Importance
of Positive Relationship between Foster Parents and Case Workers
I
find it a little bit satisfying when research supports things that seem like
common sense. I realize that often, this is the case, but it’s still nice. Rodger, Cumming and Leschied’s research found that most
foster parents are “motivated by wanting to be loving parents to children and
saving children from harm.” This
isn’t surprising, but is very encouraging. Parents go into foster care because of “altruistic and
internal motivations to foster” (Rodger, Cumming, Leschied, 2006).
However, many parents who begin to
foster find that the challenge is overwhelming. A helpful thing from this research is the identification of
three aspects that increased foster parents’ satisfaction: teamwork,
communication, and confidence in relation to both the child welfare agency and
its professionals.
I
found this surprising. But then, I
haven’t fostered a child. As I
continued reading it made a lot of sense though. It helped to think of Brofenbrenner’s ecological model. This model represents the idea that our development is influenced by several different “systems” at several different levels. There’s the self, or the child, in the middle (our gender, age, genes, etc), next is our most immediate relationships, and it spreads to broad influences such as laws, customs, and social class. Every level has an impact on our, or the child’s, development.
Within
the context of the ecological model, it’s not surprising that one of the most
frustrating things for foster parents is, “not being recognized as part of the
professional team or having expertise, as well as not being heard as an
advocate for the child”. (Rodger, Cumming, Leschied, 2006). Child welfare agencies become
very prominent in a foster child’s life, but if it’s too prominent it may make
parenting more difficult for the foster parent. A welfare service would normally be a part of the exosystem,
but with foster care it often comes into the mesosystem- which may step on
parents’ toes.
This
article shows how important it is for foster parents to not only prepare to
open their homes to the children they’re caring for, but to also prepare to work
closely with the foster agency and learn to communicate well so that both
parties see each other as helpful resources.
Michelle
Susan
Rodger, Anne Cummings, Alan W. Leschied, Who is caring for our most vulnerable
children?: The motivation to foster in child welfare, Child Abuse &
Neglect, Volume 30, Issue 10, October 2006, Pages 1129-1142, ISSN 0145-2134,
10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.04.005.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213406002080)
I think it is necessary to include foster parents in the cycle of childcare. They need to be treated with respect if they are to be expected to respect what they are doing for foster children. I worked in a nursery for foster parents while they went to parenting classes, and the foster parents seemed sincere in their desire to provide good care for the children.
ReplyDeleteCheryl R I wrote this comment.
DeleteI loved the quote that you mentioned how foster parents are frustrated that no one recognizes them as a professional or knowing what they are doing. I haven't thought about foster parents like that either so thanks for opening my eyes to how they actually are. I think if more people realized that foster parents would be held at a higher respect.
ReplyDeleteFoster parents do wonderful things for children and should be recognized for their efforts I am glad you brought attention to their concerns.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great subject to write about. My parents have been foster parents for a few disabled children and I know that it is difficult and that it is a full time job. Foster parents are great people who do need to be recognized for their efforts.
ReplyDeleteThat's really neat that your parents opened their home. Were you still at home? The foster parent, foster child relationship is interesting, but I'd like to see more research on the relationship between foster children and the parent's biological children.
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