster parents’ perceptions and identify important issues that they believed contribute to the academic successes and failures of children in foster care. Findings were analyzed to generate recommendations for developing a more inclusive educational system. The data was examined in relation to two theoretical frameworks; Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Foster parents reported that they believed they participated in the foster child's academic achievement. They did not believe that they were always supported to fully assist the foster children to achieve their full potential. Foster parents perceived two-way collaboration as imperative when addressing the educational needs of children in foster care. While they believed that they were efficient in yielding results to help children in foster care become academically successful, foster parents also believed that changes need to occur within the foster care system that would enable them to be more efficient and effective. This research study brought light to the complex dynamics of foster parent responsibilities and educational decision-making. Those dynamics included lack of adequate and sufficient training offered to teachers and foster parents regarding the education of children in foster care; the lack of foster parent knowledge regarding district-mandated foster parent liaisons and factors that inhibit foster parent collaboration. All findings have implications for the foster care system. However, the conclusions are limited to only foster parents’ reports. Information was not gathered from other stakeholders, such as foster children, social workers, teachers and those within the foster care legal system.

Foster parents are often not equipped to address the difficulties and challenges they face with their foster children. Research has identified the importance of providing foster children with a safe and secure environment. Guided by the theory of adoption and attachment, the purpose of this study was to identify the differences between foster parents who continue with foster child placements and those who do not by examining their perceptions of foster parenting behaviors and their foster parent/child relationships. Participants were recruited using online foster parent forums and foster care agencies. A total of 31 foster parents participated: 13 licensed and 18 not-licensed. The 45-item Parent Behavior Scale (PBS) was used to measure parenting behaviors. The 15-item Child Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS) was used to measure perceived caregiver-child relationships. A MANOVA revealed significant relational differences between the groups. Foster parents who continued to foster children perceived their relationships with their foster child more positively and supportive than did those who did not continue to foster children. No significant differences in parenting behaviors between the groups were identified. Notably, a relationship was found between foster parents' perception of their relationship with their foster children and the combined parenting behavior scales of positive parenting, rules, monitoring, and punishment. These findings can contribute to positive social change in identifying relational factors important to placement longevity. Foster parents trained to meet the challenges are more likely to continue to foster children and provide a safe and secure environment in which foster children can thrive.

<p>The purpose of this study was to give a picture of how some adults, who earlier was placed in foster homecare, experience that their childhood have affected them during their life. I also wanted to see how the relationship to the biological family has been and developed during the placement. The study has also purposed to receive a deeper knowledge of how it could be to grow up in foster care. To make the purpose of this study complete I chose to use qualitative interviews as a research method. Four adults who earlier were placed in foster homecare have participated in this study. When I analyzed the results I also looked at earlier research, attachment theory and developmental ecology theory. One conclusion of the study was that the engagement the foster parents have reflects the quality and the future for the children. The foster parents must be able to win the children’s trust so they can attach and find a secured base to develop from. Finally the study showed that all of the interviewed people thought that it had been safe to grow up in a foster family and that they during their childhood saw their family as a “normal family”.</p>

The purpose of this study was to give a picture of how some adults, who earlier was placed in foster homecare, experience that their childhood have affected them during their life. I also wanted to see how the relationship to the biological family has been and developed during the placement. The study has also purposed to receive a deeper knowledge of how it could be to grow up in foster care. To make the purpose of this study complete I chose to use qualitative interviews as a research method. Four adults who earlier were placed in foster homecare have participated in this study. When I analyzed the results I also looked at earlier research, attachment theory and developmental ecology theory. One conclusion of the study was that the engagement the foster parents have reflects the quality and the future for the children. The foster parents must be able to win the children’s trust so they can attach and find a secured base to develop from. Finally the study showed that all of the interviewed people thought that it had been safe to grow up in a foster family and that they during their childhood saw their family as a “normal family”.

The focus of this research is foster children. The goal of the research is to evaluate the utilisation value of gestalt play techniques in the assessment of the foster child in his middle childhood. An extensive literature study was undertaken. Middle childhood, the foster child, the gestalt approach, gestalt play therapy techniques and the assessment of selfworth from the frame of reference of the Department of Social Affairs and Population Development’s “Project Go” was taken as the theoretical foundation. The researcher made use of evaluative research within the framework of applied research in order to achieve the objective. Information was obtained by means of semi-structured interviews in the form of play therapy sessions. The research question was: “ How effectively can gestalt play therapy techniques be utilised to assess the selfworth of the foster child in his middle childhood?” Qualitative research was used as the case study served as research design. The research focussed on the following four components of selfworth, namely belonging, independence, mastery and generosity. In this research existing and adapted play therapy techniques were used in order to put together a number of assessment interviews for the assessment of the selfworth of the foster child in his middle childhood. Six foster children were involved in six assessment interviews.The results confirmed that the specific play therapy techniques can be utilised effectively to assess the selfworth of the foster child in his middle childhood. / Dissertation (MA(Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted