Bjørn Øystein Angel

Placement characteristics and stability: a longitudinal analysis of Norwegian children in foster homes

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how enhanced support for foster parents, such as covering fees and providing consultants and relief, may reduce the number of replacements experienced by children in foster care. It also investigates the extent to which replacements are associated with family (kin) vs. non‐family foster parents, or with legal characteristics of the placement (i.e. forced administrative decisions vs. relief measures agreed upon by the parents). Statistical analyses of administrative data from Norway investigated the longitudinal relationships between these characteristics and the number of replacements at two levels – children (N = 16 109) and municipalities (N = 418) – over 5 years (2007–2011). The results reveal modest associations between enhanced support and fewer replacements; for example, replacement rates are lower for children placed in homes of kin than in non‐family homes. Replacements also tend to be fewer when the placement is forced rather than consensual.

Client Self-Management: Promoting Self-Help for Parents of Children in Foster-Care

Drawing upon Foucaults concepts of power, this article shows how a course given to parents whose children are in foster-care encourages a particular form of self-management—most notably, that their internal dialogues must be altered so that the parents can view themselves as people in control of their behaviour who are in a position to choose new behaviour. The article is based on a qualitative study conducted in Norway and centres on the support and development of participants in the course. Study results show increased self-confidence and self-respect in the participants, both as individuals and as parents. In addition, significant benefits were stated as finding that they could verbalise and describe difficult events and emotions, experiencing being ‘normal’ within a group and receiving feedback. From the perspective of child protective services, dialogue with parents is central, as it not only commits clients to specific behaviours, but—more importantly—commits them to a particular inner dialogue about parenthood. The course can be seen as a management tool in which the parents ‘self’ becomes the central object, seeking to contradict the conventional conception of parents with children in foster-care as having nothing to contribute to their childrens upbringing.