Vulnerabilities factors during placement: comparative studies between differents modalities of placement (foster care vs institutional care; placement with siblings vs separate placement)

Camille Danner Touati, Phd Student, Université Paris 8, France Anne-Sophie Deborde, Researcher, Université Paris 8, France As they have experienced abuse, children placed in foster care or in institutional care are removed from their family environment and they are given the possibility to create a new relationship with an alternative caregiver: a foster mother or […]

Foster families and adoptions

Philippe Fabry, PhD student, Université Paris Nanterre, France  Vera Fahlberg, in training guides for British social workers, stressed the importance of explaining to children in foster care the roles of the three types of parents who may be present in their lives: biological, legal and educational parents. In France such work is problematic, as the parental role of the foster […]

Towards a more comprehensive concept of support: belonging and recognition

Claire Cameron, Researcher, UCL Institute of Education, UK  Hanan Hauari, Researcher, UCL Institute of Education, UK The English policy commitment to permanency for children in care is preferably achieved via adoption or return home. Foster care exists as a temporary, emergency, short stay, specialist or long term prelude to permanency or alternative placement. The average length of foster placement is 152 days and […]

Kinship care, foster care or foster-to-adopt: which setting is better in terms of stability and permanence for very young children?

Geneviève Pagé, Researcher, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada  Janick Allyson, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada  Sonia Hélie, Researcher, CIUSSS-Centre-sud-de-l’Ile-de-Montréal, Canada  Tonino Esposito, Researcher, Université de Montréal, Canada  When a child aged 0 to 2 years old is placed in out-of-home care in Québec, the Youth Protection Act requires that a permanency plan be put into place within 12 months. Permanency plans include: reunification, long-term care, guardianship, and adoption. […]

Perspectives on assessing foster carers: A cross-country comparison of the factors that are associated with successful placements

Vânia S. Pinto, PhD student, InED, REES Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford, England    As part of the alternative placement process, foster carers play an important role by contributing to the integration of looked after children into a family environment, and promoting their wellbeing and development. The main aim of this research project is to understand which are […]

A life course approach to studying the experiences of foster care alumni: A case study exploring the educational pathways of care-experienced adults

Eavan Brady, PhD student, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland  Research related to care (e.g. leaving care, education of children in care) has been criticised for paying insufficient attention to theory (Berridge, 2007; 2012; Brodie, 2009; Stein, 2006). This presentation seeks to outline why the life course approach is an effective theoretical framework for exploring the experiences and challenges faced by […]

Permanent placement in foster care: how to provide support in ambiguous frameworks

Marco Chistolini, Researcher, Psychotherapist and trainer, Italy  Giorgia Salvadori, Researcher, Fondazione Paideia onlus, Italy  In the Italian legislative system foster care is regulated as a temporary intervention: the expected maximum length is 24 months, that can be extended when necessary. Practice is different: 60% of foster care placements are longer than 2 years and children could stay in a foster family until they […]

Crossed regards on youth and interveners sense-making on oppositional and aggresive situations in a residential care welfare setting

Valérie Parent, PhD student, Université de Montréal, Canada  Sarah-Louise Fraser, Researcher, Université de Montréal, Canada        This presentation will share results from a qualitative research held in two residential care settings of Montreal, Canada among youths and interveners. In fact, Constitutional Law of Canada mandates the provinces to implement a system to protect youths when their development or security is compromised. In Quebec, to […]

Practices of foster care regulation to promote continuity in care

Ludovic Jamet, IDEFHI, France  Anne Oui, ONPE France  From 2013 to 2015, the French observatory of child protection (ONPE) has conducted a study on foster care as it is organized by French counties. This study combines a survey about foster carers’  working   conditions   in   different   French  counties  and   interviews   with   social   and administrative actors. This   study   had   two   purposes:   taking   […]