- Published: December 15, 2021
- Updated: December 15, 2021
- Level: Masters
- Language: English
- Downloads: 18
Historically the children of foster parents or foster carers have been the hidden caregiver of foster children. Though, according to Ingrid Hojer (2006), less concentration has been given to the children of foster carers and the way they are concerned by changes interconnected to fostering, for instance spending their lives with foster children and having their own houses opened up for visits from birth parents and carers. They have and remain least acknowledged, least guided, least supported and possibly, in most of the cases, least able to manage. These children of foster carers have remained like a ghost in the darkness of a fostering group of people focused mainly on the requirements of foster children. Their components, concern, courage and sacrifices are hardly ever accredited and, even not as much of, their personal struggles and pain. The writer uses consequences from the questionnaire of 684 answers he got from children of foster carers (pg. 1), where sons and daughters of foster carers were inquired about their sufferings of fostering. He discussed briefly about the experiences of such children and the impact fostering has on their daily lives, concerning relations and communications with other foster children and get in touch with with their foster parents (pg. 2)
As per writer, the scarcity of debate together with the current approach to foster care (the requirements of foster sons and daughters) continues to downgrade these children to the grade of “ hidden” components of the fostering society. He further discussed that no one would argue that the needs of the foster children should not be met, the problem is: why researchers have continued to neglect the wants of an additional group of children, the “ Children of Foster Carers” (pg. 7)
It would be easy to downsize the “ slip” in consequences of the staged changes that have taken place in a fostering system in recent years: rising demands of caring children, running a system in predicament, moving violently with the media arguments, regulating the system expansion and working out with new personnel (pg. 8). However, this isn’t the case; there are various causative and contradictory factors that have served up to continue the status quo of such children. Though, results from the paper also provide confirmation of how children take a substantial amount of liability towards their foster brothers and sisters. It is quite obvious that children of foster carers operate as self-directed driving forces, and as a result also have an impact on the way wherein fostering behavior are executed within the foster family unit. Foster assignments could be abundant and time-consuming practically, but theoretically they were provisional because children retained relations to their natural parents (pg. 4).
Poverty has at all times have effects on the welfare of children and foster carers. Poverty callously confines the aptitude of some foster carers to offer basic requirements for their children, counting shelter, food, clothes, health care, and transport to school and required services. Some serious problems continued to be unrequited about the association between poverty, and child mistreatment in foster care (pg. 9). To what degree are detriments of neglect derived from poverty in preference to insufficient parenting that places foster children of foster carers in jeopardy of destruction?
Reference:
Ingrid Höjer. (September 2006). Sons and daughters of foster carers and the impact of fostering on their everyday life. Department of Social Work, University of Göteborg, Sweden.