Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 375-382).

Studien har syftat till att få en förståelse för familjehemsföräldrars perspektiv på anknytning och vad de menar att det finns för svårigheter och möjligheter gällande anknytning för barn som placeras i familjehem. Studien berör även hur relationen mellan barn och familjehemsförälder förändras över tid och hur samspel mellan barn och familjehemsföräldrar, barn och de biologiska föräldrarna och barnets tidigare erfarenheter kan påverka anknytningen. Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på intervjuer med sex familjehemsföräldrar. Bowlbys anknytningsteori har använts för att analysera det empiriska materialet och studien har en hermeneutiskt ansats. Familjehemsföräldrarnas upplevelser tolkas som att barn kan skapa en trygg anknytning till dem och att de kan utgöra en trygg bas för placerade barn. Familjehemsföräldrarna menar att en trygg anknytning rör både yngre och äldre barn. Samspelet mellan familjehemsföräldrar, barn och de biologiska föräldrarna påverkar anknytningen och ibland uppstår situationer som är svåra att förhålla sig till för såväl familjehemsförälder, barn som de biologiska föräldrarna. Av familjehemsföräldrarnas resonemang framkommer att såväl barn som familjehemsförälder kan drabbas av separationsångest, vilket i sin tur påverkar anknytningens kvalitet. Barnets bakgrund och tidigare erfarenheter påverkar den anknytning som barnet skapar till sin familjehemsförälder. De uppföljningar som görs enligt socialtjänstlagen (SFS 2001:453), där socialnämnden minst var sjätte månad ska överväga om vården ska fortgå, menar familjehemsföräldrarna skapar svårigheter att knyta an till barnen fullt ut. Uppföljningarna skapar en oro för att separeras för både familjehemsföräldrar och de placerade barnen. / The aim of the study is to gain an understanding of foster parent's perspective on attachment and which opportunities and difficulties there is with the attachment for children in foster care. The study is also describes the way the relationship between the child and foster parent changes over time and how interaction between children and foster parents, child and the biological parents and the child's past experiences can influence the attachment. The study has a qualitative method and is based on interviews with six foster parents. Bowlby's attachment theory has been used to analyze the empirical material and the study has a hermeneutic approach. Foster parent’s experiences give us an understanding that children can create a secure attachment to them and that they can provide a safe base for the children. Foster parents believe that the secure attachment is the same for both younger and older children. The interaction between foster parents, child and the biological parent’s affects the attachment and sometimes situations arise that are difficult to relate to for foster parent, child and birth parents. It is found that children as well as the foster parents can suffer from separation anxiety, which can affect the quality of the attachment. The child’s background and past experiences affect the attachment that the child creates to the foster parent. The study also shows that the follow-ups that are induced by the Social Services Act (SFS 2001:453), every six months for the social services committee to consider whether the treatment should be continued, create difficulties for foster parents to fully attach to the child. It creates a fear of separation for both the foster parents and the children.

In much of Canada, the number of children in child welfare care has been increasing significantly in recent years. In Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, the permanent ward population doubled in size over the decade ending in 2005, according to the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (Gail Vandermeulen, personal communication, January 6, 2006). Ontario law asserts that it is preferable for children who are permanent wards with no access to their biological parents to leave care via domestic adoption rather than remain in fostering arrangements (Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, 2000). Nevertheless, rates of adoption for these children in Ontario actually declined over the past ten years according to the former government minister of the Ministry of Community and Social Services (Marie Bountrogianni, personal communication, February 23, 2004). The purpose of these investigations was two-fold: to profile the population of children who were legally available for domestic public adoptions while developing a theory about the decision-making processes of adoption applicants as they consider available children with and without disabilities. In the first study a representative sample of over 20% of the files of children who were permanent wards of the state on December 31, 2003 and legally available for domestic public adoption in Ontario was reviewed. Results indicated that 57.8% of children had at least one type of disability. Children with disabilities were more likely to enter care at older ages, were significantly less likely to be residing in adoption probationary homes, and have an official permanency plan of adoption than were the child wards who had no disabilities. Multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the variables most predictive of permanency plans included the age at which a child entered care. The second study included interviewing 15 adoption applicants. Using a grounded theory approach the data regarding participants’ decision-making processes were analyzed and a substantive level theory generated. A core category resulted and was labeled, gaining balance. Key categories included commitment, persistence, and evaluation. The findings were member checked by a select group of participants and were found to have considerable explanatory power.

The purpose of this theoretical study was to examine factors associated with the development of attachment relationships for children in long term foster care who Overt demonstrating problematic sexual behaviour. Due to the dearth in available research on this topic, it was necessary to draw from studies in three distinct areas (1) Attachment, (2) Childhood Sexuality, and (3) Placement Stability. In total, the present study examines 13 studies drawn from these three areas, and includes 11 quantitative and 2 mixed method studies. / These studies were chosen for their attention to the middle age child in foster care who was demonstrating problematic sexual behaviour. Due to the lack of attachment studies on fostered middle age children, two infant studies were included with the rationale that middle age children and foster parents engage in a similar attachment process and infant studies would provide direction and context for future studies with older children. In the area of childhood sexuality, clinical samples were also included as they contained large numbers of children who had experienced sexual abuse or who had contact with child protection agencies even if they did not reside in foster care. / Studies were examined along dimensions of sample, methods and findings. The results of this inquiry are then discussed, weaving together the three areas of study to answer two research questions: Is there a relationship between problematic childhood sexual behaviour and the development of a successful attachment relationship with a foster parent? And secondly, is there a particular foster parent attachment profile that promotes attachment security with children who are in care? / Studies reviewed support the hypothesis that problematic childhood sexual behaviour presents challenges to foster parents significant enough to seriously impair the development of a secure attachment and that the foster parent's attachment state of mind will be an important factor in success. Results of the analysis of these questions contribute to an emerging hypothesis that the human sexual system may be intricately woven together with the attachment system, making an attachment analysis of problematic sexual behaviour in children particular relevant. A concluding discussion examines clinical issues which may be targets of intervention and the necessity of future research in this area is proposed.

This study explores the notion of resilience and, in particular, its efficacy as a framework to assist and guide professionals in their work with children placed in the care of the State, many of whom have experienced situations of severe disadvantage, including abuse and neglect, prior to their admission to the out-of-home care system. The further distress and/or trauma for children, which is engendered by separation from their families and placement with strangers, is exacerbated by circumstances of transience and instability that many children experience during their care journeys. The study examines the care system as a circumstance of adversity and seeks to find out how specialist practitioners working in the care environment understand the notion of resilience and whether they operationalise the concept in their practice to assist children in care. The study is set within a critically reflective perspective, informed by a hermeneutic process that assists in building a deeper understanding of both the notion of resilience and the care system through the lived experiences of practitioners and interpretation of the literature on both topics. An unanticipated finding that emerged from research discussions conducted with practitioners revealed that their experiences of working within the care system created a sense of adversity for them and challenged their resilience, with many parallels between their responses and their observations of the distress and trauma of children in care. The necessity to understand these practitioners? experiences more deeply led to a further exploration of literature that described the impact of working in such adverse settings. This exploration uncovered the notion of vicarious traumatisation, a phenomenon that affects workers who are in continual contact with the trauma of others. An indepth discussion of this concept is provided outlining its relevance to this study. The implications of the impact of the adversity of the care environment on professionals are summarised in the final chapter of the study together with recommendations in the areas of both practice and research.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-111).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 100 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-64).

Thesis (DPhil(Social Work)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to examine what meaning foster parents give to their relationship with their foster children. The aim of the study is to answer the following questions: How do the foster parents describe their relationships with the foster children? What approach do the foster parents have to the fact that the foster placement is not meant to be permanent? What meaning does it have for the relationship between the foster parents and the foster children that the placement is not meant to be permanent?   The result of this study is based on eight qualitative, semi-structured, interviews that were held with people who are, or have been, foster parents. As a theoretical framework action theory was used. The result show that some foster parents view the foster children as their own, whilst others don’t. The foster parents thought that a good relationship to the foster child is essential for the child's present and future well-being. Further, some foster parents suggest that the fact that the placement were not meant to be permanent created a distance between them and the foster children whilst others claimed that it didn’t have any effect on the relationship. All foster parents said that they tried not to think about the fact that the child might move back with its biological parents.

abstract: ABSTRACT Many foster children experience numerous placements while in out-of-home care; some up to fifteen in an 18 month period (Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000). Placement stability is important for children to find permanent families, and for social, emotional and educational development of children. This study used the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) data set to examine foster child and caregiver characteristics, and the caregiver-child relationship as a predictor of placement stability in the long term foster care general sample. Logistic regression was performed with the Complex Samples add-on to appropriately weight the NSCAW sampling. Children who were placed in foster homes or kinship homes and who had not been returned home at the Wave 3 interview were included in the study. The sample consisting of 562 children was divided into three groups based on age: Early Group 1, childhood ages 1to 5, group 1;Group 2, Middle childhood ages 6 to 10, group 2; Group 3, Adolescence ages 11 to 18, group 3. Results are consistent with previous studies in that children in early childhood and middle childhood who were placed in foster homes were 83% and 87% less likely to achieve placement stability than children in kinship homes, respectively. In early childhood, each additional household member reduced the odds of achieving placement stability by 35%.The caregiver-child relationship did not predict placement stability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Social Work 2011