Gunvor Andersson

Barnintervju som forskningsmetod

This article discusses methodological problems that arise from using research interviews with children. The background for this discussion comes from a research study of the experience of foster children, using the emergent »new paradigm« in the study of childhood. The study investigates the childrens perspective by interviewing them three times, prior to interviewing their foster parents and biological parents, to avoid having the adult perspectives in advance. Twenty-two children (10 girls, 12 boys; all 10–11 years-old) were interviewed. All the children were living in foster families, and the interviews were conducled in their foster homes. The interview procedure and the attitude of the interviewer is essential for arriving at an understanding of how children perceive, describe, and cope with their status as a foster child, their family relations, and everyday life. The article discusses how to ask questions in a proper way and how to be sure of understanding the answers. The article ends with a disc...

Children in Residential and Foster Care – a Swedish Example

The article reports on a longitudinal study of children placed in a children’s home in Malmo, Sweden, at the beginning of the 1980s. The 26 children, placed when younger than four years of age and staying more than four weeks in the children’s home, were followed up three and nine months after leaving the children’s home as well as five, ten and fifteen years later. Interviewing the parties concerned was the predominant research method. Twenty of the 26 children in the research group also had later experiences of out-of-home care, including foster care, in addition to the stay at the children’s home. This article is about them, 15–20 years old when interviewed in the latest follow-up study. Three aspects of “outcome” are focused on: the degree of stability in the children’s living conditions; relationships to parents and foster parents; well-being and emotional and behavior problems. Bearing in mind that the concept of well-being is relative, a cautious conclusion is that a third of the children in the study experienced well-being, a third felt “o.k.,” and a third had serious problems, including criminal activities and drugs. The somewhat unclear connection between well-being, stability in living conditions, and sense of family belonging is discussed.

Barns förhållande till föräldrar och fosterföräldrar

Andersson, G. (1990). Childrens relation to parents and foster parents. Nordisk Psykologi, 42, 59–74. For several years the question of the importance of natural parents for foster children has been highly controversial. The childs need for new psychological parents in the foster home contrasted with the importance of maintaining links with natural parents. The article deals with the sometimes incongruent relation between psychological theories, ideological positions and social work in practice. An empirical study of the relation between parents, children, and foster parents is described. A group of 0–4 year old children were observed in a childrens home. Follow up studies were made after three and nine months and after five years. 19 of the 29 children had experiences from foster homes. Perception of their natural parents or their foster parents as their psychological parents is due to their early parent-child relation more than to age, extent of contact and social work decisions.

Missbrukande föräldrar, utsatta barn och socialt arbete

The aim of the article is to put together four different studies and research perspectives. The four authors present their own studies about drug addicted mothers; fathers called into question by child welfare authorities; children in foster care; child welfare services. The four studies have a qualitative approach, interviewing parents and children in vulnerable positions and in contact with child welfare authorities. The combined results show the need of coooperation between child welfare and rehabilitation of adults addicted to alcohol and drugs, and the need to have a comprehensive approach to vulnerable families, also during separation. The right of vulnerable children to be heard in research as well as in practice is exemplified and emphasized. (Less)