Kinship care is increasingly supplementing the more traditional forms of out-of-home care. Because related foster care has potential great value, the possibility of placement with relatives needs to be explored first. At its best it provides the child love and security with known people and possibly in a familiar environment. Yet, important as it is, this area of practice is seriously underdeveloped - few publications especially in South Africa exist on how children fare in this arrangement. This situation exists in spite of the fact that many children find themselves in both legal as well as privately arranged related foster care placements. Equally of course no comprehensive study has been undertaken to study the black family's perception of formal foster care and their adjustment to formal foster care practice which for many is a new encounter in their lives. More clarity on these issues pertaining to kinship care will not only improve our understanding but can lead to a better service. Socio-political influences have weakened the mutual aid system in African families. This has resulted in needs· and problems which the African family find it difficult to deal with. This has prompted families to make use of non-family support particularly services from specialized and other welfare agencies. Formal foster care is a foreign practice to the black community as a result of their tradition and custom. It offers a new method of coping with child care problems and indicates a shift from the conventional patterns among South African blacks. As a result there is often confusion and a lack of understanding, making the community not to make proper use of this service. This study is exploratory-descriptive. The sample comprised thirty foster parents. The main objective of this study was to investigate the nature and practice of formal foster care in the black community with specific emphasis on related foster care and its perception. The study has raised a number of issues for practice and policy consideration. Notable findings were: the need to (1) promote much more active involvement of foster parents, foster child and their families (2) educate the community about foster care (3) prepare, train, support and supervise foster parents. The study revealed that these placements have become indistinguishable from natural parenthood and the foster children have become absorbed into the foster family. A need exists for permanency planning in foster care. It is hoped that the research findings will contribute to the existing body of knowledge and that more studies will be undertaken in future.

M.A. / Kinship families have cared for children on a full-time basis for thousands of years, and for many years it has been standard practice for welfare agencies to consider the placement of children with kin whenever it becomes necessary to find an alternative way of caring for them. Many welfare experts believe that children will be better served if their care is provided by family members rather than strangers and yet, ironically, little scientific research has been done by welfare agencies and researchers to assess the value of kinship foster placement. Research focusing specifically on black foster parents is very scant. Generally, the decision about the placement of children in kinship homes has been based primarily on the professional observation of social workers as opposed to information derived from research findings. Despite the apparent growth in the use of kinship foster care and the concomitant suspicions about its advisability, children are still being placed in kinship homes. Kinship foster care placement is advocated most by welfare agencies, without the practice having been scientifically assessed. This deficiency has left the field with little information on which to base work with kinship foster families. The main purpose of this study was therefore to gain knowledge and to analyse the facts pertaining to kinship foster placement, and to draw a profile of kinship foster families in the urban residential area of Vosloorus. Quantative descriptive methods were used in this study. The main concern of the study was to collect data in such a way that it could be systematically processed and interpreted reliably. A descriptive design was chosen, as explanations can be tested by means of research questions. Eight research questions were formulated and put to the test. Facts were also established by studying literature reviewing case records, and interviewing foster parents as well as social workers. The results of this study suggest that we have not scientifically thought the purpose and goals of placing children with relatives through, but we have done so on the bases of certain assumptions, that is, we have assumed that relatives would be more willing to care and provide for the children of relatives than those of non-relatives. The study has provided information about kinship foster care and foster family care, focusing on the demographic characteristics of kinship foster parents, the services received by kinship foster parents, the manner in which kinship foster children are treated and the issue of visits by case workers. This study has provided insight and knowledge upon which agencies can base their selection of kinship foster parents. The findings have been discussed, and recommendations offered for policy, practice and future research.

M.A. (Social Work) / The goals of this study were viewed as the development and evaluation of a parent-training programme for foster parents related to their foster children; that 1s, to apply programme evaluation to a newly-developed social technological item, in this case a specific preventive intervention parent-training programme. The researcher formulated the following objectives towards the achievement of these goals: to present a theoretical perspective on foster care, on the ecological approach which was utilized in the development of the programme, and on programme evaluation; to develop the programme envisaged utilising the DR & U (Development Research and Utilization) model of Edwin Thomas; to evaluate the programme by inviting a group of foster parents, related to their foster children, to participate in the evaluation phase with a view to: * broadening the knowledge and insight of the participants on their foster care situation; * developing a more positive self-concept for programme participants, through improved insight into their foster care situation; * enhancing foster child-foster parent relationships through improved insight into the foster care situation; * improving the family relationships of the programme participants.

Court-dependent children--Hermeneutic dialectic circle--Transactions--Saliencies--Need for permanence--Conflicts--Bio-psycho-social-cultural assessment--Communication--Training--Guardianship.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of attachment, secure or insecure, displayed by foster children after a minimal one-hour separation from their foster parent. The sample consisted of fifty foster parents (22 males and 28 females) who had foster children ranging in ages from 3-12. The foster children have lived in the current foster care placement for at least one month. To measure the foster child's level of attachment to the foster parent, the foster parent completed a demographic survey as well as the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory (Marcus 1988). Analysis was conducted using a variety of univariate (descriptive statistics, frequencies), bivariate (t-test, correlation), and mulivariate (multiple regression) analyses to describe the sample population and significant correlations among the various independent and dependent variables. As expected, foster parents reported secure attachment behaviors for foster children the longer the child has lived in their home. Two factors that appear to influence attachment are the length of time in the foster parents in the home. This information is valuable to the foster care arena for calculating secure attachment between foster children and their caregivers.

Syftet med studien var att identifiera bakomliggande faktorer till sammanbrott i placeringar utanför hemmet. Studien syftade även till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård upplevde sina arbetsvillkor. Empirin samlades in genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt sex yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård. Den insamlade empirin analyserades utifrån tre perspektiv inom organisationsteori: strukturella perspektivet, human resource perspektivet och politiska perspektivet, samt begreppet människobehandlande organisationer. Resultatet visade att socialsekreterarna upplevde hög arbetsbelastning och tidsbrist vilket genomgående påverkade förutsättningarna för utförandet av arbetet. Resultatet visade att det förelåg brist på familjehem, att konkurrensen mellan konsulentverksamheter och kommuner var hög samt att användningen av konsulentstödda familjehem hade ökat, vilket påverkade förutsättningarna för utredning av familjehem och matchning. Det framkom av resultatet att majoriteten av socialsekreterarna hade en delad tjänst, som innefattade flera arbetsuppgifter samt att personalomsättningen på arbetsplatserna var hög vilket framförallt påverkade förutsättningarna för uppföljning. Sammanfattningsvis visade resultatet att förutsättningarna för socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård att bedriva sitt arbete och utföra utredningar, matchningar och uppföljningar var ofördelaktiga vilket på sikt ökade risken för sammanbrott. / The purpose of this paper was to identify underlying factors to collapsesin out-of-home placement. The study also aimed to examine how social secreteraries within foster home care experienced their working conditions. The empirical information was retrieved from five different semistructured interviews with in total six professionals within the area of foster home care. The collected empirical information was analyzed in three different perspectives within organizational theory. First from the structural perspective, secondly the human resoruce perspective and finally the political perspective, together with the term human service organizations. The paper showed that the social secretaries experienced high workload and a lack of time, which subsequently impacted their working conditions and the ability to perform their duties. Moreover, there was a lack of foster homes and high competition between municipalities and consulting. This, in conjunction with the increase of consultant-supported family homes resulted in a decline in the conditions to perform both investigations and matching. The paper showed that the majority of social secretaries had a divided employment that included several duties and that the staff turnover was high, which most of all impacted the conditions for follow-up. In conclusion, the paper showed that the conditions for the social secretaries within the area of foster-home care to manage their work and perform their investigations, matchings and follow-ups were disadvantageous which in the long run increased the risk for collapse

An exploratory study was undertaken of the implementation of permanency planning at a Departemental office. The purpose of the research was to determine the philosophy and the guidelines for permanency planning. A literature study with regard to the philosophy and the guidelines for the implementation of permanency planning was undertaken. Based on this a questionare was compiled and completed from data of the files of 25 children in foster care where permanecy planning have been implemented or is in the process of being implemented. Recommendations have been made for further research and for the institution where the research was done. The most important findings of the research are as follows: Permanency planning is not implimented as a purposeful strategy, but is a long drownout process. The social workers who are responsible for the implementation of permanency planning are unaware of its philosophy and general guidelines. Consequently it is implemented intuitively rather than scientifically. / 'n Eksplorerende studie is onderneem waarin die implementering van permanensiebeplanning by 'n Departementele kantoor geeksploreer is. Die doel van die navorsing was om te bepaal wat die filosofie en die riglyne vir die implimentering van permanensiebeplanning is. 'n Literatuurstudie insake die filosofie en die riglyne vir die implementering van permanensiebeplanning is onderneem. Na aanleiding hiervan is 'n vraelys opgestel en uit 25 leers van pleegkinders by wie permanensiebeplanning ge1mplimenteer is of word voltooi. Voorspruitend hieruit is aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing en vir die instansie waar die navorsing onderneem is, gemaak. Die belangrikste bevindinge van die empiriese ondersoek dui op die volgende: Permanensiebeplanning word nie doelgerig ge1mplimenteer nie, maar is 'n lang uitgerekte proses. Die maatskaplike werkers wat die permanensiebeplanning moet implimenteer is onbewus van die filosofie en algemene riglyne vir die implimentering van permanensiebeplanning en daaromword dit volgens intuisie eerder as 'n wetenskaplike proses geimplimenteer. / M.A.(Social Work)

The presence of poverty, unemployment and children been infected or affected by HIV/Aids contributed to a high level of children in need of care and protection (Patel, 2005:165) and forced communities to came up with a ways of addressing this increasing need of alternative care. Cluster foster care schemes were one of the initiatives that were started spontaneously by community members to address need for more alternative care options (Colby-Newton, 2006:18). This form of alternative care was also included with the proclamation of the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005 and the Children’s Amendment Act, Act 41 of 2007 (Matthias, 2010:172-176). Although cluster foster care schemes are acknowledge and practice as a form of alternative care for children in need of care and protection the operationalising thereof remain a grey area. In an unpublished study by Taback and Associates, it was suggested that further research should be conducted regarding elements that need to be included in the operationalising of cluster foster care schemes (Taback and Associates, 2010:4). The above form the motivation for this study and also provide the basis for the formulation of the research question namely: “What are the operational elements necessary for the operationalising of cluster foster care schemes?” Following from the research problem and research question, the goal for this research was to explore and describe the present functioning of cluster foster care schemes in order to identify operational elements to be documented in a guideline for service providers and social workers. The researcher made use of qualitative research approach to explore and describe the participants’ perception on the research problem. This research endeavour firstly falls in the ambit of the phenomenology research design, which aimed to describe the conscious experience of the everyday life of the participants, which were in this study the managers of cluster foster care schemes as well as foster parents that provide foster care as part of a cluster foster care scheme. In addition to this the researcher also opted to include the exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design, which guided the exploration, description and contextualising of the views of the participants on elements needed to operationalise cluster foster care schemes. In order to achieve the above the researcher the researcher decided to make use of an intervention research model by Rothman and Thomas (1994:3-51), namely the “Intervention Develop and Design” framework (IDD framework). In this study the researcher only used phases one to phase four and certain steps of the IDD framework to develop the operational guidelines for the operationalising of cluster foster care schemes. In concluding the report of the study, the researcher provided summaries of and conclusions related to the background rational; research questions; goals and task objective of the study; the research methodology implemented; the empirical findings and literature consulted; and the developed operational guidelines. He concluded the document with recommendation related to the research process and methodology employed; research findings; and recommendation for further research on the research topic. / Social Work / D. Soc.Sc. (Social Work)

Thesis (M Social Work (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: „n Beskrywende studie met „n verkennende inslag is in die studie gebruik om meer kennis en begrip oor die bydrae van maatskaplike werkers tot die aanpassing van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare in „n pleegsorgplasing, te verkry. Die navorser het bewus geraak van die toename in die gebruik van pleegsorg vir „n sorgbehoewende kind in middelkinderjare, sowel as die tekort aan literatuur in Suid-Afrika oor die bydrae wat die maatskaplike werker lewer tot sodanige aanpassing binne „n pleegsorgplasing. Die genoemde aspekte het gedien as motivering vir die studie. Die bydrae wat maatskaplike werkers het tot die aanpassing van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare in „n pleegsorgplasing is ondersoek. Die doel van die studie is om ʼn beter begrip te ontwikkel vir die bydrae wat maatskaplike werkers tydens pleegsorgplasing tot die aanpassing van ʼn middeljare pleegkind kan maak. Die literatuurstudie het die aard van pleegsorg ten opsigte van die pleegkind in middelkinderjare weergegee, waarna pleegsorg as „n proses beskryf is: van voorkomende dienste tot permanensieplasing. Spesifieke aandag is gegee aan die pleegkind in middelkinderjare se ontwikkelingsproses asook die bydrae wat die maatskaplike werker maak tot die aanpassing van die pleegkind in middelkinderjare in „n pleegsorgplasing. Aangesien die literatuur meestal konsentreer op die maatskaplike werker betrokke by „n pleegsorgplasing van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare, het die steekproef bestaan uit 22 maatskaplike werkers wat by twee nie-regeringsinstansies in die Wes-Kaap en Suid-Kaap werksaam is. Die deelnemers is ten minste „n jaar reeds as geregistreerde maatskaplike werkers werksaam en het ook ondervinding in pleegsorgplasings. In die studie is daar gebuik gemaak van die kombinasie van ‟n kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsbenadering, te wete „n geskeduleerde, semi-gestruktureerde vraelys wat beide oop en geslote vrae inhou wat uiteengesit is op inligting wat verkry is uit die literatuurstudie. Die ondersoek het „n bygedra gelewer tot die uitbreiding van kennis en inligting in die maatskaplikewerkpraktyk ten opsigte van die bydrae wat maatksaplike werkers lewer tot die aanpassing van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare binne „n pleegsorgplasing. Die resultate het grotendeels die literatuurstudie bevestig, te wete dat maatskaplike werkers „n breë spektrum van dienslewering tydens die pleegsorgproses implementer, asook die ouderdom en ontwikkelingsvlak van „n pleegkind in ag neem tydens „n pleegsorgplasing. Eersgenoemde dienste word gerig tot die pleegouers, biologiese ouers, asook die betrokke pleegkinders ten einde dienslewering in die verband te bevorder. Maatskaplike werkers se aandeel in die aanpassingsproses van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare blyk wisselend te wees. Beperkte tyd en „n groot werkslading verhoed maatskaplike werkers om op „n kontinue basis ondersteuning vir die aanpassing van „n pleegkind in middelkinderjare, sowel as vir die pleegouers in „n pleegsorgplasing te bied. In die aanbevelings is daar gefokus op drie areas insluitende, die bydrae van „n maatskaplike werker, pleegkinders en pleegsouers. Die behoefte aan meer opleiding in die gebied van pleegsorg en ondersteuning in „n pleegsorgplasing, aan maatskaplike werkers, pleegouers en pleegkinders is geïdentifiseer as die sentrale temas. As aanbeveling vir verdere navorsing kan gefokus word op verskeie faktore wat bydraend is tot onsuksesvolle aanpassing binne „n pleesorgplasing met die oog op „n in-diepte beskrywing van hierdie fenomeen, asook die daarstelling van riglyne aan die hand waarvan die aanpassingsproses van pleegkinders en pleegouers tot groter effektiwiteit bevorder kan word. Dit beteken ook dat die rol van die maatskaplike werker met betrekking tot die tersaaklike onderwerp aangepas kan word ten einde sodanige aanpassing meer effektief aan te spreek. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A descriptive study with an exploratory design has been used in order to obtain more information and insight on the contribution that social workers make with regards to foster children in their mid-childhood years‟ adjustment within foster care placements. The researcher became aware of the increase in the use of foster care for vulnerable children in their mid-childhood years, as well as the shortage of literature in South Africa with regards to the contribution that social workers make towards these children adjusting to a foster care placement. The abovementioned aspects lead to the motivation for this study. The contribution that social workers make towards foster children in their mid-childhood years‟ adjustment within foster care placement was studied. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the contribution that social workers make towards foster children in mid-childhood years, adjusting within foster care placements. The literature study gave a description of the nature of foster care with regards to a foster child in his/her mid-childhood years. Foster care was described as a process: from preventative services to permanency placement. Specific attention was given to the foster child in mid-childhood years‟ development process as well as the contribution that social workers make towards a foster child in mid-childhood years‟ adjustment within a foster care placement. As the literature focused mainly on the social worker‟s contribution to the foster child in mid-childhood years‟ adjustment within a foster care placement, the sample consisted of twenty-two social workers working at two non-government organisations in the Western- and Southern- Cape regions. The participants have been registered as social work practitioners for at least one year and have had at least one year of experience in the process of foster care. A combination of both a qualitative and quantitative research methodology design was used in this study that consisted of a scheduled, semi-structured questionnaire which held both open- and closed ended questions. These questions were based on information retrieved from the literature study. The study made a contribution to the expansion of insight and knowledge in the social work practice with regards to the social workers‟ contribution to foster children in mid-childhood year‟s adjustment within foster care. The results of the literature study relatively confirmed the results of the study with regards to social workers‟ broad scale of service delivery during a foster care placement, as well as the consideration for the age and developmental phase of a foster child during the process of a foster care placement. First mentioned services are focused on the foster parents, biological parents as well as the foster children in order to enhance service delivery. Social workers‟ contribution to the adjustment of a foster child in mid-childhood years within a foster care placement seems to vary. Limited time and work overload prevent social workers to continuously support foster children in mid-childhood years as well as their foster parents. The recommendations focused on three areas including the contribution of a social worker, foster children and foster parents. The need for more training in the field of- and support in the area of foster care with regards to social workers, foster parents and foster children was identified as the fundamental themes. It is recommended that future research should focus on several contributing factors to ineffective adjustment within foster care placements with the aim of in-depth description of this phenomenon. Furthermore, the creation of guidelines concerning the enhancement of the adjustment process of foster children and foster parents that will lead to successful foster care placement is also recommended. This means that the role of the social worker with regards to the subject matter should adapt accordingly in order to enhance the adjustment within foster care placements.

Thesis (M Social WOrk (Social Work)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This research provides an overview of foster care and investigates the support and training of foster parents as well as the issues foster parents need to manage on a regular basis. The basic premise for this research is the importance of social workers becoming aware of the issues foster parents manage on a regular basis as well as the support and training needs of foster parents. It is important for foster parents to receive support as well as social workers and family care organisations to develop and implement appropriate training programmes for foster parents on an ongoing basis. Fostering affects and requires the involvement of the entire foster family as well as relevant role players and professionals. It is therefore necessary to consider the foster parents and foster family as part of the larger fostering arena, and not to be supported and trained in isolation. The nature of the foster placement will inevitably influence the development of the foster child, meeting the needs of the foster child as well as the effect that the placement has on the foster family. The purpose of this research is to broaden the theoretical knowledge of professionals working with foster parents, and specifically social workers and family care organisations, in identifying foster parent’s training and support needs. This research report includes an investigation of the issues foster parents and foster families manage on a regular basis as well as the nature of and benefits of support and training for foster parents. Knowledge of these issues foster parents manage while fostering will increase the awareness and the ability of the social worker or other professionals to provide training and support to the relevant foster parents.