This thesis is an examination of foster home finding methods in a large child-placing agency. The study was undertaken as an investigation into the causes of dissatisfaction and difficulties experienced by agencies in their efforts to achieve a good standard of care for their children through the medium of foster homes. It is also a consideration of the manner in which the case work approach in home finding can be brought to bear on the amelioration of these problems. The agency in which the study was done, the Children' Aid Society of Vancouver, B.C., is typical of several in this country wherein the agency is committed to planning for several hundreds of children who come into its care through the administration of the various statutes related to the protection of children. It cannot be compared to small specialized agencies giving service to a selected clientele. The study includes: 1. An account of the development of the use of foster homes in child placement, and the use of case work method in this. 2. Review of social work philosophy and how it may be applied by the administration and personnel of an agency in home finding. 3. An examination of the agency's actual case records of foster home studies. The information sought was a comprehensive knowledge of the job of home finding through professional literature and observation of practice. The findings would support the contention that professional case work disciplines could be applied with greater effort, and that there is need for more emphasis on the part which foster home finding plays in a total child care program. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is concerned with the problem of multiple placement s of foster children, i. e., children who are placed in more than one foster home while they are in the care of a protective agency. Children become "wards" of such societies if there is no possibility of their leading normal, happy, and emotionally secure lives within their own homes. The agencies provide foster home care as a substitute home to give them the care they were not able to obtain in their own homes. But frequent replacement prevents many foster children from gaining security and healthy development due to lack of attachment to a family. The study shows that thirty-nine out of the fifty children in the sample were placed in more than one foster home during their period of care by a children's aid society. The average number of foster homes for the total group was 3.52 homes per child, which means that a child remained in each foster home for a period of 2.08 years, on the average. The study was based on the records of foster children from both of Vancouver's children's aid societies, the sample being selected on a one-in-four basis from all children falling within certain definitions: (l) children who had been in the care of one of the agencies at least two years; (2) children of the white race; (3) children now in the "latency" stage of development; i. e. between the ages of seven and twelve years. The material utilized includes the files kept by the agencies, regarding each individual child, his family and the foster homes. The sample was grouped into four divisions according to the number of placements the children have had. Group A with a single foster home placement only, representing the ideal in child placement; Group B with two foster home placements; Group C a clear multiple placement problem, with three or four foster home placements; and Group D the usually serious situation where a child has lived in five or more foster homes. The cases were then studied in terms of the foster homes in which the children were placed; the intelligence levels of the children; and their adjustment to the foster home program. The adjustment of the child is believed to be the crucial factor in deciding whether foster home placement has succeeded or failed. The third part of the study examines what can be done to improve the methods of placing children in foster homes in order to lessen the problem of multiple placements. There is evidence that the problem of multiple placement of foster children could be reduced by more careful preliminary observation of the child and his needs, closer assessment of foster home potentialities, better matching of the child and the foster home, professional casework service while the child is in the home, and treatment for disturbed children in homes which are especially equipped for this service. The study suggests that many children without family ties could be placed for adoption, thus attaching them to one family instead of facing the possibility of repeated replacements. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is concerned with a twofold problem: the present operations of Embury House, a receiving home for children in Saskatchewan, and its desirable role in relation to the total child welfare program of services in Saskatchewan. At present Embury House lacks any suitable program to serve the needs of those children requiring institutional care. Consequently, it is not an institution with a definite purpose, but a place where dependent and neglected children in Saskatchewan are kept when there are no other services available to meet their needs. The evaluation of present operations in Embury House is based on the records of fifty children placed there during 1949-1950. These fifty children, the average monthly population of the institution, reveal a typical cross-section of the problems and needs of children kept in Embury House. Analysis showed the children fell into three groups, each needing a different type of service: (a) casework services in their own home, (b) placement in foster homes, and (c) placement in an institution. It also showed that only eighteen per cent of the total population of Embury House could profit by the services of an institution for general care, which type seemed most nearly to describe Embury House. In addition, the analysis showed that eighteen per cent of the total population required the specialized services of a study and treatment institution, fifty per cent required foster home care, and fourteen per cent required case work services in their own home. The program of services offered by Embury House during 1949-1950, was evaluated in terms of the standards for children's institutions recently constructed for the State of Washington. The program was also assessed by applying four criteria to the institutional program: (a) the social service program, (b) the physical care of the children, (c) the education and social training, and (d) the quality of the staff. This showed that the physical needs of the children and their education and social training are well served at Embury House, but there are serious lacks in the social service program and in the staff. Recent trends in professional thinking regarding the services which can or should be offered by an institution are reviewed. A definite classification is also made of children who should not receive institutional care, and of children who can be served in an institutional setting. Against this background, there is evidence that Embury House could serve more effective purposes in the child welfare program than it does at present. There are no facilities for the treatment of emotionally disturbed children in Saskatchewan, but these children tend to be placed in Embury House. It is suggested that Embury House could fulfil a necessary role as a study and treatment centre for seriously disturbed children. There are undoubtedly more children in Saskatchewan who could benefit from such a service; and it would be better to work out a foster placement and case work program for those children not suited for institutional care. Revision of the social service program, and certain changes and additions in the staff, as recommended, would modernize Embury House as a valuable study and treatment institution. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study investigated the relationship between living in a foster home and reading achievement among high school students. It involved 71 subjects living in foster and non-foster homes. Nineteen schools in Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey, British Columbia, were Included in the study. The first part of the study was concerned with the relationship between Type of Home and reading achievement, I.Q. and reading scores were obtained using the California Short-Form Test of Mental Maturity and the Reading Battery of the California Achievements Tests. Age, Sex, Grade, I.Q. and Type of Home and the interactions between Type of Home and I.Q. and between Type of Home and Sex were used as predictors in multiple regression analysis of the data obtained. The dependent variable was the grade placement of the subjects on the reading test. The results suggest that there is little relationship between Type of Home and reading achievement. However, there was a significant mean difference in I.Q. between the foster and non-foster children. The predictor variables included in the study accounted for about 75% of the variance in the dependent variable. In the second part of the study, relationship between the reading achievement of the foster children and Age of Admission to Foster Care, Length of Foster Care and the Number of Times the Children Changed Homes was investigated. The interactions between Age at First Admission and Length of Foster Care and between Socioeconomic Status of the foster parents and the Length of Stay in the Present Home were also considered. Again, multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the number of times the children changed homes was more strongly related to their reading achievement than either Age at First Admission or Length of Foster Care. However, only Grade and I.Q. were found to be significantly related to the reading achievement of the children; they accounted for about 70% of the variance in the dependent variable. There were no significant interactions. It was suggested that future studies of the academic achievement of foster children should include elementary as well as high school students, both in regular and "special" classes. It was also pointed out that further research should consider not only the self-concept, school attendance and the natural home background of the foster children but also teacher expectations and the number of schools attended. Studies regarding the relationship between living in a foster home and the development of intellectual abilities were also recommended. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Bibliography: leaves 79-94. / The field of related foster care has to a large extent been neglected. Related foster care is regarded with considerable scepticism and ambivalence by many social workers because of a number of pitfalls which are often associated with such placements. The aim of this study is to explore the relative merits of related and unrelated foster placements, and thus to enhance knowledge in this area and so improve service delivery to foster children, their parents, by foster parents and child and family welfare agencies. A literature survey was undertaken during which it was evident that the field of related foster care has received little attention in both literature and research. The literature studies have highlighted some of the pros and cons of related and unrelated foster placements. A questionnaire was constructed and administered to a sample of related and unrelated foster parents. A descriptive analysis was made of the results with the focus being on the behaviour and academic functioning of the children. The overall findings in this study showed that children fostered by relatives seemed to be doing at least the same as, and in some aspects better than, those children fostered by recruited unrelated foster parents. Over a 11 there appeared to be some significant advantages for those children who were being fostered by relatives.

Many children are unable to remain in the care of their biological families, and often the only solution is to commit them to long-term foster-care in order to ensure their emotional, physical and social well-being. Children in long-term foster-care in South Africa are subject to impermanence in their living arrangements. Long-term foster-care, in reality, is for an unlimited time-period, during which the biological family can at any time rehabilitate itself and petition the court for the return of the child. This is further exacerbated by childcare legislation which does not provide for legal guardianship in foster-care through termination of parental rights and reconstruction services to natural parents. At present, the move in childcare practice is to institute permanency planning philosophy and tennets for children placed in foster-care in order for them to experience stability and continuity of relationships and family life. The move to implement permanency planning in foster-care is new in South Africa and is not supported through South African research and legislative procedures. There is a definite need for the development of a guideline which will exclude natural parents from resuming the care of their placed child, thereby advocating foster care as the next option of permanency for a child, given the situation where adoption is not a feasible alternative. This guideline can hopefully be utilised to gather data motivating for legal guardianship in foster care, through termination of parental rights, thereby assuring the long-term foster child of permanency in his living arrangements.

The deinstitutionalization movement has challenged administrators and professionals to develop new methods of providing services to handicapped clients who reside in geographically dispersed areas. Geographic dispersion limits the frequency of direct contact with clients and increases dependency on parents or paraprofessionals for program implementation and data collection. A difficulty is that these direct service providers' program implementation or data collection efforts may be reinforced infrequently. This problem may be especially acute when the service recipients are severely or profoundly handicapped. Such individuals have slow rates of learning thus making it difficult for the service providers to discern progress.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-105). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Sammanfattning Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur familjehemsföräldrar upplever att deras anknytning samt föräldraroll påverkas utifrån att barnen är familjehemsplacerade. Metoden som användes i studien var kvalitativ och elva familjehemsföräldrar från åtta familjehem intervjuades. Studiens empiri analyserades med hjälp av anknytningsteori samt systemteori. Resultatet visade att samtliga intervjuade familjehem i någon mån påverkades av komplexiteten i familjehemsuppdraget, vilket påverkade deras föräldraroll och anknytning till de placerade barnen. Studiens slutsatser gällande anknytningen och föräldrarollen är att det finns flera faktorer som påverkar dessa. Gällande familjehemsföräldrarnas anknytning till det placerade barnet påverkar faktorer såsom hur länge barnets anknytningssystem är påslaget, hur familjehemsföräldern närmar sig barnet, barnets ålder, barnets personliga egenskaper och familjehemsuppdragets utformning. Faktorer som påverkar familjehemsföräldrarollen visar sig vara barnets personliga faktorer, den bristande bestämmanderätten, komplexiteten i uppdraget, de gränser familjehemsföräldern och barnet sätter upp i relationen dem emellan samt på vilket sätt familjehemsföräldern ser på uppdraget. / Abstract The aim of this study was to examine how foster parents experience that their parental role and attachment to the foster child is affected by the fact that the child is placed in a foster home. In this study a qualitative method was used and eleven foster parents from eight foster homes were interviewed. To analyze the results of the study, attachment theory and general systems theory were used. The results showed that all of the interviewed foster families to some degree were affected by the complexity of the foster home commitment, which affected their parental role and attachment to the foster child. The conclusions of the study are that there are several factors that affect the attachment and the parental role. Factors that affect foster parents attachment to the foster child is for how long the child’s attachment system is activated, how the foster parent approach the foster child, the foster child’s age, the foster child’s personal qualities and the shape of the foster home commitment. Factors that affect the foster parent’s parental role were the child’s personal qualities, the lack of authority to make decisions, the complexity of the commitment, the boundaries the foster parent and the child set up in the relationship between them and how the foster parents view their foster home commitment.

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