Relationships that last
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Learning from relationships that last: Identifying the active ingredients of relational permanence in foster care, and sharing best practice
IRAS ID
269272
Contact name
Mandi MacDonald
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 31 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
The majority of children in state care in the UK are fostered, with over 65,000 children living with registered foster carers (CoramBAAF, 2018), usually because they suffered harm, or were at risk of harm, with birth parents. Foster care is intended to provide stable, continuous caring relationships that last throughout childhood into adult life, however, placements formally end in adolescence or very early adulthood (Simmonds, 2018), and fostered young people transition to independent living without the safety net of family, and facing a range of challenges attributed partly to lack of social support (Stein, 2006; Pinkerton, 2011). We know that continuous relationships with caring adults are fundamental to securing better outcomes for care experienced individuals (Boddy, 2013), but how to achieve this remains something of a mystery. Working in partnership with Barnardos Fostering service in Northern Ireland, we aim to learn from care experienced adults who have maintained relationships with their foster family. We aim to conduct semi-structured interviews, using participatory methods, with 25 adults previously cared for in a Barnardos Fostering placement in Northern Ireland, and separate semi-structured interviews with their former foster carers. This will allow us to identify what helped them become and stay connected. From the findings, we will produce best practice guidance for young people, foster carers, and social workers, sharing this via cascade training by Barnardos UK. We will collaborate with a Peer Advisory Group (PAG) of care experienced adults and other key advisers to ensure the project reflects the needs and priorities of stakeholders. The findings will support innovation in fostering services, within Barnardos and beyond, to help enable more fostered young people to benefit from continuous supportive relationships. This is a current priority for child welfare services in the UK (HM Government, 2016).Summary of Results
The Relationships that Last research project aimed to learn about effective foster care practice from formerly fostered adults who have maintained relationships with their foster family into adulthood. From a critical best practice approach, we aimed to identify the active ingredients of these lasting relationships, and what worked well to create the conditions in which they could thrive. The key messages from our project include:
Relationships are at the heart of foster care and should remain a focus of policy and practice. Through different relational journeys and despite numerous challenges, care experienced adults and their foster family maintained mutually valued connections, a strong sense of belonging and explicit commitment to one another.
Beginnings: the first few days and weeks in placement are crucial for establishing connections as a foundation that will enable children and foster carers to stay connected through difficult times. Families should be supported with the time and resources to prepare a welcoming home and get to know the child.
Foster parenting teens: we should pay particular attention to foster parenting in adolescence as this was a time when young people’s sense of belonging was challenged and a tension between ‘normality’ in family life and the procedural requirements of corporate parenting acutely felt. Balancing a growing need for autonomy with age-appropriate 'parental' control is challenging within the context of fostering.
Crisis endings: staying connected is possible even after difficult endings. When placements ended prematurely or in a crisis, relational permanence was achieved through a mutual process of repair and commitment.
Identity and agency: young people made active choices about belonging and family identity. Perceptions of dual connection to birth and foster family differed, but all made conscious decisions about their engagement in and identification with these family networks. Young people’s informed choices about family identity should be supported and respected.
Inclusion and belonging: a sense of belonging is built and maintained through ‘normal’ family practices. The often-overlooked day-to-day practices of foster family life were highly significant for enabling security and inclusion and should be celebrated. Some procedural requirements, albeit necessary, felt abnormal, so we should continue to examine how professional practices help or hinder a sense of belonging.
Belonging to intergenerational family: relationships are reciprocal and embedded in extended foster family networks. Care experienced adults led interdependent lives with mutually supportive relationships across multiple generations of their foster family. Inclusion by relatives and friends should be recognised and supported, and we should value the contribution that young people make to their foster family.
Belonging to ‘home’: attachment to the foster family home is important, with ongoing access to the house viewed as both a practical resource and symbolic of continued family membership. When visiting the house was not possible, and this loss of ‘home’ was compensated for with other forms of family inclusion.
Flexible transitions: the journey to adulthood is fluid and not a point in time achievement, so foster carers provided informal extended care, offering emotional, practical and financial support, remaining responsive to a range of need long after the placement ended.
Emotion and relationship: empathy is a crucial ingredient of lasting relationships, but requires insight, patience, and compassion.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
19/NI/0144
Date of REC Opinion
16 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion