Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T20:38:51.931Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Support in foster care … looking for best practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Cas O’Neill
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We all know what we personally find supportive and unsupportive. However, transforming the everyday ordinariness of what we experience as support into professional practice is not quite as simple as it may seem.

This paper explores some of the theories of support, how support works (including dilemmas for givers and receivers of support), supportive relationships and non-support. The theoretical material is illustrated with findings from research undertaken at a small inner city Melbourne foster care agency, Share Care. Birth parents, caregivers and social workers talk about their experiences as givers and receivers of support.

The research findings, in association with the theoretical material, provide insights into what could be seen as ‘best practice’ in terms of foster care support.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , 2006 , pp. 4 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adelman, M., Parks, M. & Albrecht, A. (1987a) ‘Supporting friends in need’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Adelman, M., Parks, M. & Albrecht, A. (1987b) ‘Beyond close relationships: Support in weak ties’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Albrecht, T. & Adelman, M. (1987a) ‘Communicating social support: A theoretical perspective’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Albrecht, T. & Adelman, M. (1987b) ‘Dilemmas of supportive communication’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Arntson, P. & Droge, D. (1987) ‘Social support in self-help groups’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1987) The social basis of community care, London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Burbidge, A. (1998) ‘Changing patterns of social exchanges … Issues in the literature’, Family Matters, 50, pp. 10–8.Google Scholar
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (2006) ‘Families helping families’… Towards best practice in recruiting resource families to support foster care, Melbourne: Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare.Google Scholar
Coady, N. & Wolgien, C. (1996) ‘Good therapists’ views of how they are helpful’. Clinical Social Work Journal, 24: 3, pp. 311–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delaney, R. & Kunstal, F. (1993) Troubled transplants … Unconventional strategies for helping disturbed foster and adopted children. University of Southern Maine: National Child Welfare Resource Center for Management and Administration.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services (2003) Minimum standards and outcome objectives for home-based care services in Victoria, Melbourne: DHS.Google Scholar
Duncan, B., Hubble, M. & Miller, S. (1997) ‘Stepping off the throne’, Networker, July/Aug, pp. 22–33.Google Scholar
Eggert, L. (1987) ‘Support in family ties: Stress, coping and adaptation’, in Albrecht, T. and Adelman, M. (eds), Communicating social support, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Filer, J. & Mahoney, G. (1996) ‘Collaboration between families and early intervention service providers’, Inf Young Children, 9:2, pp. 22–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Froland, C. (1980) ‘Formal and informal care: Discontinuities in a continuum’, Social Service Review, 54:4, pp. 572–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giljohann, B.A. (1995) Helping families after the death of a child from SIDS: The distinctive characteristics of the help of natural social networks and the help of other SIDS parents’, unpublished MSW thesis, Melb: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
Hupcey, J. (1998a) ‘Clarifying the social support theory-research linkage’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27:6, pp. 1231–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hupcey, J. (1998b) ‘Social support: Assessing conceptual coherence’, Qualitative Health Research, 8:3, pp. 304–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irving, K. (1998) ‘Parents for children … Building new families’, Children UK, Summer, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
Johnson, H., Cournoyer, D. & Bond, B. (1995) ‘Professional ethics and parents as consumers: How well are we doing?’, Families in Society, 76:7, pp. 408–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, M., Humphreys, K. & Borkman, T. (1994) ‘The naturalistic paradigm as an approach to research with mutual-help groups’, in Powell, T. (ed). Understanding the self-help organization, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Krueger, M. (1997) ‘Using self, story, and intuition to understand child and youth care work’, Child and Youth Care Forum, 26:3, pp. 153–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layton, M. (1995) ‘Mastering mindfulness’, Networker, Nov/Dec, pp. 28–30/57.Google Scholar
Macaskill, C. (1985) ‘Who should support after the adoption?’, Adoption and Fostering, 9(2), pp. 21–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marris, P. (1991) ‘The social construction of uncertainty’, in Parkes, C., Stevenson-Hinde, J. and Marris, P. (eds), Attachment across the life cycle, Lond.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Merton, R. (1968) Social theory and social structure, N.Y. Free Press.Google Scholar
Milardo, R. (1988) ‘Families and social networks: An overview of theory and methodology’, in Milardo, R. (ed), Families and social networks, Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
Millward, C. (1994) ‘Intergenerational family support… Help or hindrance?’, Family Matters, 39, pp. 10–3.Google Scholar
Nickman, S. & Lewis, R. (1994) ‘Adoptive families and professionals: When the experts make things worse’, J. Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 33:5, pp. 753–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Neill, C. (1993) ‘“Do you mean, we’re not the only ones?” … Disruption – powerlessness and empowerment’, Children Australia, 18:2. pp. 13–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, C. (1999a) Support and permanent placements for children, PhD thesis, Melb: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
O’Neill, C. (1999b) ‘“We weren’t trained for this”: Teachers, foster care and permanent care’, Children Australia, 24:4, pp. 55–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, C. (2001) ‘Avoiding saying too much: The complexity of relationships between permanent parents and social workers’, Children Australia, 26:2, pp. 19–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pocock, D. (1997) ‘Feeling understood in family therapy’, Journal of Family Therapy, 19, pp. 283–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, W. (1996) ‘The client speaks out: Three domains of meaning’, Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 7:2, pp. 71–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rappaport, J. (1994) ‘Narrative studies, personal stories, and identity transformation in the mutual-help context’, in Powell, T. (ed), Understanding the self-help organization, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Sandmaier, M. (1995) ‘Friendship with a price tag?’, Networker, July/Aug, p. 35.Google Scholar
Sarason, I., Sarason, B. & Pierce, G. (1990) ‘Social support: The search for theory’, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9:1, pp. 133–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilling, R. (1987) ‘Limitations of social support’, Social Service Review, 61, pp. 19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schubert, M. & Borkman, T. (1994) ‘Identifying the experiential knowledge developed within a self-help group’, in Powell, T. (ed), Understanding the self-help organization, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Sells, S., Smith, T. & Moon, S. (1996) ‘An ethnographic study of client and therapist perceptions of therapy effectiveness in a university-based training clinic’, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 22:3, pp. 321–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Short, P. (1996) ‘Kinship, reciprocity and vulnerability: Social relations in the informal economy’, Aust. Journal of Social Issues, 31:2, pp. 127–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, M. (1989) ‘Social Support: Diverse Theoretical Perspectives’, Soc.Sci.Med. 28:12, pp 1275–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaux, A. (1988) Social support… Theory, research and intervention, New York: Praeger.Google Scholar