Chapon Nathalie, Researcher, Université Aix Marseille, France 

The conference intends to weave research in France, on the experience of foster care, in reference to the support and care of the links between foster families, origin families and the children in care. The conference will be share research findings and questions on the pathways of children in foster care, their experiences of disruption and continuity, and on how practitioners and policies address these issues in France. We’ll explore questions such as:   How do we do, in France, enact the protection of the child through the taking charge and the protection of his/her family? What are the places and the contexts where we can take care, on a daily basis, of the links between children / young people, their family of origin and the foster family? It is possible, and if so how, to promote co-parenting beyond the logic of working with families of origin on the one hand and with foster families on the other?  How to think about a child’s fostering in a comprehensive way, that includes history and family bonds? Can we think of a continuity regarding the child’s relationships with people who are important in their life? We shall answer all these questions from the last results of a research realized with foster children, foster family and the origin family financed by the ONPE in France.

References :

AINSWORTH M-D., BLEHAR M-C., WATERS E, WALL S., (1978) Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation, Hillsdale, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Ass.,

CHAPON. N., NEYRAND. G., SIFFREIN-BLANC.C., (2017), Les liens en famille d’accueil, Erès, (à paraître en septembre)

CHAPON. N., (Dir), (2017), Famille d’accueil et parentalité plurielle en Europe, PUP, Aix-en-Provence. (à paraître novembre).

CHAPON. N., (2014), Parentalité d’accueil et relations affectives, PUP, Aix-en-Provence.

MAIN M., KAPLAN N., CASSIDY J., (1985), Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood : a move to the level of representation, in BRETHERTON, WATERS (Eds), Growing points of attachment theory and research, Monographs of the society for research I  child development, 50, 1-2, 66-104.

Key-words : bonds, links, disruption in foster care