2020 Volume 17 Pages 31-50
Foster homes, one of the spaces that implement social care measures for children,
are sites of temporary child-rearing. Children in these homes work towards
either returning to their biological families or, when this is not possible,
towards independence when they turn 18. The duration of care provided by a
foster home depends on the situation with the child’s biological parents and the
decision of the relevant Child Guidance Centre. When a child moves to a facility
or returns to their biological parents, the Child Guidance Centre refers to it
as a ‘change of placement’. This article uses interview data to examine a
‘change of placement’ case study.
In the target case, although the relationship between the child and their foster
parents was positive, the child was abruptly moved to a child protection facility
in order to facilitate interaction with the biological parents. This article aimed
to understand this change of placement from the perspectives of three actors
involved: the Child Guidance Centre, the foster parents support organisation,
and the foster parents themselves. It discusses how the intervention of the foster
parents support organisation, a civil society organisation that the child Guidance
Centre contracted to deal with a range of foster care elements beyond
child protection measures, affected the foster parents. At the same time, I focus
on the discord that arose between the Child Guidance Centre and the foster
parents as a result of the change of placement.
