Foster carers' perspective on trauma-informed practice in out-of-home care

When children and young people are unable to live with their family, they are placed into out-of-home care (OoHC). Almost all children and young people in OoHC have experienced trauma, which has well-documented negative impacts on current and future functioning of the individual.

This study aimed to explore trauma-informed practices in OoHC from the unique perspective of foster carers, and how these practices impacted their day-to-day care of vulnerable children and young people.

Twelve foster carers in Australia were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.

Four themes were identified in the data: (1) Exploring the diversity of trauma; (2) Trauma-informed practice in action; (3) Roadblocks to trauma-informed practice; and (4) Enablers of trauma-informed practice.

Results demonstrated that systemic change is required to support foster carers to implement trauma-informed practice in their day-to-day care of vulnerable children. Future research should consider evaluation of initial foster carer training.