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Creative cooperation: involving biological parents in long-term foster care
Child Welfare
|January 1, 1986
Insights
Permanency for children in foster care can mean a long-term foster family. True permanency, however, may require acknowledging and engaging with biological parents in some capacity.
Area of Science:
- Child Welfare Studies
- Family Psychology
Background:
- Defining permanency in child welfare is complex.
- Long-term foster care is a common outcome for children without biological family reunification.
Observation:
- Some children in care perceive permanency as solely a stable foster placement.
- The role and presence of biological parents are often minimized in discussions of permanency.
Findings:
- The author posits that genuine permanency for children in care necessitates confronting the reality of their biological parents.
- Establishing some form of relationship or connection with biological parents is crucial for holistic child permanency.
Implications:
- Rethinking permanency models to include biological family connections.
- Developing therapeutic approaches that facilitate healthy relationships between children in care and their biological parents.
- Improving outcomes for children by addressing their biological family ties.
Abstract:
There are some children in care for whom "permanency" means a long-term foster family placement. The author suggests that permanency for these children requires facing the reality of their biological parents in some form of relationship.