Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process

This article focuses on the information that children need to be given when they are moving to a fostering placement. Generally, children are not consulted or informed prior to the foster decisions being made, nor when they arrive at the placement. Therefore, they do not usually know their foster ca...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Pastor Vicente, Crescencia, Balsells, M. Àngels, Vaquero Tió, Eduard, Mateo Gomà, Maribel, Ciurana Sala, Anna
Format: article
Status:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repository:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/69991
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69991
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Child Welfare System
Foster care
Children’s voices
Child wellbeing
id ES_f38bb809b5a0d9cfdab219ce7b07144d
oai_identifier_str oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/69991
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care ProcessPastor Vicente, CrescenciaBalsells, M. ÀngelsVaquero Tió, EduardMateo Gomà, MaribelCiurana Sala, AnnaChild Welfare SystemFoster careChildren’s voicesChild wellbeingThis article focuses on the information that children need to be given when they are moving to a fostering placement. Generally, children are not consulted or informed prior to the foster decisions being made, nor when they arrive at the placement. Therefore, they do not usually know their foster care situation and the changes it implies for their lives. The literature available shows that informing children is the first step in enabling them to participate in their own fostering process. Participation empowers them and endorses successful intervention. In order to understand which information is crucial for children's wellbeing and adaption to this initial fostering experience, a qualitative research study was carried out. The study was developed in Spain and it used focus groups and interviews as instruments to gather information. The sample was composed of 30 fostered children, 42 parents, and 63 child care professionals. The results show the importance of sharing five essential aspects with children: (a) the real reasons for family separation; (b) the intervention which took place before removing them from their home; (c) their rights as fostered children; (d) the characteristics of the foster placement; (e) the visitation schedule. It helps children to cope with their new situation by empowering them and making them more adaptive to face all of the changes which are coming. Finally, some good practice tips for professional were also stated in order to improve the information sharing experience.This study has been developed by GRISIJ Research Group for Social and Educational Interventions in Child and Youth (2017SGR905), and financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-099305-B-C21), Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (EDU2014-52921-C2-1-R) and Ministry of Science and Innovation (EDU2011-00144-C02-01) of Spanish Government.Routledge2020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69991reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//EDU2014-52921-C2-1-Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN//EDU2011-00144-C02-01info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/RTI2018-099305-B-C21Versió preprint del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065Child Care in Practice, 2020, p. 1-18(c) Routledge, 2020info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/699912026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
title Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
spellingShingle Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
Pastor Vicente, Crescencia
Child Welfare System
Foster care
Children’s voices
Child wellbeing
title_short Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
title_full Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
title_fullStr Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
title_full_unstemmed Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
title_sort Uninformed, Afraid and Confused: What Children Need to Know at the Beginning of Their Foster Care Process
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Pastor Vicente, Crescencia
Balsells, M. Àngels
Vaquero Tió, Eduard
Mateo Gomà, Maribel
Ciurana Sala, Anna
author Pastor Vicente, Crescencia
author_facet Pastor Vicente, Crescencia
Balsells, M. Àngels
Vaquero Tió, Eduard
Mateo Gomà, Maribel
Ciurana Sala, Anna
author_role author
author2 Balsells, M. Àngels
Vaquero Tió, Eduard
Mateo Gomà, Maribel
Ciurana Sala, Anna
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Child Welfare System
Foster care
Children’s voices
Child wellbeing
topic Child Welfare System
Foster care
Children’s voices
Child wellbeing
description This article focuses on the information that children need to be given when they are moving to a fostering placement. Generally, children are not consulted or informed prior to the foster decisions being made, nor when they arrive at the placement. Therefore, they do not usually know their foster care situation and the changes it implies for their lives. The literature available shows that informing children is the first step in enabling them to participate in their own fostering process. Participation empowers them and endorses successful intervention. In order to understand which information is crucial for children's wellbeing and adaption to this initial fostering experience, a qualitative research study was carried out. The study was developed in Spain and it used focus groups and interviews as instruments to gather information. The sample was composed of 30 fostered children, 42 parents, and 63 child care professionals. The results show the importance of sharing five essential aspects with children: (a) the real reasons for family separation; (b) the intervention which took place before removing them from their home; (c) their rights as fostered children; (d) the characteristics of the foster placement; (e) the visitation schedule. It helps children to cope with their new situation by empowering them and making them more adaptive to face all of the changes which are coming. Finally, some good practice tips for professional were also stated in order to improve the information sharing experience.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion
format article
status_str submittedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69991
url https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/69991
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//EDU2014-52921-C2-1-R
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN//EDU2011-00144-C02-01
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/RTI2018-099305-B-C21
Versió preprint del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1723065
Child Care in Practice, 2020, p. 1-18
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv (c) Routledge, 2020
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv (c) Routledge, 2020
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Routledge
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Routledge
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869424387318349824
score 15,811543

Similar Items